Could the rise in NCWS and Celiac have not much to do with actual wheat? You know about glyphosate but have your heard of atrazine and what it did to frogs?
Are health issues related to the food you eat or something else?
A Potential Reason for the Rise in Non-Celiac-Wheat-Sensitivity and Celiac Disease
Modern-day wheat and its protein and starch content
Modern-day wheat is different than ancient grains in several different ways. Modern wheat has been bred to have more gluten to improve bread making and may cause a more significant immune response (Kucek et al., 2015).
The wheat we consume in modern-day America is unlike ancient grains. Ancient grains were cultivated about 10,000 years ago and included whole intact grains containing bran, germ, and endosperm (Shewry, 2018).
Researchers demonstrated that wheat's protein content has decreased, and the starch content has increased based on 150 wheat seed varieties obtained from seed banks, including older varieties from the 19th century (Brouns et al., 2022).
Modern-day wheat products are a combination of wheat varieties, with the consumer often not knowing which kinds of wheat are in their foods (Kucek et al., 2015). A germinated wheat product may produce fewer immunoreactive peptides, but germination means a shorter shelf life and therefore is more challenging to locate in grocery stores (Kucek et al., 2015).
Are NCWS and CD related to what is on the wheat rather than wheat itself?
Interestingly, the rise in NCWS and CD correlates with the spraying of wheat just before harvest. Many conventional foods are sprayed with chemicals, but only several are sprayed just before you eat them.
(other crops sprayed just before harvest include oats, flax, lentils, peas, corn, buckwheat, millet, canola, sugar beets, and potatoes) (EcoWatch, 2016).
Ninety-nine percent of durum wheat and 97% of spring wheat is sprayed with herbicides (Beyond Pesticides, n.d.). Spraying wheat just before harvest began in the 1980s to accelerate grain drying so farmers can harvest sooner and dry the crops grown in wetter areas such as the upper Midwestern U.S. (EcoWatch, 2016).
How much of your wheat is sprayed?
Well, we do not know. Some conventional farmers will guesstimate that only a third of their wheat crops are sprayed, but no statistics are kept on the number of desiccated wheat crops (EcoWatch, 2016).
If you buy wheat online, you may see Non-GMO wheat sold at a higher price. This is a marketing tactic. ALL wheat is non-GMO but you need to buy organic wheat to avoid the toxic chemicals that may be used just before harvest.
Bottom Line: If you avoid wheat and follow a gluten-free diet for health reasons but consume gluten-free bread, pasta, and so forth, make sure it is organic since many of these products may still contain foods that are sprayed right before harvest.
Update to this post on wheat (December 6, 2024)
I stated above that all wheat in the US is non-GMO wheat. However, that is no longer correct. President Biden’s Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, said that US farmers could grow a type of GMO wheat that can soak up glufosinate, a 500 times more toxic pesticide than glyphosate and has been banned in the EU since 2013.
The USDA did not contact any reviewers or allow for public comments. This is because President Trump, during his first presidency, pushed GMO deregulation through in 2020.
Glufosinate-tolerant wheat may be the first GMO wheat grown in the US. It can currently be found in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Australia, NZ, South Africa, Nigeria, and Indonesia allow GMO wheat to be imported for food and feed.
Sources
Brouns, F., Geisslitz, S., Guzman, C., Ikeda, T. M., Arzani, A., Latella, G., Simsek, S., Colomba, M., Gregorini, A., Zevallos, V., Lullien-Pellerin, V., Jonkers, D., & Shewry, P. R. (2022). Do ancient wheats contain less gluten than modern bread wheat, in favor of better health? Nutrition Bulletin, 47(2), 157–167. https://doi.org/10.1111/nbu.12551
EcoWatch. (2016, March 5). Why is glyphosate sprayed on crops right before harvest? https://www.ecowatch.com/roundup-cancer-1882187755.html
Kucek, L.K., Veenstra, L.D., Amnuaycheewa, P. and Sorrells, M.E. (2015), A grounded guide to gluten: How modern genotypes and processing Impact wheat sensitivity. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 14: 285–302. https://doi-org.tcsedsystem.idm.oclc.org/10.1111/1541-4337.12129
Shewry, P. R. (2018). Do ancient types of wheat have health benefits compared with modern bread wheat? Journal of Cereal Science, 79, 469-476. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2017.11.010
Endocrine Disruptors and Carcinogens
If the EPA says the chemicals/fragrances are safe, are they?
You are bombarded daily from the scented hanging tree in your car and the scented plug-ins in your home to the blue laundry detergent and an array of household cleaners, body lotions, facial creams, weed sprays, and chemical lawn “enhancers.”
This does not even include the food you consume!
You are processing toxins via the air, soil, and water that enter through your breath, your skin, and your food and beverages. You cannot avoid them 100%, but there is much you can do.
The documentary, Stink, I believe from 2015, is very insightful regarding how many chemicals can fall under the heading fragrance, yet no one gives it a thought. What are those fragrances, and how safe are they?
Atrazine is one of the most commonly used herbicides worldwide and is used commercially and by homeowners for weed control. It is commonly found on lawns and soybeans, sugar, and corn, which means it is in most processed, packaged foods.
It has been shown to demasculinize frogs and affect mice's reproductive system.
When the big industry tells you something is safe, ask for the research. One herbicide, one time, is probably safe if you can detoxify it, but all these toxins, in small doses daily, for years…what are those implications?
Why are many toxins deemed unsafe in other countries but perfectly safe for Americans? How can that be?
As difficult as it may be, you need to educate yourself to optimize your health and avoid many products that are touted as safe.
Sources
More details on atrazine can be found on Robert Malone’s substack https//rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/kennedy-is-right-atrazine-and-gender/
Below is an interview of the creator of “Stink” and below that is the link to the Stink documentary.
https://www.google.com/search?q=stink+documentary&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:ea5185bd,vid:Gxd-o4WZtrI
Thanks Karen for this info. I am experimenting with einkorn wheat - organic - making sour dough bread and think I can tolerate it.