Throughout the bible, God specifically spoke of eating only the finest of wheat and the finest of flour. This infers eating wheat of superior quality or of the highest grade. This is not the wheat planted today. The wheat of today has a much more complex DNA structure than ever before. Within the last 50 years, wheat has been replaced with modern, high-yield dwarf strains that produce more seeds and grow faster. Per preventive cardiologist William Davis, “Agricultural geneticists never asked if these new strains of wheat were suitable for human consumption. Their safety has never been tested.”
Gliadin is one of many proteins found in wheat gluten. It is the gluten content that gives food manufacturers the ability to make softer breads, rolls, pizza dough, donuts, cookies, and buns. Where wheat in the 1970's was mainly used in just these foods, today it is used in everything from soups, salad dressings, candy bars, to even licorice. One of the biggest changes in the wheat grown today is that it contains a modified form of gliadin called the Glia-alpha 9 which predictably triggers the immune reaction that leads to the intestinal destruction characteristic of Celiac disease. The modern type of gliadin in wheat is also an opiate, not the type that causes a "high" like heroine, but an opiate that causes appetite stimulation.
Most wheat grown today has much higher glutamate levels than would occur naturally. Glutamate (aka glutamic acid) is a non-essential amino acid.* Non-essential means that our body does not have to intake this important amino acid through food because God has given our body the ability to make it on its own. There are 30 grams of glutamate per 100 grams of wheat gluten. Wheat is a staple food that is highly ingested throughout the day from cereal eaten at breakfast to a hamburger at lunch and pizza for dinner. We are a deeply wheat-overindulged society, and this creates degenerative and nerve-related health problems! Wheat gluten accumulates in one's diet throughout the day and can cause an excess of glutamate within the body. It is this excess glutamate that is both highly inflammatory, especially to our gut, as well as very toxic to our brain and nerve system. For this reason, glutamate is known as an “excitotoxin”. When in levels higher than needed, glutamate will damage or overexcite our cells to death. This neuroinflammatory response involving glutamate and its damage is found to be associated with most every neuro-degenerative disease as well as many psychiatric disorders. So how do these gliadin proteins found in gluten and this excess glutamate get into our bodies?
Seventy to eighty percent of our immune system, our body’s defense radar system, resides in our gut. It works continuously, always trying to protect us from foreign invaders. Gliadin is one of those major invaders that it protects us from. Our immune system responds to this unfamiliar and toxic protein by continually trying to attack and break it down so it can be quickly removed. The problem is that our immune system has a very difficult time accomplishing this task. Think of gliadin as the world’s strongest type of glue. Although our immune system will keep trying to fight diligently and continuously, the fact is that our gut was simply never created to easily break down this type of extra tough or gluey protein. However, because our immune system is our body’s first line of defense against foreign invaders, it will keep on trying. It is in this determined state to fight and eliminate this invader that causes the on-going inflammation. Over time this inflammatory response reduces our antioxidants and damages our gastrointestinal tract, especially our small intestine. The small intestine breaks down and absorbs necessary nutrients from the food we eat. This inflammation can go on for years undetected. The damage from the fight not only produces inflammation but also increases zonulin production which then causes intestinal permeability also known as "Leaky Gut Syndrome". Intestinal permeability is a medical term that means the intestinal lining has become more porous, with more holes developing that are larger in size; therefore, the screening out process of our intestinal lining is no longer functioning properly. Like holes in a sieve that was once able to separate wanted molecules from unwanted elements, our intestinal lining is now jeopardized. This means larger, undigested food molecules and other "bad stuff" such as yeast, toxins, bacteria, parasites, and all other forms of waste that your body normally doesn't allow through, can now flow freely into your bloodstream where they wreak havoc on your health. With the integrity of your intestinal lining now compromised, and the flow of toxic substances entering your bloodstream, your body now experiences a significant increase in inflammation. Your immune system may become confused and begin attacking your own body as if it were an enemy. Intestinal permeability (leaky gut) is a serious problem - most notably because it is an essential factor in the development of autoimmune diseases. Gliadin can cause this intestinal permeability in both celiac and non-celiac intestinal mucosa.
Due to the overwhelming research and a greater awareness concerning wheat/gluten, individuals are now becoming more informed about gluten's detrimental effects and are trying a "gluten-free" diet. However, a gluten-free diet that is reliant on processed foods, which are low in nutrients and high on toxins, is not the answer. Going "gluten-free", consuming real food, and cooking from scratch, without additives and preservatives, is the answer. Even better for your health is to go "grain-free".
According to a growing number of experts, including Dr. Loren Cordain, a professor at Colorado State University and an expert on Paleolithic lifestyles, humans are NOT designed to eat grains, and doing so may actually be damaging to your gut. Per Dr. Cordain, "There's no human requirement for grains. That's the problem with the USDA recommendations. They think we're hardwired as a species to eat grains. You can get by just fine and meet every single nutrient requirement that humans have without eating grains. Grains are absolutely poor sources of vitamins and minerals compared to fruits and vegetables and meat and fish."
One thing we can absolutely be certain of is that the “showbread” dedicated to God was never made from the wheat that is grown today!
“They shall also have charge of the showbread, of the fine flour for the cereal offering, of the wafers of unleavened bread, and of the baking and mixing, and of all measure of quantity and size.” (1Chronicles 23:29)
Articles:
Gluten: What You Don't Know Might Kill You
How Wheat Is Slowly Killing Millions of People
3 Ounces of Wheat a Day May Be harming Your Brain
Books:
“Wheat Belly”, William Davis, M.D.
“Grain Brain”, Dr. David Perlmutter, M.D.
“The Gluten Effect”, Drs. Vikki & Richard Peterson
“Gut and Psychology Syndrome”, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride
Glutamate - "Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills", Russell L. Blaylock, M.D.