Everything you need to know about the harmful effects of whole grains

Whole grains have been considered health foods for the past few decades. But how healthy are the whole grains really?

Few thousand years ago Greeks and Romans noble class ate only white bread by removing all the fibrous parts of wheat and other grains. They knew that the white bread was easier on their stomach and would give brown bread made with whole grains to peasants.

What they did not know the reason why the white bread they ate was much easier on their stomach. Today we prize everything that is whole grain, we believe that brown rice is healthier than white. But yet the people in Asia that have the longest life span strip their rice of the brown hull and make it white before they eat it. Stupid you would say. No, it is a very intelligent move and here is why. There are harmful effects of whole grains.

The hull contains the large amount of lectins.

What are the lectins? and why they are bad for us you might ask?

Lectins are proteins in plants that have been associated with both good and bad health effects. Raging from digestion to chronic disease risk.

They have been shown to cause red blood cells to cluster together.

Lectins are categorized as anti-nutrients since they block the absorption of some nutrients.

Some scientists believe lectins are causing inflammation and it’s linked to many autoimmune diseases, including celiac disease, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.

Whole Grains also cause our body to store fat rather than to burn it. That is why Chinese, Japanese and other Asian cultures have not been faced with the obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.

Another dangerous component found in whole grain is wheat germ agglutinin (WGA).

WGA is not present in the white bread and the whole wheat bread has plenty of it.

Since the WGA is especially small protein compared with most lectins it can pass through the walls of the intestine more easily than the other lactins can and cause serious ill effects to our body.

Possible Harmful Effects Of Whole Grains and WGA

Here is the list of ill side effect caused by consuming WGA

1. Behaves like insulin, disrupting normal endocrine function by pumping sugar into fat cells, where the sugar soon turns to fat, resulting in weight gain and the development of insulin resistance.
2. Promotes inflammation by releasing free radicals, which can thin the mucosa lining of the gut.
3. Kills cells without distinguishing between normal and cancerous cells.
4. Causes atherosclerosis, the hardening of arteries from a buildup of plaque.
5. Contribution of the development of kidney inflammation.
6. Blocks sugar from getting into muscle cells, creating still more body fat and starving muscles of nourishment.
7. Interferes with the digestions of protein.
8. Cross-reacts with other proteins, creating antibodies that can infuse autoimmune responses. Those antibodies are distinct from those formed by a reaction to gluten.
9. Crosses the blood-brain barrier, taking with it other substances to which it has bonded and causing the neurological problems.
10. Interferes with the replication of DNA.

Those are only few side effects we get by consuming whole grain foods that are rich in WGA and lectins.

Simply limit whole grains and other lectin containing foods from your diet and you’ll be shocked and delighted to see what happens.

 

References:

Steven R. Gundry, MD. The Plant Paradox