Wheat, Fast Food & Insane Food Policies
Is Modern Wheat Dangerous to Humans? Is Modern Wheat Dangerous to Humans? Are modern changes in how wheat is processed making wheat harmful for human consumption? Citing new research, this concerns David Perlmutter, M.D. in his recent piece for The Daily Beast. Seehttp://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/10/wheat-threatens-all-humans-new-research-shows.html The processing of wheat has significantly changed over time. Modern processes have created legitimate concerns as wheat related allergies are rising and the “gluten free” diet is becoming increasingly popular. If you want an extensive read on the history of wheat processing, see Katherine Czapp’s 2006 blog piece “The History of How Wheat Became Toxic” athttp://maninisglutenfree.wordpress.com/2011/07/05/the-history-of-how-wheat-became-toxic/ According to Dr. Perlmutter, research shows that modern wheat is capable of producing more than 23,000 different proteins, any one of which could trigger a potentially damaging inflammatory response. One protein of concern is wheat germ agglutinin (WGA). WGA is classified as a lectin—a term for a protein produced by an organism to protect itself from predation. WGA may not only have harmful effects on the human gut but may also be harmful to the heart, the endocrine and immune systems, and perhaps the brain.
Rating Your Congressman On Food Policy Votes. Food Policy Action (http://www.foodpolicyaction.org) has created a scorecard that rates all members of Congress by their votes on important food policy issues. The scorecard covers issues regarding The Farm Bill, Animal Welfare, Antibiotics in Food, Biofuels, Food Safety, Genetically Engineered Food Labeling, Local & Regional Food Support, School Meals and Hunger. This website not only provides a tool for you to look at the voting record of any member of Congress on these issues but also provides information on pending food policy legislation before Congress. Not everyone is happy with this scorecard. The National Center for Public Policy Research issued a press release this week denouncing Food Policy Action as a “Left-Wing Interest Group” and claims that the scorecard is a “sham.”
See http://www.nationalcenter.org/PR-FoodPolicy_121213.html The Center’s Jeff Stier has previously written about how many so-called “healthy foods” are not as healthy as we think. See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-stier/ideologically-contaminate_b_3142252.html
Wine Consumption Leads to Healthier Sperm? According to news reports, researchers at the Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine in Lodz, Poland have found that men who drink wine (in moderation) up to three times per week create stronger sperm. Seehttp://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/49345 Be sure to tell your friends that you learned about this important discovery right from this blog.
Fast Food Undermining Our Happiness? According to Julie Beck’s story in The Atlantic, Researchers at the University of Toronto wanted to know if the presence of fast food “undermines people’s ability to experience happiness from savoring pleasurable experiences,” and answered that question in a recent study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science. Three studies found an association between fast food exposure and “a tendency not to savor experiences”. If you have time to smell the roses and read this one, you can find it at http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/11/study-fast-food-culture-hinders-our-ability-to-savor-life/281688/
The Insanity of Our Food Policy. Regardless of your political persuasion, I recommend reading Joseph E. Stiglitz’s opinion piece “The Insanity of Our Food Policy” in The New York Times. See http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/16/the-insanity-of-our-food-policy/?_r=0I agree with his point that the current Farm Bill promote the kind of food production we don’t need and does not go far enough to protect basic consumer interest in the food supply.
As always, if you have ideas and suggestions, please contact me.
Kirk Schroder / Food Advocate / foodadvocate@ellwoodthompsons.com