Oklahoma wheat brief, fall 2012

              Brief A Publication of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission Fall 2012 OklahomaWheat
Treat Your Wheat.. With the Respect it Deserves in Your Diet
Published by: US Wheat Associates
No matter where you live, no matter your income, no matter
your culture – we all share the biological need to provide our
bodies with healthy, nutritious food. And, according to the
United Nations, 20 percent of our world’s calories come from
wheat products and 20 percent of the protein consumed by
people in developing countries also comes from wheat foods.
That’s why wheat researchers across the globe are working on
developing wheat varieties that stand up to tough environmental
challenges like drought and frost, utilize less natural resources
like water and provide even more nutritional value.
Yet, in the United States, a growing number of Americans
have been duped – including celebrities like singer Lady Gaga
and Fox News host Bill O’Reilly – into believing recent claims
that wheat not only is no longer necessary for strong, healthy
bodies, but also that it has nefariously been turned into a “chronic
poison” that causes addictive eating habits and obesity.
Touting his book, “Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat Lose the
Weight,” on CBS, cardiologist Dr. William Davis claimed that
the semi-dwarf varieties of wheat developed by Dr. Norman
Borlaug during the Green Revolution have increased levels
of a protein called gliadin that cause Americans today to eat
an extra 440 calories a day because the peptides that form as
gliadin stimulate appetite. Some nutritionists appearing on
programs like “The View” are supporting this claim that wheat
is extremely detrimental to human health.
Dr. Glenn Gaesser, Arizona State University professor and
director of the Healthy Lifestyles Research Center, rebuked
gluten-free proponents in the Capital Press, saying, “There’s
the lingering perception that carbs are somehow bad, grains in
particular. Much of that is based on conjecture; it’s nonsense.
It claims that wheat is the cause of all our problems, that it
stimulates appetite, but that’s just not true.”
Dr. Brett Carver, wheat breeder at Oklahoma State University
and chair of the National Wheat Improvement Committee,
also rebuked these claims in an interview with the Oklahoma
Farm Report. He reported that modern wheat breeding has not
changed protein composition or protein amounts of the wheat,
further stating that there is not sufficient evidence to claim the
protein itself has changed. Additionally, a study published in the
July 1, 2012, edition of the Journal of Nutrition examined 45
other studies and 21 randomized-controlled trials and reported
that individuals who regularly consumed whole grains, versus
those who never or rarely consumed whole grains, had a 26
percent lower risk of Type II diabetes, a 21 percent lower risk
of cardiovascular disease and consistently had less weight gain
during an eight to 13 year period.
According to the Wheat Foods Council’s September issue of
Kernels, less than 1 percent of the population has celiac disease,
and another estimated 6 percent suffer from gluten sensitivity.
For these people, gluten-free products are medically necessary.
But this relatively small population alone does not account for
the fact that in the United States, the gluten-free market grew
30 percent each year between 2006 and 2010, according to a
2011 report by Packaged Facts. In fact, according to a July
study from the American Journal of Gastroenterology, 1.6
million people in the United States are on a gluten-free diet,
even though they have not been diagnosed with celiac disease.
So, what are these fad diet followers missing out on? Nothing
but extra calories, according to Dr. Davis. However, a recent
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