So what's wrong with our wheat?

I have gone off sugar and yeast for Lent this year. Sugar I can cope with, but yeast in practical terms means going off white bread and many other breads. And guess what – I feel great! I do not want to say that I did not feel great before, but – I definitely feel greater than before!!! Lighter, would be one word to describe how I feel. Even more alive, would be another way to describe it.

At the same time I wonder why many of my clients seem to be intolerant to wheat. Not particularly to gluten. But to wheat. How come that wheat, which along with other grains has been a staple food for centuries, is now causing so many problems?

The simple truth is that wheat is not what it used to be. In ‘Lose Wheat, Lose Weight’, Dr. Dawn Hamilton points out that there are major changes in the way that modern wheat is cultivated and stored, and in how bread is baked.

Up to the 1950s wheat was grown on land that was regularly manured. It would be harvested and then dried thoroughly to prevent mould formation. It was then stored for months to mature. Only then would it be considered suitable for milling into flour. In the bakery the flour was then mixed with yeast and left to rise. This process might take up to 24 hours to complete. It was kneaded, shaped and proved again before baking. This produced a tasty wholesome loaf.

Nowadays wheat is grown using chemical fertilisers and sprayed with pesticides and fungicides while it is in the field. It is harvested and then sprayed with a chemical (potassium bromate) to ‘mature it’ in 48 hours before being milled into flour. It is also common practice to irradiate wheat to avoid insect contamination. During the milling process the wheat germ is removed to improve shelf life. Unfortunately this removes much of the natural goodness – the germ contains Vitamin E and many B vitamins. The bran is removed, drastically reducing the fibre. The natural yellow colour of the wheat is not considered aesthetically pleasing and so the flour is bleached using banzoyl peroxide which then has to be neutralised with calcium carbonate (i.e. Chalk). Then preservatives and conditioners are added to improve the texture. Vitamins are added back in, but not necessarily in a form that the body finds easy to assimilate.

In addition to flour, the average mass-produced loaf also contains accelerators such as ammonium

chloride to speed up the process of rising. Bakers use ‘flour improvers’ (e.g. soya flour) and

emulsifiers such as sodium stearyol lactylate. Preservatives are also added so that your loaf can

last for a few days in the bread bin. The result of all of this, comments Dr. Hamilton, is that “the amount of nutrition we get from many wheat based foods, including cereals and pasta, is poor. Eating a diet that is dominated by wheat means exposing oneself to a build up of chemicals.“

And that's it. If you have weetabix for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and then pasta for your evening meal, you aren’t really doing yourself any favours. I don't say that you should eliminate wheat from your diet completely but if you do eat a lot of wheat you might want to reduce your intake and consider some alternatives. Have a varied diet and if you have any issues with food intolerances, wheat or otherwise, please feel free to get in touch.