Against the Grain: America's Wheat Source Highjacked

Recently, I reached my 9-year milestone of strictly following a gluten-free diet. I'm not going to lie, "going gluten-free" has been incredibly challenging and has necessitated a great deal of self-control when it comes to making healthy and sustainable food choices.

Like many others in the United States, I needed to "go gluten-free" because of the inflammatory reaction that my body experienced every time I ate a baked good, pizza, or sandwich. Daily, I experienced the neurological repercussions of consuming gluten from a wheat source that has been hijacked.

In the United States, in an effort to produce wheat products at a low cost, many chemicals and pesticides are sprayed on wheat to increase the viability of wheat stock. There is actually a specific process in which wheat becomes fortified by killing the wheat so it can soak up as many nutrients from the ground as possible. Unfortunately, the wheat soaks up glyphosate which are cancer-causing agents.

So, what is gluten and how does it affect the nervous system? Personally, I didn't even know what gluten was when my doctor first advised me to cut back on this protein.

Gluten is a group of proteins called prolamins and glutelins that comprise 75 to 85% of the total protein in wheat. Wheat species such as spelt, khorasan, emmer, einkorn, barley, rye, and oats contain gluten.

Research estimates that approximately 18 million Americans have gluten sensitivity, a figure that is six times greater than the number of Americans who have celiac disease. Non-celiac gluten sensitivity often triggers neuroinflammatory cascades which can cause gut dysbiosis, cognitive impairment, auto-immune disorders, and a host of other maladies. Consumption of gluten that triggers gut dysbiosis increases the permeability of the intestinal barrier. When considering the gut as the second brain of the body, breaches in the intestinal barrier can have extremely detrimental effects. In turn, this inflammatory cascade ripples throughout the body.

Many people report not having any issues eating gluten-containing food in many countries outside of the United States such as Italy, Germany, and France. This is a testament to the toxic wheat harvesting process within the United States that is contributing to many neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative disorders.

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