Watching your wheat

A doctor campaigns against wheat

By Culinate staff

October 11, 2012

A year ago, in a book titled Wheat Belly, a cardiologist named William Davis announced that wheat is toxic. With gluten-free diets catching on, and new science suggesting that wheat may indeed be not so great, Davis’ book is taking off.

Last year he told the Chicago Tribune that eliminating wheat — even whole wheat — would not only make you feel better, but would help you lose weight. This year he’s emphasizing to CBS News that a truly healthy diet would be not just whole foods but whole foods that are the “least likely to have been changed by agribusiness.” Modern wheat doesn’t make Davis’ cut.

What’s wrong with wheat? According to Davis, it’s not gluten that’s the problem; it’s gliadin, a protein that Davis calls “an opiate” and an appetite stimulator. In other words, wheat — not just sugar, as some scientists would have it — makes us eat, and overeat.