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A recent review paper released by Britain’s University of Warwick in Coventry addresses two fundamental questions regarding wheat: “Are whole grain products good for health?”; and “What is behind the rise in popularity of gluten- and wheat-free diets?”
The paper was commissioned by cereal-maker Weetabix to address reports in the news media that wheat products are the cause of health problems, resulting in an increasing number of consumers switching to low-carbohydrate grain- and wheat-free diets. For many health professionals this is a worrying trend because wheat not only supplies 20 percent of the world’s food calories and protein, but has important benefits beyond nutrition, the authors state.
The Warwick paper provides a scientific assessment of the benefits of whole grain consumption, information that the authors note seems to have been lost in media headlines and the reporting of “pseudo-science.”
The paper concludes that whole grain products are good for human health, apart from the 1 percent of the population who suffer from celiac disease and another 1 percent who suffer from sensitivity to wheat. Eating whole-grain wheat products is positive, improves health and can help maintain a healthy body weight, the authors report.
Scientific evidence regarding wheat- and carbohydrate-free diets is thin and selectively used, they state, and a low cereal and carbohydrate diet “may cost more but deliver less.”
Additionally, an economically viable industry has developed around so-called “free-from” diets and may be persuading consumers to switch from staple foods to specialist foods created especially for those who need to avoid gluten, a protein found in wheat and other grains, they add.
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) released a wheat discussion paper on Friday to highlight unsubstantiated nutritional claims about wheat and shine a spotlight on the important role of wheat and fiber in human diets. It also seeks to encourage conversation about how non-scientific claims about wheat could affect poor consumers and global food security.
WHEAT AND FAD DIETS
It is generally accepted among nutritionists that low-carbohydrate fad diets such as those detailed in such books as "Wheat Belly," written by cardiologist William Davis, and "Grain Brain," written by neurologist David Perlmutter, which vilify wheat, can lead to rapid, but temporary weight loss.
Although low-carbohydrate diets show more rapid weight loss than other diet types in the first six months, they do not result in greater weight loss over time and lead to more dropouts than more balanced diets, which do not eliminate entire food groups, writes Julie Jones, a nutritionist and professor emeritus of food and nutrition at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Not only do the authors of “Wheat Belly” and “Grain Brain” cast aside well-established medical and nutritional advice, they also disregard dietary guidelines and recommendations established by such reputable institutions as the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Whole Grains Council, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association.
To a large degree, their arguments are based on a view that imagines what dietary practices were like for early human hunter-gatherers before farmers began to domesticate wild grasses, creating wheat, which led to a more secure food supply and the capacity to develop sedentary societies.
Davis claims that wheat varieties grown today are unsuitable for human consumption because they haven’t been safety tested. He takes aim at the efforts of wheat breeders at CIMMYT, who under the direction of Norman Borlaug in the 20th century developed dwarf wheat varieties.
CIMMYT is an intergovernmental research institute working with an international community of public and private partners to reduce worldwide poverty and hunger by sustainably increasing the productivity of maize and wheat.
CIMMYT, a non-profit organization, plays a key role in providing wheat germplasm – genetic material from wheat – to be tested and improved by government-run national agricultural research systems before its potential release to farmers. Additionally, CIMMYT provides smallholder farmer training and skills development on such topics as crop management and agricultural practices.
Borlaug, who died in 2009 at age 95, led efforts to develop semi-dwarf wheat varieties in the mid-20th century that helped save more than 1 billion lives in Pakistan, India and other areas of the developing world as global population expanded and land became more scarce.
He started work on wheat improvement in the mid-1940s in Mexico, where CIMMYT is headquartered near Mexico City. The country became self-sufficient in wheat production in the early 1960s due to the high-yielding, disease-resistant varieties developed by Borlaug and his colleagues.
Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his innovative, life-saving work, which became widely known as the Green Revolution. He used traditional plant-breeding techniques still used worldwide for producing wheat and other food crops. Davis writes that 99 percent of wheat grown today is related to the dwarf varieties developed by Borlaug. Farmers prefer short-stalk wheat because it doesn’t fall over – or lodge – as easily as taller varieties, which means less grain is lost and harvests are bigger.
As the global population grows from more than 7 billion today to a projected 9.6 billion by 2050, wheat farmers continue to play a crucial role in food security.
Already, U.N. food agencies and the WHO estimate that at least 800 million people do not get enough food and that more than 2 billion suffer from micronutrient deficiency or "hidden hunger."
Stunting affects more than 160 million children under age 5 and wasting affects more than 50 million children under age 5. Under-nutrition is linked to almost half of all child deaths under age 5, almost 3 million per year. On the other hand, about half a billion people are obese and three times as many are overweight.
Arguments posed in literature and the popular press regarding the dangers of consuming wheat and gluten overlook the key role that wheat plays in nutrition and ensuring global food security. In an effort to mitigate the impact of population growth, land scarcity and climate change, scientists at CIMMYT are developing wheat varieties with higher micronutrient content and reinforcing the capacity of wheat to withstand heat and drought caused by global warming.
Zinc supplementation can help reduce the duration and impact of diarrhea in children, and iron and vitamin A supplements can reduce the risk of anemia and blindness.
Fad-diet hyperbole over the supposed dangers of wheat consumption might cause worry and unnecessary health fears among all sectors of society, but it is the poor and low-waged that may suffer the most from these campaigns. Many families cannot afford such nutrient-rich foods as fresh fruit, vegetables, beans, meat and milk, and rely on bread, rice or maize and legumes – food staples – to supplement their diets.
Socioeconomic factors can make it impossible for many people to afford or even in some cases access specialty food items.
Rather than blaming wheat for humanity’s ailments, global health experts are addressing the key nutritional problem that foods high in fat, sugar and salt are relatively inexpensive and readily available, leading to both rich and poor people becoming overweight and obese.
In November, at the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) in Rome, the WHO, the FAO and 170 governments committed to fight malnutrition in all its forms, including hunger, micronutrient deficiencies and obesity. They laid out a framework for ending hunger, achieving food security and improving nutrition by 2025.
Governments who signed onto the framework are tasked with encouraging a reduction in trans fats, saturated fats, sugar and salt, and to improve the nutrient content of foods through regulatory and voluntary instruments.
HEALTHY DIETS
A healthy diet helps prevent malnutrition as well as non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and conditions. However, increasing production of processed food, rapid urbanization and lifestyles have shifted dietary patterns, according to the WHO. Foods high in energy, saturated fats, trans fats, free sugars or salt are increasingly being consumed, while many people do not eat enough fruit, vegetables and such dietary fibre as whole grains.
A healthy diet for adults includes fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts and whole grains. Adults should eat at least 400 grams (14 ounces), or five portions, of fruit and vegetables daily, while less than 10 percent of total energy should come from free sugars and less than 30 percent of total energy from fat, according to the WHO. Unsaturated fats are better than saturated fats, the U.N. health agency reports. Additionally, it says that industrial trans fats in processed food, fast food, snack food, fried food, frozen pizza, pies, cookies, margarines and spreads are not considered part of a healthy diet, recommending that adults should consume less than the equivalent of one teaspoon of salt a day and use iodized salt.
For children, nutrition is vital to prevent the risk of death or developing non-communicable diseases and to ensure healthy growth and development. As well as taking into consideration the guidelines for adults, breastfeeding plays an important role in ensuring a nutritional beginning to life.
The WHO and FAO recommend that governments, public and private sector stakeholders must collaborate to help promote a healthy food environment, which allows people to adopt healthy dietary practices.
In practice, such activities include coordinating trade, food and agricultural policies with the protection and promotion of public health, encouraging consumer demand for healthy food and promoting nutrition in infants and young people.
For the full paper, please visit the CIMMYT website:
Anti-Wheat Fad Diets Undermine Global Food Security Efforts
Follow CIMMYT on Twitter @CIMMYT
