William Davis, MD, is a preventive cardiologist whose unique approach to diet allows him to advocate reversal, not just prevention, of heart disease.
He is the founder of the 
There are several of what I call “nails in the coffin” for wheat.
These are potential issues related to wheat that are so bad that, if any one of them prove true, then once and for all it will be goodbye to wheat’s image as saviour of health, protector of weight, darling of “official” agencies.
Among these nails in the coffin:
Gliadin as a cause of autism–We’ve all heard that autism has increased considerably over the past two decades, now affecting 1% of all children, and nobody knows why. Autistic kids have difficulty engaging in relationships and making friends with other kids, and usually have to be placed in special educational tracks to accommodate their unique needs.
We know that celiac disease can masquerade as autism, generating the full spectrum of the disorder. We also know that mothers with rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases and families with type 1 diabetes have increased likelihood of autistic children. We also know that autistic kids have an exaggerated reaction to wheat gliadin/gluten, along with increased likelihood of antibodies against gliadin. And wheat consumption has been associated with decreased fertility, suggesting an effect on the fetus and/or the uterine environment.
Can in utero exposure to wheat gliadin underlie the neurological changes that lead to autism in the newborn? If this relationship holds true, the lifelong implications for the child are so overwhelming that it can only mean that wheat has no role in the diet of any female contemplating pregnancy .
Wheat lectin as cause of leptin resistance–There is well-founded speculation that the lectin of wheat, wheat germ agglutinin, may be the instigator of leptin resistance. Leptin resistance is reflected by the paradoxic increase in leptin blood levels seen in overweight people. While increased leptin is supposed to turn off appetite and induce satiety, overweight and obese people have high levels of leptin despite their weight. This has been attributed to the condition of leptin resistance, the failure to respond to circulating leptin.
This group of investigators has speculated that lectins are perfectly crafted to be the trigger for leptin resistance. If true, it means that wheat consumption = weight gain via leptin resistance. It means that, in addition to the amylopectin A-induced straight-up rise in blood sugar/insulin and the appetite-stimulating effects of gliadin, wheat consumption = obesity.
Wheat lectins as a cause of gastrointestinal cancer–Could Steve Jobs, who died of pancreatic cancer, have actually died of long-term exposure to the lectins of wheat?
Think about it: People who eliminate wheat experience marked and often total relief from acid reflux, cramps and diarrhea of irritable bowel syndrome, improvement (and occasional cure) of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. There are marked shifts in bowel bacteria and changes in pancreatic function with wheat elimination. If the irritative and inflammatory effects of wheat consumption on the gastrointestinal tract are so marked, and the effects of removal so dramatic, is it much of a leap to believe that the chronic inflammation and irritation caused by wheat could, over time, also lead to cancer?
After all, a major cause of cancer (“oncogenesis” or “tumorigenesis”) is long-term, repetitive irritation and/or inflammation. The prolonged inflammation and irritation of ulcerative colitis, for instance, can result in colon cancer. People with celiac disease have increased risk for cancer of the small bowel, colon, biliary tract, and other gastrointestinal cancers. If we view celiac disease as just one end of the spectrum of wheat-related gastrointestinal irritation, then these conditions like acid reflux and irritable bowel syndrome that we might view as “celiac disease lite” may also heighten risk.
The Wheat Lobby and its friends in high places at the USDA, the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, and other “official” providers of nutritional advice all agree: Replace white processed flour with whole grains, and incidence of cancer is reduced. That is indeed true. But the effects of NO grains is what is in question.
My prediction: “Healthy whole grains” will prove to be the #1 most substantial cause of gastrointestinal cancers from mouth to anus (oral, esophageal, gastric, small intestine, colon, rectal, pancreatic, biliary) and thereby the #1 most preventable cause of gastrointestinal cancers.
Any one or all of these questions, if they hold true, will add a nail in the coffin for this incredibly corrupt invader of diet. The era of “healthy whole grains” will join bleeding with leeches and burning witches at the stake as crimes of incredible gullibility and folly.
Hi Dr. Davis,
More pathway science, this time via evolution. As humans started eating grain, it challenged the human genome so greatly that survival of the species required another mutation.
Primitive mammals and early hominids used a blood-based enzyme to mitigate reactive hypoglycemia caused by ingestion of carbohydrates. The enzyme is DPPIV. DPPIV works slowly, and breaks down blood insulin by deamidating it. Ingestion of simple sugars can cause such a fast rise in blood sugar that the pancreas must assume the blood is receiving a large quantity of sugar. The combination causes reactive hypoglycemia, a rapid drop in blood sugar. DPPIV in the blood mitigates this drop, and returns blood sugar to normal.
However, eating grains provided a new challenge to this system. Grassy grain proteins are virtually impossible for carnivores like humans to digest. So humans started employing DPPIV in the small intestine in order to digest grains.
DPPIV digests wheat gluten slowly in the small intestine through deamidation. But here’s the kicker. The dual rolls of DPPIV represent flawed therapy against the damage caused by wheat. Given time and age people start reacting to wheat with zonulin and intestinal permeability. The permeability reaction arrests the digestive action of DPPIV. The permeable gut wall places undigested gluten and other intestinal contents into the bloodstream
Along with these contents a large amount of DPPIV goes into the bloodstream. In the bloodstream the influx of wheat sugars cause the pancreas to release insulin. The prehistoric amount of DPPIV would probably be adequate for mopping up the wheat sugars.
But blood sugar is not the only cause of insulin release. Endorphin also causes insulin release. Wheat gluten contains a large load of endorphin-mimetic opioid proteins. These proteins cause an uncontrollably sustained flood of insulin. The wheat-caused influx of extra DPPIV into the bloodstream is required in order to maintain life under these conditions.
I didn’t know that, Uncle Roscoe!
An interesting twist, the endorphin-insulin connection.
By the way, I am planning to further explore many of these lesser known connections in wheat via clinical research. While there are reams of data that prove beyond any remaining doubt that modern wheat has no role in the human diet, it will take repeated validation to convince most people. It’s coming.
Dr. Davis,
Your new research promises excitement. This leaves me wishing I lived in your neighborhood.
The pancreas monitors blood endorphin in order to monitor fight-or-flight level catabolism. The pancreas releases insulin, and re-invokes anabolism before muscles can permanently damage themselves.
My post above contains a couple of technical errors. Here’s a replacement. Mods may release my previous post at will.
Hi Dr. Davis,
More pathway science, this time via evolution. As humans started eating grain, it challenged the human genome so greatly that survival of the species required another mutation.
Primitive mammals and early hominids used a blood-based enzyme to mitigate reactive hypoglycemia caused by ingestion of carbohydrates. The enzyme is DPPIV. DPPIV works slowly, and breaks down blood insulin by deamidating it. Ingestion of simple sugars can cause such a fast rise in blood sugar that the pancreas must assume the blood is receiving a large quantity of sugar. The pancreas responds by releasing lots of insulin. The insulin causes reactive hypoglycemia, a rapid drop in blood sugar. DPPIV in the blood mitigates this drop, and returns blood sugar to normal.
However, eating grains provided a new challenge to this system. Grassy grain proteins are virtually impossible for carnivores like humans to digest. So humans started employing DPPIV in the small intestine in order to digest grains.
DPPIV digests wheat gluten slowly in the small intestine through deamidation. But here’s the kicker. The dual rolls of DPPIV represent flawed therapy against the damage caused by wheat. Given time and age people start reacting to wheat with zonulin and intestinal permeability. The permeability reaction arrests the digestive action of DPPIV. The permeable gut wall places undigested gluten and other intestinal contents into the bloodstream
Along with these contents a large amount of DPPIV goes into the bloodstream. In the bloodstream the influx of wheat sugars cause the pancreas to release insulin. The prehistoric concentration of blood DPPIV would probably be adequate for mopping up the insulin caused by wheat sugars.
But blood sugar is not the only cause of insulin release. Endorphin also causes insulin release. Wheat gluten contains a large load of endorphin-mimetic opioid proteins. These proteins cause an uncontrollably sustained flood of insulin. The wheat-caused influx of extra DPPIV into the bloodstream is required in order to maintain life under these conditions.
Wheat is still a contender for cause or aggravator of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).
A team that thought they had isolated the cause (XMRV, a virus) has just had their paper formally retracted from Science, and they are being pressured to concur with that move.
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Hi Dr. Davis,
What you’ve written here is in line with what Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride wrote in her book called “Gut and Psychology Syndrome,” which was borne out of her own son’s autism diagnosis (which she reversed… he is now cured). That is a fascinating read, and I would recommend it for anyone who needs to know more about this important subject.
Thanks for all you do!
Hi, Randa–
Yes, I am impressed that many of us are coming to similar conclusions from a variety of different perspectives.
Just came out today that Utah has the highest rate of Autism 1 in 47. Not shocked by this as they are huge eaters of bread and things made with wheat. Every get together I been to has breads and lots of it And desserts made with flour not so much of the fresh fruit or veggies. So after reading some of your book and some of this blog. It makes total sense to me. I did a test and ate 6 paper thin whole wheat crackers after not eating for at least a week and I felt crappy.
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Dr. Davis,
Do you have any opinion on whether you think stool testing for antibodies is reliable in diagnosing gluten intolerances? My son has eosinophilic esophagitis and ever since taking him off wheat his symptoms have been almost gone. His conventional gastroenterologist though has recommended him being off many more foods too for now, so we are in that add-back food trial process also. We ordered stool testing on both my son and daughter through Enterolab, and both results showed IGA Antibodies to gliadin and anti-tissue transglutiminase, which they said means they both are having an immune response to gluten. Our gastroenterologist said stool testing means nothing to him and that those tests are not something they use. My daughter’s blood celiac screening panel came back normal though. My son never had one because the “gold standard” biopsy of the small intestine came back fine. What is your opinion on the accuracy of stool testing to determine gluten issues? Enterolab explains that stool testing can pick up antibodies quicker since it’s taking them right from what’s in the digestional tract, but it takes longer for them to build up in the blood enough to show up as elevated on blood tests.
Thanks,
Kristi
Hi, Kristi–
Enterlabs has been in the forefront of testing for wheat intolerance, but their technologies have been released faster than their clinical validation. So we have these “abnormal” tests without full benefit of full exploration of how they compare to other tests like biopsies.
However, your gastroenterologist is guilty of thinking that all wheat intolerance is celiac . . . or else you are not intolerant. This is among the biggest blunders made.
My view: Your son is better. That’s all the proof you need. Educate your son that wheat was harming him in countless ways. Never eat it again and tell your gastroenterologists to read his own literature rather than seeing everything from the end of his scope.
Dr. Davis,
Thanks for your reply! I agree-seeing first hand results is what’s most important. If we add back all the other allergenic foods and his esophagitis does not return, then we know we’re left with that is was just the wheat. We are saving wheat for last and do not even plan on adding it back at all unless one of the other foods would show to be the cause first. I think it’s wheat, but his scope after being off of wheat for 3 mos. still showed elevated eosinophils so they said it could not just be wheat. Our chiropractor/allergist told us though that it could take longer than 3 mos. for the body to heal and the allergic reaction to be gone once going off wheat, so I’m hoping that is the case.
Thanks,
Kristi
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