Wheat Foods Council Speaks Out Against Wheat Misinformation on Dr. Oz Show

The Wheat Foods Council took a strong stand against misinformation about wheat that was presented to viewers as fact on last week’s Dr. Oz Show. The segment, entitled “Are You Addicted to Wheat?,” contained a number of inaccuracies and misrepresentations about wheat and wheat foods.

To set the record straight, we sent the following letter to Dr. Oz and the show’s producer:

Wheat Foods Council
51 D Red Fox Lane
Ridgway, CO  81432
Phone: 970.626.9828/Fax: 970. 626.3686

December 5, 2012

Dr. Mehmet Oz, MD
Ms. Susan Wagner, Supervising Producer, Dr. Oz Show Medical Unit

Dear Dr. Oz and Ms. Wagner:

The Dr. Oz show has won awards, received critical praise, and is watched by 3 million people each week. It provides a valuable opportunity to educate Americans about important matters regarding their health. Yet, on Monday, December 3, 2012, you hosted Dr. William Davis and allowed every contention in “Wheat Belly – Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight” – a book that has not been peer reviewed and has been questioned by a number of experts with no connection whatsoever to the wheat industry – to be presented as unquestionable fact.

As a respected and credentialed nutrition professional, I am compelled to set the record straight. For starters, I have attached an article by noted carbohydrate expert and nutrition educator Dr. Julie Miller Jones, which appears in the July-August 2012 issue of the peer-reviewed scientific publication, Cereal Foods World, in which Dr. Jones examines each of the claims in the book and presents the scientific facts.  While Dr. Jones says it best, I will also address the key allegations made by Davis on the show:

Wheat and Obesity

While Davis claims that wheat is a “major contributor to obesity” in America, this statement is false. A recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found the lowest amount of visceral fat accumulation is associated with two servings per day of refined grains and three servings per day of whole grains.[1] These results are consistent with the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which call for the average healthy American to consume six one-ounce servings of grain foods daily, half from whole grain sources and the other half from enriched. Additionally, the study showed that subjects consuming more than three servings of whole grains per day had 10% less abdominal fat than subjects who ate no whole grains.

U.S. wheat consumption has decreased 16 pounds per capita since 1997, while at the same time obesity has skyrocketed. It is a big stretch to blame wheat for the obesity epidemic in this country.

Davis’ claim that eating wheat “stimulates” us all to eat “440 calories more per day” is metabolically and mathematically incorrect.  If it were true, we would all gain 46 lbs. per year due to our wheat-induced increased appetite (440 X 365 days in a year = 160,600 calories divided by 3,500 calories [the amount needed to gain 1 lb] = 45.9 lbs).  While it is true that collectively many Americans are gaining weight, there are many, many reasons for this including our increased consumption of foods prepared or eaten away from home as well as aging which is associated with weight gain.²

A Magic Cure-All

According to Davis, simply eliminating wheat from our diets will result in an end to a wide range of medical conditions from diabetes, to acne, schizophrenia and joint pain. It is well documented in the medical literature that symptom relief of co-morbidities related to obesity and overweight, such as insulin resistance, arthritis, high blood pressure, and dyslipidemia, is seen with weight reduction, in some cases as little as 10% body weight loss for both adolescents and adults.³ 4   Eliminating any single food group from one’s diet is likely to result in weight loss but it is the weight loss, not the eliminated food that is the cause of the “miracle cure.” Health experts agree that the best way to lose weight, and keep it off, is to limit calories, while eating a diet that includes all food groups, and increasing exercise. Research has shown that an overly restrictive diet, such as the one proposed in Wheat Belly, can not only be unhealthy, it is also not sustainable long-term. In addition, cutting out wheat puts dieters at risk for getting adequate fiber, a nutrient which has been shown to be vital for reducing chronic disease.

Furthermore, diets lacking whole and enriched grains are also lower in B vitamins, particularly folic acid. Folic acid is critical in the prevention of neural tube birth defects; all women of childbearing age (including teens) should include enriched grains in their diets in order to prevent birth defects, whether the pregnancy is planned or unplanned. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) acknowledges that enriched grains, rather than supplements, are responsible for lowering the rate of neural tube birth defects by approximately one-third in the U.S. and named folic acid fortification of enriched grains as one of the top ten public health achievements of the last decade.⁵

Modern Wheat vs Older Varieties

Davis also claims that wheat has been genetically engineered and is no longer the same wheat that ancient civilizations – or even our grandparents – used to eat. Wheat, as the majority of all food plants in the world, has undergone traditional breeding over the years. Contrary to popular belief, there is no genetically modified wheat in the world food supply at this time. 

The hybridization that originated common wheat occurred 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. All cultivated wheats, modern or old landraces have this hybridization event in common, so the genetic make-up of ancestral wheat landraces and modern varieties is the same.

Wheat starch possess around 65-75% amylopectin and 25-35% amylose. Modern, semi dwarf, durum wheat starch possesses similar proportion of amylose as the starch of ancient emmer.

In the 1800s, self-educated farmers were making selections from existing lines. Modern wheat breeding (crossing of two wheat varieties) began in earnest in the US in the early 20^th century. The genetic make-up of wheat landraces, the first wheat varieties developed by cross-hybridization, and modern wheat varieties is the same. 

Numerous peer-reviewed journal articles show that the composition of wheat, on average, has not changed.

Addictive Foods

As far as the statement “wheat breaks down into polypeptides that can cross the blood brain barrier and act like opiates in the brain, causing some people to have a wheat addiction,”  spinach, as well as many protein foods, also contain opiate-type peptides but no one appears to become addicted to spinach.⁶

The fact is that gliadin is a grain storage protein found in wheat (there are similar offending proteins in rye and barley). It has been present in wheat and wheat relatives including emmer and einkorn for at least 10,000 years. An opiate is an alkaloid found in the sap of the opium poppy plant.  Gliadin is not an opiate.  There is no clinical evidence that gliadin stimulates appetite.

Glycemic Index

Davis makes a connection between wheat consumption and weight gain as a result of increased blood sugar levels, a reference to what is known as the “Glycemic Index” of a food. As you may know, the Glycemic Index (GI) was originally created by a nutrition professor at the University of Toronto to help people with diabetes choose foods to manage their blood sugars. 

Some of the known shortcomings of the Glycemic Index are that the index is unable to account for variations in cooking times, storage, and the extent to which food has been processed.  Furthermore, people do not eat foods in isolation, a crucial factor the GI fails to take into account.

Although it is correct that whole wheat breads have a higher GI than some candy bars, the GI compares 50 g of available carbohydrate, which is about 4 slices of whole wheat bread and about 2.5 oz. of a Mars bar, so the volume of food is different. In addition, there are several factors involved in available carbohydrate levels, including the fat content of the food, which impedes amylase activity; other components such as nuts, a naturally low-GI food; and the rich phenolics and antioxidants in the chocolate, which lower the GI of the candy bar.

In short, because the calories and nutrients delivered by the two products are so vastly different, it is not possible to make a direct comparison that is meaningful. The GI is an unreliable tool for evaluating a food’s healthfulness, or for using as a basis for weight loss.

The show’s “experiment” in which the blood sugar levels of 5 women were measured after eating an undisclosed amount of bread and again after eating an undisclosed amount of candy bar, was more showmanship than science. No information about the five women was provided. How were they chosen? What health conditions did they have? What had they eaten before the bread and candy bar? Why were the two women whose blood sugar did not spike not discussed? Why was your audience not given more information about the glycemic index and its known shortcomings among the scientific community as a dietary tool?

I also was appalled that this so-called wheat expert didn’t know bulgur is wheat AND he was not questioned about that fact. I would suggest you have a wheat breeding expert on your show with a qualified dietitian to discuss the science behind the story.

Finally, I recommend you read Pete Bronski’s blog post from March 12, 2012, “Wheat Belly, Busted” (http://noglutennoproblem.blogspot.com/2012/03/wheat-belly-busted.html). In case you are not familiar with Mr. Bronski, he is an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in some 75 magazines and is a spokesperson for the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. He has no relationship to the wheat industry whatsoever but he does have a strong interest in sound nutrition science.

Bottom line, you have an opportunity to be a voice for common sense and reason about nutrition in a world where misinformation on this topic is rampant. While it may not be as “sexy” to tell people that a balanced diet that incorporates all food groups, accompanied by regular physical activity, is the best way to maintain a healthy weight, it is the advice the American public needs to be hearing and would do the most good in fighting obesity. Certainly, if anyone could make this compelling and interesting, it would be Dr. Oz.

Please feel free to contact me should you have further questions or desire additional information.

Sincerely yours,

Judi Adams, MS, RD
Wheat Foods Council
51D Red Fox Lane
Ridgway, CO 81432
www.Wheatfoods.org

References:

[1] McKeown, Nicola, Troy, Lisa, Jacques, Paul, Hoffmann, Udo, J. O’Donnell, Christopher, S. Fox, Caroline. Whole-and refined-grain intakes are differentially associated with abdominal visceral and subcutaneous adiposity in healthy adults: the Framingham Heart Study. Am J Clin Nutr 2010;92:1165-71

² Emily J. McAllister, Nikhil V. Dhurandhar, Scott W. Keith, Louis J. Aronne, Jamie Barger, etal. Ten Putative Contributors to the Obesity Epidemic Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2009 November; 49(10): 868–913. doi:  10.1080/10408390903372599

³ Fontana L, Villareal DT, Weiss EP, Racette SB, Steger-May K, Klein S, Holloszy JO. Calorie restriction or exercise: effects on coronary heart disease risk factors a randomized, controlled trial.  Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2007 Jul;293(1):E197-202.

⁴ J. Grulich-Henn, S. Lichtenstein, F. Hörster, G. F. Hoffmann, P. P. Nawroth, A. Hamann. Moderate Weight Reduction in an Outpatient Obesity Intervention Program Significantly Reduces Insulin Resistance and Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease in Severely Obese Adolescents. International Journal of Endocrinology. 2011;(2011):541021

⁵ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ten great public health achievements—United States, 2001-2010. MMWR. 2011; 60: 619-623.

6Jones MJ. Wheat Belly – An Analysis of Selected Statements and Basic Theses from the Book. Cer Foods World. 57 (4) July-August 2012:177-189.