The term ‘gluten’ encompasses two primary families of proteins, the gliadins and the glutenins. The gliadins, the protein group that most vigorously triggers the immune response in coeliac disease, has three subtypes: α/β-gliadins, Γ-gliadins and Ω-gliadins. Like amylopectin, glutenins are large repeating structures, or polymers, of more basic structures. The strength of dough is due to the large polymeric glutenins, a genetically programmed characteristic purposefully selected by plant breeders.13
Gluten from one wheat strain can be quite different in structure from that of another strain. The gluten proteins produced by einkorn wheat, for example, are distinct from the gluten proteins of emmer, which are, in turn, different from the gluten proteins of Triticum aestivum.14, 15 Because fourteen-chromosome einkorn, containing the so-called A genome (set of genes), has the smallest chromosomal set, it codes for the fewest number and variety of glutens. Twenty-eight-chromosome emmer, containing the A genome with the added B genome, codes for a larger variety of gluten. Forty-two-chromosome Triticum aestivum, with the A, B and D genomes, has the greatest gluten variety, even before any human manipulation of its breeding. Hybridisation efforts of the past fifty years have generated numerous additional changes in gluten-coding genes in Triticum aestivum, most of them purposeful modifications of the D genome that confer baking and aesthetic characteristics on flour.16 Indeed, genes located in the D genome are those most frequently pinpointed as the source of the glutens that trigger coeliac disease.17
It is therefore the D genome of modern Triticum aestivum that, having been the focus of all manner of genetic shenanigans by plant geneticists, has accumulated substantial change in genetically determined characteristics of gluten proteins. It is also potentially the source for many of the odd health phenomena experienced by consuming humans.
IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT GLUTEN
Gluten isn’t the only potential villain lurking in wheat flour.
Beyond gluten, the other 20 per cent or so of nongluten proteins in wheat include albumins, prolamins and globulins, each of which can also vary from strain to strain. In total, there are more than a thousand other proteins that are meant to serve such functions as protecting the grain from pathogens, providing water resistance and providing reproductive functions. There are agglutinins, peroxidases, α-amylases, serpins and acyl CoA oxidases, not to mention five forms of glycerinaldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenases. I shouldn’t neglect to mention β-purothionin, puroindolines a and b, and starch synthases. Wheat ain’t just gluten, any more than Southern cooking is just grits.
As if this protein/enzyme smorgasbord weren’t enough, food manufacturers have also turned to fungal enzymes, such as cellulases, glucoamylases, xylanases and β-xylosidases, to enhance leavening and texture in wheat products. Many bakers also add soya flour to their dough to enhance mixing and whiteness, introducing yet another collection of proteins and enzymes.
In coeliac disease, the one conventionally accepted (though much underdiagnosed) example of wheat-related intestinal illness, gluten protein, specifically α-gliadin, provokes an immune response that inflames the small intestine, causing incapacitating abdominal cramps and diarrhoea. Treatment is simple: complete avoidance of anything containing gluten.
Beyond coeliac disease, though, there are allergic or anaphylactic (a severe reaction resulting in shock) reactions to nongluten proteins, including α-amylases, thioredoxin and glycerinaldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, along with about a dozen others.18 Exposure in susceptible individuals triggers asthma, rashes (atopic dermatitis and urticaria), and a curious and dangerous condition called wheat-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis (WDEIA), in which rash, asthma or anaphylaxis are provoked during exercise. WDEIA is most commonly associated with wheat (it can also occur with shellfish) and has been attributed to various Ω-gliadins and glutenins.
In short, wheat is not just a complex carbohydrate with gluten and bran. Wheat is a complex collection of biochemically unique compounds that vary widely according to genetic code. Just by looking at a poppy seed muffin, for instance, you would be unable to discern the incredible variety of gliadins, other gluten proteins and nongluten proteins contained within it, many of them unique to the modern dwarf wheat that was your muffin’s source. On taking your first bite, you would enjoy the immediate sweetness of the muffin’s amylopectin A as it sends your blood sugar skyward.
Let’s next explore the incredible wide-ranging health effects of your muffin and other wheat-containing foods.
HEY, MAN, WANNA BUY SOME EXORPHINS? THE ADDICTIVE PROPERTIES OF WHEAT
ADDICTION. WITHDRAWAL. DELUSIONS. Hallucinations. I’m not describing mental illness or a scene from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I’m talking about this food you invite into your kitchen, share with friends and dunk in your tea.
I will discuss why wheat is unique among foods for its curious effects on the brain, effects shared with opiate drugs. It explains why some people experience incredible difficulty removing wheat from their diet. It’s not just a matter of inadequate resolve, inconvenience or breaking well-worn habits; it’s about severing a relationship with something that gains hold of your psyche and emotions, not unlike the hold heroin has over the desperate addict.
While you knowingly consume coffee and alcohol to obtain specific mind effects, wheat is something you consume for ‘nutrition’, not for a ‘fix’. Like drinking the Kool-Aid at the Jim Jones revival meeting, you may not even be aware that this thing, endorsed by all ‘official’ agencies, is fiddling with your mind.
People who eliminate wheat from their diet typically report improved mood, fewer mood swings, improved ability to concentrate and deeper sleep within just days to weeks of their last bite of bagel or baked lasagna. These sorts of ‘soft’ subjective experiences on our brains, however, are tough to quantify. They are also subject to the placebo effect – i.e., people just think they’re feeling better. I am, however, impressed with how consistent these observations are, experienced by the majority of people once the initial withdrawal effects of mental fog and fatigue subside. I’ve personally experienced these effects and also witnessed them in thousands of people.
It is easy to underestimate the psychological pull of wheat. Just how dangerous can an innocent bran muffin be, after all?
‘BREAD IS MY CRACK!’
Wheat is a food that is unparalleled for its potential to generate entirely unique effects on the brain and nervous system. There is no doubt: for some people, wheat is addictive. And, in some people, it is addictive to the point of obsession.
Some people with wheat addiction just know they have a wheat addiction. Or perhaps they identify it as an addiction to some wheat-containing food, such as pasta or pizza. They already understand, even before I tell them, that their wheat-food-addiction-of-choice provides a little ‘high’. I still get shivers when a well-dressed, suburban mum desperately confesses to me, ‘Bread is my crack. I just can’t give it up!’
Wheat can dictate food choice, calorie consumption, timing of meals and snacks. It can influence behaviour and mood. It can even come to dominate thoughts. A number of my patients, when presented with the suggestion of removing it from their diets, report obsessing over wheat products to the point of thinking about them, talking about them, salivating over them constantly for weeks. ‘I can’t stop thinking about bread.