As testament to the influence of Wheat Belly, the following posts are representative of reader comments on the Wheat Belly blog:
It’s possible that the gluten-free diet is nothing but a fad, ending up in the loony bin of dietary history along with the grapefruit diet and the baby food diet.
Yet there is another possible outcome, in which consumers will permanently view gluten as a hazard that must be avoided, says a Canadian bakery executive.
“Our research shows that over 10 percent of the (Canadian) population had tried or is on a gluten-free diet over the last 12 months,” said Barry McLean, president of Canada Bread Fresh Bakery, a division of Maple Leaf Foods.
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“Gluten free is beginning to reach the kind of percentile, in my mind, that MSG reached in the ’80s…. What will happen if the media noise creates a continuing fear of gluten and takes gluten as something to be avoided at all cost because it will kill you?”
McLean was blunt when he talked about the serious threat of the gluten-free and anti-wheat movements during the Canada Grains Council’s annual meeting in Winnipeg in early April.
“It wouldn’t be inappropriate to say that we (the grains industry) are under assault, he said.
“We are under attack. Everyday, I get some new data point … (saying) bread is the devil.”
A January survey by the NPD Group found that 30 percent of U.S. adults want to eliminate or cut down the amount of gluten in their diet.
That kind of statistic cannot be ignored, Henry Balzer, a NPD Group industry analyst, said in a statement.
“A generation ago, health was about avoiding fat, cholesterol, sugar and sodium in our diet,” he said.
“While those desires still exist for many, they no longer are growing concerns. Today, increasingly more of us want to avoid gluten in our diet and right now it is nearly 30 percent of the adult population … and it’s growing. This is the health issue of the day.”
Canada Bread, the Canadian National Millers Association, the Baking Association of Canada and Weston Bakeries responded last fall by launching the Healthy Grains Institute. It will support and share science-based information on the role of whole grains in the diet.
Canadian producer groups are not mentioned as supporters on the Healthy Grains Institute website, but everyone in the industry needs to recognize the importance of this effort, said Paul Hetherington, president of the Baking Association of Canada.
“I think if we’re going to be successful, we need the engagement of the entire supply chain,” he said. “Proponents of the negative grain message have been enjoying the void (in the debate) because we haven’t been filling it with our scientific-based information.”
Richard Phillips, executive director of Grain Growers of Canada, said Canadian producers are willing to support the institute, but wheat associations and commissions haven’t yet been officially formed on the Prairies in the wake of industry deregulation.
“If you’re looking for serious dollars, those dollars are going to rest within the actual wheat commissions,” he said.
“Those are the groups that are going to have check-off dollars flowing in and will be in a position, financially, to step up to the degree needed.”
Only 20 years ago, grain and bread sat atop the food pyramid and were the darling of the food guide, Hetherington said.
But consumer perceptions about grain have changed dramatically over the past 10 to 15 years.
More significantly, the entire food industry has undergone a paradigm shift. He said there was a time when governments and policy makers viewed food as a solution to problems such as malnutrition and chronic illness.
Nowadays, federal, state and provincial governments are worried about the negative health implications of excess food consumption and the related impact on health budgets.
“We as a food industry … have been slow to respond to that changing environment. We, as the grains industry, have also been very slow to change to that. Maybe even more so,” Hetherington said.
McLean said there are few signs that the gluten backlash has hit its peak, even though 30 percent of Americans view gluten as a food substance to avoid.
Food companies bring more gluten-free products to the marketplace every year, which suggests that demand is still expanding.
Compounding the problem for the grains industry are books, such as Wheat Belly, by Dr. William Davis, a cardiologist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that tell consumers to avoid grain entirely.
McLean said he recently visited a Costco and noticed that Davis’s Wheat Belly Cookbook was displayed prominently in the store.
“It had 10 times more space than any other book at the store,” he said.
“I can tell you from my knowledge of the products we sell at Costco, that wouldn’t stay that way unless they were selling a lot of those cookbooks.”
Phillips said that besides contributing money to promotional campaigns, individual farmers must also defend wheat and respond to the misinformation.
“I think we can say a lot more, as actual farmers, about wheat and what we think.”
- “Consuming wheat leads to all sorts of issues such as joint pain, migraines and headaches, acid reflux, allergies, sinus issues, digestive problems such as IBS, high LDL cholesterol, visceral weight gain, obesity, diabetes and MORE.… Seems like a pretty long list of ailments for a supposed “health food!” …. Wheat is cheap, plentiful, subsidized by the government and keeps the pharmaceutical industry happy because they can dole out meds for all those above-mentioned maladies that are chronic due to the ongoing ingestion of a TOXIN.”
- “I have suffered with major depression and chronic fatigue for the last 10 years of my life…. Practically bedridden. I was at the point of having to have electroshock treatments, as none of the medications were working. “I read your book, Wheat Belly, and the diet has changed my life. I have never felt better in my life! Just by eliminating wheat, my depression is gone! I have the most energy I’ve ever had and feel great…. It’s criminal that the Food and Drug Administration is promoting something that is making us so sick! Thank you so much!”
