A plant breeder, a scientist, Dr. Prabin Bajgain presents his critique on the book Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health. He narrates, as a scientist, that the claims made by the book – that the wheat crop has been genetically modified, causing disorders including obesity-- are not only misleading but are also delusive and lack proper research.
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A few years back, a book by the name 'The Wheat Belly' took the US by storm. Published in 2011, it became one of the bestsellers, primarily because it reached out to a vulnerable group among the population. The underlying (conspiracy) theory of the book was that the current wheat crop has been genetically modified by wheat scientists and breeders and therefore, is the cause of multiple disorders including obesity.
"Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health":
With a title simulating a nursery rhyme, a considerable number of people fell for it. One of the 'fattest' nations in the world loved the book that preached how eating a certain cereal had made them fat and unhealthy. Not their lifestyle, no, but a cereal was guilty. As long as humans find something or someone to shift the blame to, they do that and feel cleansed. But I digress.
Coincidentally, when the book was creating an interesting debate, my doctoral research in wheat breeding was underway in the same country. During one of the meetings with my professor (also the wheat breeder for the state where I was attending graduate school), he asked if I had heard of the book. I said yes. I, in turn, asked him for his opinion... I was curious to hear the views of a middle-aged athletic, perfectly healthy American and above all-- a wheat breeder.
He said something along the line of having more idiots in his country per capita than elsewhere. The author was a medical doctor, sure, but had virtually no clue about crop evolution, breeding, genetics and their usage in cultures across the world. He seemed disappointed that a learned man had published and publicized such theory without consulting with any of the wheat breeders in academia in the country; and more disappointed in his country-folks for following such misguided and biased publication.
Then he asked what my thoughts were. I told him that I hadn't read the book(at that time) but told him how we Nepali folks love wheat. From roti-tarkaari to momos and puris to tanduris, we ABSOLUTELY love wheat.
Growing up, I often had bhute ko gahu-keraau with gundruk for tiffin. I explained to him that most of the hilly regions in Nepal grow rain-fed wheat, unlike in the US. Wheat, with corn and potatoes (both of rain-fed varieties or land-races), is probably one of the most important staple crops in hilly regions where irrigation is virtually impossible. Kids such as I myself literally grew up on such cereals.
Intrigued, he asked if we were fat.
Haha. I told him – no, we are actually quite a skinny lot. Lot of people don't even get enough to eat. Unlike what the book claims, most adults in Nepal are not obese. And farmers most certainly enjoy growing wheat – good market and not too much maintenance required.
Professor said, "you write a book and tell him."
I said, it's alright... often words are loud when one has a full belly.
I think he felt something right there when I said that. Of course those are not my words, but Gandhi's. Norman Borlaug, the greatest wheat breeder to have ever lived, later made that quote famous.
While I was talking to him, I realized I was one of the fortunate ones to eat so well. Sure, life was hard. I had to drag myself to the field day in and day out, including that precious Saturday – the only day I got a break from school. Be it a rainy day, cold day or scorching hot day-- sometimes even when that cute dame from my class passed by the field. How embarrassing!
But life was not that bad after all.
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I recalled that there were these Tamang boys around my age (13-15) and sometimes younger too, who lived only about 10km away but walked approximately 2.5 hrs to come to our village to sell dumri (a local fruit that I have not encountered anywhere else in Nepal), baabiyo,amriso, saalkopaat, among others. What did they take in return? Maize and wheat. Rice too, primarily to make 'chhyaang'. So little land they had and consequently so little grain they produced that they could not enjoy as much wheat or maize as I could. In their case, forget the so called wheat belly- it was rather like what belly??
And I am almost certain there are numerous other people who are living in situations worse than those Tamang dudes- in Nepal or outside.
When that book expounded on having a wheat belly and an unhealthy life from eating wheat that has been "genetically modified by scientists and breeders", I am positive that it did not have those marginalized people in mind.
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THE WHEAT BELLY: A CRITIQUE
Let's discuss a bit about the genetics part of the book. Being a scientist, I must explain why and how the author is wrong and the book is vehemently misleading. There are plenty of criticisms and rebuttals about his book on the internet. Feel free to delve into one/any if you have some spare time or if you feel like it.
The book claims that wheat genome has been modified in the past centuries causing it to be harmful to humans. The term 'genome modification' is a vague one because everytime a farmer saves seeds to sow for next season, he/she is in fact modifying the genome. Forget scientists, farmers have been the first and primary plant breeders in this planet for thousands of years. Yet, the author seems to know nothing about this. His theory is that modern plant breeders have 'deliberately' done something because of which wheat is toxic to most humans. Blatantly wrong!
For one, scientists have not done so. Breeding is one thing (seed companies might have done so), but testing in the open, proving that it is better than existing varieties in the market, getting green sticker from food and environmental protection agencies, etc. are separate beasts in each level. It would be impossible to pass genetically modified wheat in today's global market. Look at the transgenic golden rice with enhanced vitamin B content. Read about how Filipinos themselves go out and destroy the trial plots managed by IRRI. Besides, with the openness in media, I doubt such an act against humanity could be kept under the shadows.
Secondly, wheat is toxic to no one. Some humans who have celiac disease are intolerant to wheat, just like there are some humans who are intolerant to lactose in milk. One of the basic tenets of evolution is that a population of living organisms is expected to change with course of time. Otherwise, there would be no evolution! So yes, over-time, humans have developed intolerance to gluten (protein) in wheat; and there will be sub-populations that will develop intolerance to other things.
Ever heard of most city-folks developing allergies to pollens, dust, etc.? Well, similar phenomenon. It is perfectly natural to be distinct than the rest. That is how populations segregate and how speciation works in the long run.
One hilarious aspect of the book is that it somehow 'misses' to discuss the fact that it is how much of what you eat that determines one's fatness or fitness- and nothing else. There's this thing called 'dosage effect'. In Nepal, we eat salt like crazy. Salt in tarkaari, salt in achaar, salt in titauraa, salt in chana chatpate—salt, salt everywhere. We survive this massive amount of sodium intake because we also walk and run around like crazy. We walk to school, we walk to work, we play, we jog, and so on and so forth. Oh yes, we are also into drinking water quite a bit. So at the end of the day, input = almost output (sweat, urine). Hence, not so much sodium-related problems are reported. Yes, there are exceptions, but in general, this holds true. If same amount of salt were to be consumed by someone with a sedentary lifestyle, that person would not be anywhere close to being healthy.
It's the same with wheat.
If you eat too much, you will surely get fat. I promise you, if you eat these 'gluten-free' dishes in the same dose of your regular food, you WILL get fat. I can even make a wager!
Ignoring the fact that people in poor countries, who eat nothing but wheat and maize, have not developed said issues such as obesity and unhealthy lifestyle as obese Americans- the book still made it as one of the bestsellers out there.
The world puzzles me!
(Dr. Prabin Bajgain obtained his PhD in plant breeding & molecular genetics)