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August 2014 | Read this issue and more at www.healthandwellnessmagazine.net |
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Modern
Wheat
By Angela S. Hoover,
Staff Writer
In his New York Times bestselling book, Dr. William Davis calls
modern wheat a “perfect, chronic
poison” that is not a health food, is
making us fat and wreaks havoc on
our digestive tracts.
Grain has been a part of the
human diet for 10,000 years. Some
argue that grain is the foundation
of civilization. Grains have been
traditionally stored in whole kernel
form and milled fresh until relatively
recently. We used to eat several different types of grains but now only
eat a variety of wheat that is high
in gluten and wholly transformed
from what it was in ancient times.
What we grow, the way we grow, and
the way we process and eat grains
has changed dramatically since the
Industrial Revolution. Two distinct
technology revolutions have profoundly changed everything about
modern grains: milling and farming.
Industrial Milling
Industrial milling gave birth to
the processed food industry. In the
1870s, the invention of the modern
steel roller mill transformed grain
milling. Compared to old stone
methods, it was fast, efficient, and
gave fine control over various part
of the kernel. Instead of just mashing it all together, the component
parts of the kernel can be separated,
allowing the purest and finest of
white flour to be easily produced at
low cost. Prior to this ability, white
flour was known as “rich people’s
flour.” This now cheap, popular and
easy to mass produce flour shipped
and stored better, allowing for a long
distribution chain. Not only can it
keep almost indefinitely, pests were
no longer a problem. Now we know
why white flour is mostly pest-free:
it is stripped of all its vital nutrients.
The wheat kernel contains bran,
germ and endosperm that are the
richest in proteins, vitamins, lipids
and minerals but wheat milling
methods used to produce white
flour eliminates these portions of the
wheat kernel.
In just 10 years nearly all stone
mills in the Western world were
replaced with the new steel roller
mill. This was the beginning of processed food and our industrial food
system where vast quantities of shelf
stable food products are produced
in large factories many months and
many miles from the point of sale
and consumption.
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