Tag: gluten

Medicinal Mushrooms and Optimal Health

Mushrooms are the fruiting body of fungi. It is estimated that there are 140,000 species of mushrooms but only 10% are known and named. Mushrooms represent an inexhaustible source of polysaccharides with antitumor and immuno-stimulating properties.
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29 September 2021
DFN – Food Vitals Webinar on 26 July 2021

One thing that psychology has taught us is that people do not make choices based on logic and evidence but feelings and emotions. Any basic marketing course teaches us to “sell the sizzle, not the sausage”.

Michael Greger has an incredible video about his grandmother Francis and John Robbins tells a deeply moving story about “The Pig Farmer”. Links to both are on my website. This is what changes people behaviour – not another journal reference or graph. I still cannot get through either without crying.

I have several testimonials from people who have transformed their lives – despite opposition from the medical profession.

On the 4th July 2019, the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) published this news item as its top news story.

World Health Organisation’s recommendations on saturated fat are out of date, expert team says.

This article was based on an article, WHO draft guidelines on dietary saturated and trans fatty acids: time for a new approach? It was published in THE BMJ the previous day, written by Arne Astrup and 17 colleagues. These popular commentators are very well organised.

At the end of Astrup’s article, the evidence for including eggs, chocolate, cheese, and meat is listed, which matches the needs of their corporate sponsors.

No amount of bar graphs or references will compete with a picture of a delicious burger, complete with eggs and chips.

Dr Shireen Kassam is a Consultant Haematologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer at King’s College Hospital, London with a specialist interest in the treatment of patients with lymphoma (cancer of the lymphatic system). She is also passionate about promoting plant-based nutrition for the prevention and reversal of chronic diseases and for maintaining optimal health after treatment for cancer.

When Shireen introduced herself at the beginning of her Food Vitals Webinar on 26th July 2021, she stated that she and her husband were vegan for over 7 years (which makes it about about 2014). At the end of her talk, she stated that her haematologist husband did not embrace her vegan lifestyle until after COVID-19 in March 2020 – some 4 years later, when his BMI was 30.2, weight was 87 kg, cholesterol 6.5 mmol/L and blood pressure 145/88.

If it takes a specialist medical doctor 4 years to embrace his wife’s lifestyle with all the evidence that she can present, then it does not bode very well for the rest of the population.
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11 August 2021
Changes to our Health Indicators

Many of our health indicators have become worse over the past few decades (2000-2020). There has been a decrease in the United States in life expectancy. Below are some of the indicators that have been reduced, resulting in a society that is becoming increasing unhealthy and is placing an unsustainable burden on the families and health care facilities.
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27 May 2021
Impact of Gluten-free Diets

There is a substantial difference between a standard western diet and a gluten-free diet. If a gluten-free diet is no warranted, a gluten-free diet may have unintended health consequences that are not beneficial as well as creating an additional inconvenience.

Consumption of complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides) and dietary fibre can be significantly less.
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1 January 2020
Wheat and Inflammation

William Davis is largely responsible for the low-wheat, low-gluten diets with the publication of his book Wheat Belly. In this book he states that we live in a ‘whole grain world’ and that wheat is responsible for the majority of our modern illnesses including wheat.

Find out what the role of wheat is in inflammation.
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26 December 2019
Wheat and the Distorted Views of William Davis

William Davis, a cardiologist, author of Wheat Belly, claims that “modern wheat is a perfect chronic poison”. He claims that modern wheat causes diabetes, inflammation, heart disease and high blood pressure and that eliminating wheat will cure these problems.

Davis recommends the avoidance of foods such as corn, rice, quinoa, millet, buckwheat, beans and potatoes, even though they do not contain wheat or gluten.

Davis's inconsistencies would be amusing if they did not have such serious health consequences.
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18 June 2018
The Gluten Lie: And Other Myths About What We Eat – A Review

Alan Levinovitz is an assistant professor of Religious Studies at James Madison University, Virginia.

His book, The Gluten Lie: And Other Myths About What We Eat, “takes on bestselling physicians and dietitians, exposing the myths behind how we come to believe which foods are good and which are bad—and pointing the way to a truly healthful life, free from the anxiety of what we eat.”

Whilst the book was fascinating in describing how easily it is for society to be deluded about food issues, the book adds several misconceptions of its own.
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16 February 2018
Dairy, Gluten and Autism

Autism is defined by a set of behaviours. Key symptoms are: an extreme introversion; social indifference; stereotyped repetitive behaviours; language problems; problems with hygiene; temper tantrums; in some cases hyperactivity; irrational fears; decreased but fluctuating insensitivity to pain.

At 2010, the rate of autism at age 8 was 14.7 per 1,000 which is 1 in 68. Boys are 4.5 times more likely to be affected than girls—rate for boys is 1 in 42 compared with 1 in 189 for girls.

Rates of autism have been rising dramatically. The 2010 rate is: 29% higher than the preceding estimate of 1 in 88 children in 2008; 64% higher than the 2006 estimate of 1 in 110 children; 123% higher than the 2002 estimate of 1 in 150 children.

Black children are affected at a rate 14% higher than Hispanic children and white children affected 45% more than Hispanic children.

The association of autism with severe gastrointestinal problems has been documented since the 1990s.
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29 December 2017
The Nature of Food Allergies

Food allergies have become a major concern with parents, health practitioners and school administrators. However, the estimates of prevalence of allergies varies widely.

A commonly accepted definition is an “adverse immune response that occurs reproducibly on exposure to a given food and is distinct from other adverse responses to food, such as food intolerance, pharmacologic reactions, and toxin-mediated reactions.”

However, most people are not going to make such a fine distinction between food allergy and food intolerance. Non-celiac gluten-sensitivity (NCGS) does not cause an IgE response so with this definition it not classed as a food allergy.

Dairy, in particular, cow’s milk and gluten, wheat and grains are commonly avoided as a result of concerns about food allergies.
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15 December 2017
What is the Problem with Wheat and Gluten?

Gluten-free foods is a huge industry. It is estimated that approximately 2% of the US population, that has not been diagnosed with celiac disease, is consuming a gluten-free diet.

The CSIRO reports that, “as many as 1 in 10 Australian adults, or approximately 1.8 million people, were currently avoiding or limiting their consumption of wheat-based products. Women were more likely to be avoiding wheat than men. The survey also revealed that over half (53%) of those who were avoiding wheat were also avoiding dairy-based foods.”

There is an increasing awareness of the importance of gut flora and its role in health.

People who embark on gluten-free diets frequently have significantly impaired health outcomes due to changes in gut bacteria.

At one clinic in Rome, only 30% of people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) were sensitive to gluten.

At another clinic, in Maryland USA, only 6% of those suffering from IBS were affected by gluten.

It is apparent that digestive problems are much more complicated than they first appear.
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2 December 2017