Grains & Inflammation
January 11, 2019

Grains & Inflammation

Inflammation
Excessive inflammation is one of the main drivers of cellular damage, aging, and chronic disease in the body. At the acute level, inflammation is responsible for the essential life functions like wound healing and fighting infection. Our modern lifestyle, however, has contributed to a profound dysregulation of these inflammatory functions. Many lifestyle factors can contribute to a chronic inflammatory burden, including diet, activity level, sleep habits, stress, and environmental toxins. The conventional medical community has failed to adequately manage this health risk precisely because it is a lifestyle-based, and therefore, complex and multifactorial problem. By taking the time to understand the less-intuitive sources of inflammation in our life (diet and environmental toxins), and taking the time to deal with more intuitive ones (adequate sleep, stress management, and exercise), we can take control over this important area of our health.

Grains
One of the most potent sources of inflammation in the modern diet are grains. First and foremost, the vast majority of our processed, industrial foods are highly refined, grain-based, carbohydrate foods. For most people, it will not come as a surprise to learn that highly processed, industrial foods are deleterious to human health. What may not be as obvious is that, despite what we may have learned via “the food pyramid” of past decades, grains in nearly all their forms and derivations, are doing more nutritional harm than good. Yes, this applies to “heathy whole grains” as well.

When we say “grains”, we are referring to the starchy seeds of domesticated grasses such as wheat, rice, oats, corn, and barley. Grains contain significant amounts of a type of plant protein called lectins. All plants have lectins in certain concentrations, but the subcategories of lectins found in grains have been shown to be particularly problematic.

Lectins have evolved in part as a defense mechanism to protect the seeds of grains before germination. When consumed, they inhibit some of the function of our digestive systems. Grain lectins block the action of our bodies digestive enzymes, damage our intestinal lining, and increase gut permeability. All of this leads to poor digestion and chronic immune system activation (inflammation). In addition to toxic lectins, grains contain a high proportion of pro-inflammatory Omega – 6 fatty acids, and are on the whole a calorie dense, nutrient poor food. By replacing the grains on our plate with nutrient and fiber rich vegetables, we can all at once decrease our toxic, inflammatory, and caloric load, improve our gut health, improve our metabolic health, and greatly increase the micronutrient content of our diet.

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Saturated Fat/Cholesterol

Government recommendations based on the restriction of dietary saturated fat and cholesterol stem from a gross misrepresentation of the research data. These recommendations have led to decades of bad public policy and marketing hype, and have severely damaged the public’s understanding of basic nutritional science. Dietary cholesterol and saturated fat guidelines in this country were put into place in the late 70s. These guidelines emerged from the aggressive lobbying efforts of a group of scientists who fervently believed saturated fat and dietary cholesterol were the main drivers of heart disease. Unfortunately the empirical evidence supporting these claims does not, and did not, actually exist. How could this happen? The reasons for this huge policy mistake ultimately boil down to bad research methodology and bias. The bad data these nutritional polices were founded on established a positive feedback loop that gained momentum and reinforced itself through mass marketing and popular culture throughout the years. Today, we are finally beginning to reevaluate the nutritional dogma of the past decades. For example, the official FDA guidelines for dietary cholesterol have recently been removed in recognition of the fact that dietary cholesterol has little to no effect on blood cholesterol levels. High cholesterol foods have even been shown to improve blood cholesterol readings is some cases by increasing levels of “good” HDL cholesterol. As for saturated fat, a recent review and meta-analysis encompassing all available randomized controlled trial data on saturated fat consumption found that saturated fat does not have any effect on incidence of death from any cause (including heart disease). There is still much work to do in shifting the public understanding of nutrition away from the defunct and outdated model of the past decades (which interestingly coincided with the greatest increase in the rates of obesity and chronic disease of all time). The cholesterol and saturated fat argument is still one of the main rationales behind vegan and vegetarian nutritional philosophies, and these outmoded and fallacious arguments still resonate deeply with the public psyche. Understandably, due to these massive revisions and contradictions, many have become disillusioned with nutritional science in general. Although at times it may be tempting to throw up our hands in frustration, we should continue to educate ourselves on these topics, always striving for that elusive but essential balance of both a critical eye and an open mind.

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