The Smoke and Mirrors Behind Wheat Belly and Grain Brain

The Atkins Diet lives on in the current bestselling books Wheat Belly by William Davis, MD and Grain Brain by David Perlmutter, MD.

Robert Atkins, MD, creator of the Atkins Diet, was upfront with his recommendations to eat a diet almost exclusively made up of meat, poultry, cheese, butter, fish, and eggs, with very little plant-foods. The first Atkins Diet book was published in 1972; since then well-informed people have come to understand (through their own readings and personal experiences) that eating an animal-based, high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet is wrong. They have learned that following this eating pattern causes epidemic diseases, including type-2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, and common cancers; and that the livestock industry is at the root of climate change. Many people are also wrestling with their conscience as they deal with the moral issues of animals being killed unnecessarily for food, supporting the horrors of factory farming, and depleting our oceans. Therefore, a diet book titled Eat More Animals to Lose Weight would meet a mostly unfriendly audience.

Wheat Belly and Grain Brain take a backdoor approach to the Atkins low-carbohydrate method. As the titles of these books suggest, wheat causes a big belly and grains damage the brain. Within their pages you learn that all starchy foods, including rice, corn, and potatoes—the traditional foods consumed by billions of people throughout human history—are now unhealthy and must be minimized or, better yet, avoided altogether. If you believe these authors, then what is left to eat in order to meet your energy requirements? Meat, dairy, fish, and eggs (the original Atkins Diet).*

In order for the authors of these two books to pull off the monumental task of luring otherwise intelligent people into inherently dangerous diet plans, they have had to (1) ignore the bulk of the science, (2) exaggerate the truth, and (3) make false associations.

Ignoring the Science: Low-Carbohydrate Diets Contribute to a Higher Risk of Death and Disease
Low-carbohydrate diets can cause weight loss, but weight loss should not be the primary goal of individuals, medical doctors, dietitians, insurance companies, or governments. The goal is to live longer and stay healthy. Three major scientific reviews show that low-carbohydrate diets increase the risk of sickness and death.

Exaggerating the Truth about Inflammation
Promoters of low-carbohydrate diets, those high in meat, dairy, fish, and eggs, claim dietary carbohydrates are packed with inflammatory ingredients, and that inflammation is at the heart of virtually every disorder and disease. The evidence linking carbohydrates to inflammation is convoluted, theoretical, and largely limited to an uncommon condition, Celiac disease.

Inflammation is the consequence of injury, such as from a cut, burn, or infection. The pain, redness, swelling, and heat that follow are natural, necessary processes for healing. These symptoms and signs of inflammation resolve after the single event. However, with repetitive injury, inflammation can become long-standing, referred to as "chronic inflammation." One common example of chronic inflammation is bronchitis from inhaling cigarette smoke 20 times a day. Stop smoking and the inflammation stops, and the lungs heal (scar tissues and other residuals of the damage can be left behind).

For dietary diseases, including atherosclerosis, primary sources of repetitive injury are meat, cheese, and eggs. Once the injury is stopped, then healing occurs and the inflammation resolves. Reversal of coronary heart disease is seen on follow up examinations.

Research does not support the theory that carbohydrates from wheat, other grains, or starchy vegetables are the source of injury that leads to chronic inflammation. In contrast, scientific research does solidly support that the source of injury leading to chronic inflammation is animal foods.

Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain how animal foods injure our bodies. For example, atherosclerosis (chronic inflammatory artery disease) has been explained by the "cholesterol hypothesis" and by the "TMAO hypothesis." Another sound mechanism identifies cow's milk as the culprit. Most important for the consumer to understand is that these mechanisms consistently blame meat, dairy, and/or eggs as the source of the repeated injury and chronic inflammation. No debate here.

Relevant to the argument that inflammation is not the underlying cause of obesity and disease is the fact that treating inflammation with powerful anti-inflammatory medications does not favorably change the course and progression of the disease. To quote respected researchers, "In fact, to our knowledge, no anti-inflammatory therapy cures the majority of patients with a disease in which inflammation plays a major contributory role…" To repeat, inflammation is the result of injury, not the cause of disease.

Making False Associations: Using Celiac Disease to Demonize All Carbohydrates for All People

The main take-away that readers will get from Wheat Belly is that wheat is the major cause of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and almost all other major health problems that people suffer from. Wheat can be very troublesome for a small percentage of the population. Celiac disease is a condition that affects fewer than one in one hundred people following the Western diet. These people must avoid gluten, found in high concentrations in wheat, barley, and rye. However, to put this real concern into a global, historical perspective, consider the importance of these three grains: they have served to fuel the development of civilizations throughout human history and still are a major source of calories, protein, vitamins, and minerals for billions of people. People without celiac disease, or the few other conditions that warrant elimination of these three specific grains, will find them an excellent source of nutrition.

Even those few people intolerant of gluten (wheat, barley, and rye) can healthfully consume non-gluten rice, corn, oats, and other grains. Low-carbohydrate promoters enthusiastically demonize these grains too.

Making False Associations about Diabetes and Carbohydrates
The main take-away that readers will get from Grain Brain is that grains and other starchy foods are the cause of type-2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, obesity, and most of the other chronic health problems suffered in the Western world. The truth is that people with type-2 diabetes are ill with many disorders of the body and brain. But grains and other starchy vegetables do not cause type-2 diabetes. The Western diet, loaded with meat, fat, and empty calories, makes people overweight and diabetic.

Type-2 diabetes is cured by a starch-based, high-carbohydrate diet. To take this point to the extreme, the Rice Diet, consisting of white rice, fruit, fruit juice, and table sugar (more than 90% of the calories are from carbohydrate) has been shown to cause profound weight losses in the severely obese, cure type-2 diabetes, and reverse heart disease. Dietary fat increases blood sugar levels and causes people with type-1 diabetes to require more insulin.

Regardless of the effects on blood sugar, the underlying animal-based, low-grain, low-starchy-vegetable diet consisting of those very foods recommended in the books Wheat Belly and Grain Brain, is the major reason people with type-2 diabetes are so sick with heart and other diseases.

Looking Beyond the Smoke and Mirrors
The truth is that the rich Western diet makes people fat and sick. Steering people away from the few healthy components of our diet (grains and other starchy vegetables) and toward the unhealthy foods (meat, dairy, fish, and eggs) makes matters worse. People are desperate for a solution to their weight and health problems, and many of them are easily deceived. Especially when told that prime rib and cheddar cheese are good for them—people love to hear good news about their bad habits. Just as important for the rising popularity of low-carbohydrate diets, books like Wheat Belly and Grain Brain enhance the profits of the meat, dairy, egg, and fish industries.

Although these industries spend hundreds of millions of US dollars advertising "their science" and influencing national nutrition and health policies, the truth is simple and easy to understand: All large successful trim healthy populations of people throughout human history have obtained the bulk of their calories from grains and other starchy vegetables. Consumption of meats along with other rich foods in any significant quantity has been limited to the diets of fat, sick aristocrats (kings and queens)—until recently. To regain our lost health and save planet Earth, the smoke and mirrors behind popular diet books must be exposed.

*In an effort to partially compensate for important nutritional deficiencies, like dietary fiber, vitamin C, and thousands of other phytochemicals found only in plants, non-starchy green, red, and yellow vegetables (for example, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, celery, kale, lettuce, parsley, peppers, and zucchini), and a few fruits are commonly added to these low-carbohydrate diets, including newer versions of the Atkins Diet. Only plants make carbohydrates, thus "low-carbohydrate" is in practical terms synonymous with meat, poultry, cheese, butter, fish, and eggs.

**Simple sugars, like glucose and fructose, are refined ingredients found in sodas, cakes, cookies, and table sugar. Starches (sometimes referred to as complex carbohydrates) are foods with "natural sugars," such as, barley, corn, millet, oats, potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, and wheat.

Originally published in a McDougall Newsletter and republished with permission. Click here to sign-up for the McDougall Newsletter for free.