We Want Our Food Cheap And Fast, But At What Cost

The wheat of today is completely different from the wheat people ate back in the day. Around the late 19^th century New techniques in grain processing made it possible to create massive amounts of refined wheat for a low cost.

We are now able to separate the nutritious components of the grain (the bran and germ) away from the endosperm, where most of the starchy carbs are contained. This new technology reduced the nutrient density of the wheat and gave refined wheat the ability to spike blood sugar very fast. We also used to prepare our grains differently. They were soaked, sprouted, fermented and bread was baked using slow rise yeast. Sprouting and fermenting grains leads to many beneficial effects. It increases the amino acid lysine, reduces anti-nutrients (like phytic acid and lectins), disables enzyme inhibitors and makes nutrients more accessible. Today, the flour is bleached and the bread is baked with quick rise yeast. No soaking, no sprouting, no fermentation. Back in the day, we used to consume different varieties of wheat like Emmer, Einkorn and Kamut. Not anymore. Almost all of the wheat eaten today is high-yield dwarf wheat, which was developed by cross-breeding and crude genetic manipulation around the year 1960. Dwarf wheat has shorter stems and a much greater yield. This basically means it’s cheaper than the older varieties and more economically feasible. The benefits of a high-yield crop are obvious, but we are now learning that there were some major downsides to this as well. Specifically, modern wheat has some subtle but important differences in its nutrient and protein composition. Modern wheat is not only less nutritious and dangerous to people with celiac disease(gluten intolerance) studies are also showing it’s harmful to healthy people as well.  

 

https://youtu.be/5eKYyD14d_0