News - Nutrition
Grains: modern and traditional
By Daniel Lynch
Grains, such as wheat, rye and oats, are frequently debated among nutritionists. I’ve heard everything from how they’re essential everyday life, implied by the expression about bread as the staff of life, to how we should completely avoid them. So, what’s in between?
Eliminating grains would be a big challenge; they’re everywhere. Even if you cook at home—cook all of your meals—can you imagine replacing the role of grains? It would be more difficult to fill up on vegetables; many require fairly specialized skill, specific knowledge and more time to prepare. Instead society has widely adopted grains and historians and anthropologists frequently point out the link between the development of modern civilization and the domestication of grains.
Some basis for avoiding grains comes from a historical perspective. The author of the Paleo Diet, for example, cites grains as weakening humans and disposing us to a variety of diseases and ills. Other bases for avoiding grains come from modern science citing their role in causing some harmful responses. While both of these have some level of truth, there is more to discover.
Grains are quite different than the foods our earlier ancestors thrived on. The hunter gatherers diets were filled primarily with, when they could get it, meat and animal products. So with the development of agriculture, earlier humans probably didn’t know how to properly use grains. It likely took some time to realize that grains can indeed be harmful and not nearly as readily digestible as meat.
Somewhere along the way people developed methods to safely use grains, and they thrived on them. An early 20th century nutritional anthropologist found remote, isolated humans who used grains daily, but who displayed what he called ideal health and physical development (1). The researcher, Dr. Weston Price, carefully noted the particulars of how they prepared the grains: that was central, the preparation of grains. The people Dr. Price studied were not yet pulled into the changes of the industrial revolution, the most important one being a decline of food quality. While defining ‘declining food quality’ is open for debate, to me it means that we’ve neglected some things which worked well along the way.
Knowledge for safe use of grains were passed down through each generation as tradition, so consistently that it became general cultural knowledge. But as individuals or entire communities changed over the past 150 years or so, cultural knowledge for traditional food preparation has diminished. Fortunately some remains, of which there is even some recent revival.
It’s becoming easier to find traditionally prepared breads. Healthy grains are entirely whole wheat, that’s frequently mentioned, but with slow fermentations via yeasts and beneficial bacteria, something not so commonly said. The natural fermentation, often called sourdough, vastly reduces the harmful potential of grains and increases the taste and aroma. With sourdough fermentation, some individuals with even the most debilitating aversions for grains may be able to enjoy them.
Celiac sprue (CS), also known as celiac disease or glutensensitive enteropathy, is common food intolerance. In European and U.S. populations, it occurs in 1 out of every 130 to 300 people (2). The immune system of celiac sprue patients responds to proteins in gluten through inflammation and destruction of a component of the small intestine needed for nutrient absorption, the microvillus. But In a recent study from Applied and Environmental Microbiology, celiac sprue patients were fed sourdough prepared grains. Tolerance was reported in 13 of 17 patients: they could eat traditionally prepared grains (3). That highly gluten intolerant individuals could consume traditionally prepared grains, really speaks to the significance of sourdough methods.
Modern grain preparations use yeast to rapidly raise bread and for those of us who can eat these without immediadetly apparent problem, we’re lucky and life is easier. But we shouldn’t abuse this; whether no damaged is occurring is hard to say. Minor stresses may occur as we eat modern refined and improperly prepared grains, and over decades this could compound into larger problems: Maybe it’s decades—less in genetically susceptible individuals—of exposure to which triggers celiac sprue and certainly other symptoms like cramping, diverticulitis and hemorrhoids.
It's great sourdough fermentation lowers allergic proteins in gluten (3) and of many other harmful components grains, but It also creates deliciously unique flavor profiles. The renowned San Francisco sourdoughs flavors are imparted by wild yeasts and bacteria from the area. And sourdough fermentation softens whole grains and eliminates bitter tastes typical of rapid, yeast-only leavened whole grains.
Knowing of the mixed messages for grains, I’ve aimed to show that for all the different perspectives out there traditional and cultural knowledge is available to find something in the middle. And it doesn’t hurt that current science helps confirm what earlier healthy, grain-using humans have knew all along, that sourdough breads and traditionally prepared grains truly are the staff of life.
So where to find this? The best chances are going to be at food co-ops, food retails like whole foods or farmers’ markets. Checking ingredients will help your search. 100% whole wheat are the most authentic sourdoughs. ‘Wheat flour’ anywhere in the ingredients indicates that it’s not 100% whole wheat. Non 100% whole wheat sourdoughs often have lighter, refined flour added into the mixture. Another clue from the ingredients list would be something like ‘sourdough culture’ or ‘sour leavening.’ If it’s possible, smell the bread. Sourdough breads have more aroma. Looking also helps: they’re denser and are not soft and fluffy like yeast breads. I’ll have to add pictures and videos soon to more fully explain these tips.
Works cited:
(1) Price, Weston Andrew D.D.S. Nutrition and physical degeneration (6th edition 2003)
Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, Inc. La Mesa, CA
(2) Fasano A, et al. Prevalence of celiac cisease in at-risk and not-at-risk groups in the United States. Arch Intern Med. 2003;163:286-292.
(3) Di Cagno R, et al. Sourdough bread made from wheat and nontoxic flours and started
with selected Lactobacilli Is tolerated in celiac sprue patients. Appl Environ Microbio. 2004;70.2:1088-1096.
