Nutrition 101, more reasons to eat paleo...

Generally, in most parts of the world, whenever cereal-based diets were first adopted as a staple food replacing the primarily animal-based diets of hunter-gatherers, there was a characteristic reduction in stature, a reduction in life span, an increase in infant mortality, an increased incidence of infectious disease, an increase in diseases of nutritional deficiencies (i.e., iron deficiency, pellagra), and an increase in the number of dental caries and enamel defects.

There is now substantial empirical and clinical evidence to indicate that many of these deleterious changes are directly related to the predominately cereal-based diets of these early farmers. Since 99.99% of our genes were formed before the development of agriculture, from a biological perspective, we are still hunter-gathers.

In spite of the impressive nutrient profiles of grain, the vitamins and minerals often occur in forms that have low bio-availdality to the human digestive tract. In addition to these poorly utilizable nutrients, grain contains many secondary metabolic components commonly categorized as anti-nutrients.

Anti-nutrients are chemical compounds naturally occurring in grains, which evolved to protect the plants from predators. Processing and cooking does not not fully rid the grain of these elements, thus making them prominent in our diet. Recent scientific study has linked these anti-nutrients to a number of negative biological consequences which include: allergen based disorders; pancreatic hypertrophy and disruption of the gut cell wall tight junctions (thus exposing the systemic circulation to food allergens and gut flora).

Lectins are carbohydrate binding proteins present in most plants, especially seeds and tubers like cereals, potatoes, and beans.

Many lectins are powerful allergens, such as prohevein, the principal allergen of rubber latex and has been engineered into transgenic tomatoes for its fungistatic properties.

In the past two decades scientists have begun to realize that many lectins are (a) toxic, inflammatory, or both; (b) resistant to cooking and digestive enzymes; and (c) present in much of our food.


*Another Wheat protein called Gliadin: some researchers believe that an auto-immune response to gliadin is can cause or aggravate conditions such as psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, jaundice, IBS and eczema.

*The test for anti-gliadin antibodies is known as AGA . UK practitioner, Dr M Hadjivassiliou, a neurologist at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield. He ran an AGA test on patients who had "neurological dysfunction" with no obvious cause and found that more than half tested positive. What is more, only a third of the positive group had any evidence of CD gut damage. In other words, while the gluten antibodies can damage the bowels, they can also cause problems elsewhere. In this case, it was the cerebellum, or the peripheral nervous system.

* Glutamin is another nuero-toxin contained in wheat and wheat products which may attack the nervous system. In humans and dogs, removal of (wheat) causes almost instant remission from epilepsy attacks.

* Grains, legumes and dairy contain a large amount of glue in the form of gluten, (alpha-s-1-) casein and the sticky protein in soy. They hinder mineral absorption up to the point of causing severe mineral deficiencies. Some people discover that simply leaving out these foods, can within a month reverse diseases like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.

* Breast cancer and grains: the risk of breast cancer decreased with increasing total fat intake whereas the risk increased with increasing intake of available carbohydrates.

*Grains and cancer: Stanislaw Tanchou pointed out a formula for
predicting cancer risk. "It was based on grain consumption and was found to
accurately calculate cancer rates in major European cities. The more grain
consumed, the greater the rate of cancer."

Additionally, if you suffer from any of the following you may be sensitive to grains or dairy;

· Upper respiratory tract problems such as sinusitis, "allergies", "glue ear"

· Symptoms related to mal-absorption of nutrients such as anemia and fatigue (lack of iron or folic acid), osteoporosis, insomnia (lack of calcium)

· Bowel complaints: diarrhea, constipation, bloating and distention, spastic colon, Crohn's disease, diverticulitis

· Autoimmune problems: rheumatoid arthritis, bursitis, Crohn's disease

· Diseases of the nervous system: motor neurone disease, certain forms of epilepsy

· Mental problems: depression, behavioral difficulties, ADD