and reality experienced with this condition.
DEPRESSION. If there is predisposition for depression, grains – especially wheat, rye, barley and corn – can magnify or unmask that tendency.23 Depression due to the gliadin- and prolamin protein-derived opiates can be mild, resulting in a pervasive feeling of unhappiness and lack of interest, or it can be incapacitating and life threatening, complete with obsessive thoughts of suicide or self-harm. Both wheat and corn are also responsible for reductions in brain serotonin, which regulates mood.24
OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER. A person who has obsessive-compulsive disorder helplessly gives in to the impulse to obsessively and compulsively perform some action or engage in some thought – behaviours that have been associated with wheat consumption.25 It might be compulsive hand washing, or housecleaning, or checking and rechecking (and rechecking and rechecking) figures in a ledger. Being locked into such behavioural loops can be debilitating for the sufferer, as these rituals can dominate her thoughts and behaviours, as well as sabotage success at school and work and disrupt the health of relationships.
A world of research still needs to be performed to explore these mind-altering phenomena that develop in people who follow the standard advice to consume more grains. MRI, PET and other brain-imaging modalities may reveal why and how schizophrenics tend to suffer more auditory hallucinations with grain consumption or why kids with autistic spectrum disorder experience impaired attention span. Notably, while some of these effects are associated with an immune response against one or more grain proteins, many are not. But remember: if you know that grains can worsen or cause deterioration in mental conditions, it also means that you know how to undo or lessen the severity of all these effects or, as one of Keanu Reeves’s fellow rebels in the Matrix remarks, ‘Buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy, ’cause Kansas is going bye-bye.’
Brain Drain: Not-So-Reversible Brain Effects of Grains
I discussed how gliadin proteins contribute to the mania of bipolar illness, the paranoia and auditory hallucinations of schizophrenia, and the impaired learning and behavioural outbursts of children with attention deficit disorder and autistic spectrum disorder, phenomena that are reversible or lessened simply by removing grains from the diet. Let’s now discuss how grains can also lead to neurological processes that are more difficult, if not impossible, to reverse, though the reasons for their irreversibility are not yet clear.
Intact gliadin initiates a sequence of events that leads to an immune response against brain tissue (for more information, see here). Some researchers propose that this represents a form of molecular mimicry in which the immune system confuses a foreign protein (gliadin) with a similarly constructed protein of the body, in this case the synapsin 1 protein of brain tissue.26 The part of the brain or nervous system involved determines the way in which the damage manifests. For instance, if the cerebellum is affected, the part of the brain responsible for coordination of movement and control over bladder and bowels, a condition called cerebellar ataxia develops. Sufferers stumble while walking and lose control over urine and stool, and an MRI or CT scan of the brain reveals a shrunken, atrophied cerebellum. People become incapacitated with this condition, typically ending up with Zimmer frames or in wheelchairs. Eliminating all gliadin-containing proteins from grains will slowly or incompletely reverse cerebellar ataxia, given the slow and often incomplete capacity of neurological tissue to heal.
A condition called peripheral neuropathy, which affects the nerves to the legs, can also develop. Sufferers lose feeling or develop constant leg pain, which ascends higher up the body and worsens over time, eventually resulting in a total loss of feeling and progressive debilitation. It can also involve the internal nervous system of the circulatory and digestive systems. If the vagus nerve to the stomach is affected, for instance, it results in a condition called gastroparesis, in which the stomach loses its capacity to propel food forward. While this might seem like an advantage, in that a single meal yields satiety for many hours, it is actually quite destructive because food that sits in the stomach is subject to putrefaction (rotting), causing distress, excessive belching, foul breath and distortions of bowel flora. (A parallel situation called diabetic gastroparesis can develop in people with advanced diabetes.) If the nerves to the heart are affected, there is a loss of control over heart rate. This leads to a higher resting heart rate and potential for abnormal heart rhythms, such as premature atrial contractions, supraventricular arrhythmias and atrial fibrillation.
Grains, especially wheat, rye and barley, can cause seizures. The most common form are temporal lobe seizures (originating in the temporal lobe of the brain) that involve feelings of déjà vu (familiarity), jamais vu (unfamiliarity), amnesia, inappropriate emotions or pointless repetitive behaviours or tics.27 Less commonly, generalized or grand mal seizures can also occur due to grain-induced changes in the brain.
Lastly, dementia can result from the consumption of all grains. Wheat, rye and barley, as usual, are the worst, as recent research has identified antibodies to gluten proteins in the cerebral cortex of the brains of deceased dementia victims.28 For this reason, Mayo Clinic researchers named this condition gluten encephalopathy: dementia from gluten-containing grains. Dementia is much more common, however, as a result of chronic and repeatedly high blood sugars. These are characteristic of all grains, and are also irreversible. The deterioration of grey matter characteristic of dementia is visible on brain imaging as shrinkage of brain volume and loss of the characteristic furrows (called sulci) of healthy human brains, signalling atrophy. We know that diabetics with chronically high blood sugar have a greater risk for dementia. More recent studies demonstrate that blood sugars at the upper end of ‘normal’ are also associated with greater risk for dementia, which is seen on brain imaging as atrophy of the frontal cortex, hippocampus and amygdala.29 Accordingly, foods that raise blood sugar the most are associated with the brain atrophy of dementia.
Wholemeal and white flour products raise blood sugar to high levels – even higher than table sugar. Intact corn kernels raise blood sugar to moderately high levels, while cornflour raises blood sugar to sky-high levels. Grains such as oats, rice, millet, teff, sorghum, rye and barley raise blood sugar to intermediate to high levels. While they are often described as having a low glycaemic index, they would more properly be described as having a less high glycaemic index, since blood sugars typically rise to the 130 to 200 mg/dl range in nondiabetics (ranges incredibly regarded as ‘normal’ by most health-care practitioners). According to the latest research findings, blood sugars above 100 mg/dl are sufficient to increase the potential for dementia. Because the world is experiencing a massive rise in blood sugars, evidenced by the staggering numbers of people with prediabetes and diabetes, we should anticipate an increase in the number of people with dementia, and we should expect to see it develop earlier in life. This is yet another awful aspect of the widely embraced notion of ‘healthy whole grains’.
Grains, for Crying Out Loud
Irrational fear, anxiousness over the littlest things, anger that bubbles over – all are provoked by the mind-active components of grains. While we know that big, heavy brain issues, such as major depression, bipolar illness and schizophrenia, are influenced by grains, we see many lesser, though still quite troublesome, emotions and moods caused or amplified by them. These include:
• Aggression
• Anger
• Anxiety
• Inattention
• Indecisiveness
• Insomnia
• Phobias
• Poor impulse control
• Sleep disruption
• Sleepiness
