Why Worry About Wheat?

As a half French- and Dutchman there is little need to explain how important bread and other doughy delights are important in my eating culture. Waking up to the smell of fresh croissants, spreading butter and jam on a crispy fresh baguette or combining smelly cheese with a sturdy sourdough bread… Those thoughts make my mouth water.

Unfortunately, there are good reasons to be careful about indulging too much in those products. For one thing these are calory bombs and not particularly healthy, e.g. consider the amount of saturated fat in pastries. If you are young, fit and thin, you may not worry to much about those disadvantages.

The other reason that those products aren’t great for your health is wheat. This cereal forms the traditional basis for our nutrition for centuries, across the globe. You find it in bread, pasta, semolina (couscous), of course. It is so versatile and cheap that it is also used as a thickener in (bechamel) sauces and soups… You might be surprised to find wheat as an ingredient when looking at the label on any product in the supermarket. Instant soup powder? Wheat’s in it. Milk replacement drink like oat milk? Probably contains wheat. Surprise: it’s also an ingredient in soy sauce! Not to speak about sweet stuff like cookies, of course.  

So what? Where’s the problem I hear you say?

I have three reasons for you to consider reducing your wheat intake. A fourth is gluten. It’s a well-known fact that wheat is gluten rich. And gluten allergy or intolerance is a well-known problem. It is therefore a good idea to go easy on wheat. But I have three other, less obvious reasons:

• Chemicals
• CO2 footprint
• Nutritional value.

Chemicals in Wheat Production

I once heard in a podcast that the chemical glyphosate is used abundantly in the cultivation of wheat. Glyphosate is, among other products, commercialized under the name Roundup by Monsanto (now Bayer). This chemical product is held responsible for thousands of cancer cases among farmers. And also to the extinction of insects in our modern society. Not surprisingly as glyphosate is a pesticide.

So I did a little research. And sure enough glyphosate is used in wheat crops. In more than one way as explained in the article “Glyphosate Use in the European Agricultural Sector and a Framework for Its Further Monitoring”.  The worrisome bit is that glypohsate is used in the “pre-harvest” stage. So shortly before wheat is harvested it is sprayed with glyphosate.

A quote from another interesting article: “Consumers eating products made from wheat flour are undoubtedly consuming minute amounts of Roundup. An interesting aside, malt barley which is made into beer is not acceptable in the marketplace if it has been sprayed with preharvest Roundup. Lentils and peas are not accepted in the market place if it was sprayed with preharvest roundup….. but wheat is OK.”

In other words: when ingesting industrial wheat you probably ingest small amounts of a cancerigen substance.

CO2 Footprint of Wheat

Wheat is produced on a massive scale all over the world. Producers of foodstuff of course look for the cheapest raw material to make their pasta and cookies. During my little research I was surprised to find out that the wheat produced by “conventional farming” in Holland, where bread is hte basis for many breakfasts and lunches, is not suitable for human consumption. This is explained in ”Sustainability assessment of wheat production in the Netherlands”.

The euphemism “Conventional farming” means: intensive, not organic. Read pesticides and other chemicals are used plentily. The report states: “Dutch wheat is suitable as milling wheat to a limited extent; milling companies receive only 20% of national production to produce meal and flour for bread, 55% is used in the production of animal feed, and the rest is destined for the starch and bio-ethanol industry. Therefore, the Netherlands is a net importer of grain; almost 80% is obtained from other countries, mainly Germany and France.”

So, depending on where you live and eat, you probably eat wheat-based products with a heavy CO2 footprint. The flour used has travelled many a kilometers before ending on your plate.

Nutritional Value of Wheat

Last, but not least, consider the nutritional value of “conventional” wheat. Here again I mean: mass-produced, processed white wheat. The bottom-line is that nutritional value of wheat bran or its fiber is poor. Quote from another interesting article: “the modern milling methods used to commercially produce white flour eliminate the portions of the wheat kernel (bran, germ, and shorts) that are richest in proteins, vitamins, fats, and minerals. This results in the grain itself being nutritionally deficient and so far removed from its original form that our bodies basically view it as a foreign substance. It is seen by our bodies as an irritant with little nutritional value.”

In other words: wheat is more than useless for your body.

In Conclusion

Whether or not you have an issue with gluten, please reduce your intake of wheat. Buy pasta based on other cereals such as corn or plants like chickpeas or lentils. Eat bread made from spelt, oat, rye, etc. Avoid ready-made products with wheat in them. If you can find it, used flour produced from organic and whole wheat. Avoid the, from a nutritional value standpoint, useless white wheat flour.

However… do you come across a French bakery and smell enticing fresh croissants or baguette? Treat yourself and enjoy it… just once in a while!