Wheat is poisonus – alloxan can give you diabetes

Wheat (Photo: Kurt Stueber)

Wheat (Lat.: Triticum spp.) is the third most common cereal in the world. In 2007 the world production of wheat was 607 million tons only surpassed by rice (651 million tons) and maize (784 million tons).

The unhealthy effects of Wheat

Wheat is present in an enormous variety of foods. In 2003, every human being on the globe consumed in average 67 kg. The unhealthy effects wheat often mentioned is the extremely toxic effect of a gluten protein (gliadin) on individuals with coeliac (celiac) disease, but there is another sinister effect of wheat that affects everybody, but is very little known.

Wheat contains another toxic substance, alloxan. Alloxan is toxic to the islet cells (islet of Langerhans) in the pancreas that produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is necessary for the body’s cells to be able to absorb blood sugar. Now, alloxan is present in wheat in tiny amounts, so you won’t drop dead just by eating a pizza, a slice of bread or some pastry. But in the long run, wheat consumption could kill off enough islet cells for you to develop insulin dependent diabetes 1.

In addition, wheat is rich in sugar and short chained carbohydrates which also has a great impact on your blood sugar. Eating a lot of wheat will raise you blood glucose level quite rapidly, and put the body in high gear to reduce the level. This is definitely not good, and could in the long run lead to insulin resistance and diabetes 2.

Alloxan is the very substance used in laboratories when scientists wants to induce insulin dependent diabetes 1 in otherwise healthy lab animals.

In addition there are a long series of other “side-effects” by eating wheat. Wheat is often exposed to fungi that produces some toxins, aflatoxins that are highly mutagenic, that is they can alter your DNA and even cause cancer. Aflatoxins can develop on wheat in the fields or even after harvest when storing. The countermeasure is of course spraying the wheat with fungicides – which in it self is poisonous.

When the wheat fields are sprayed with nitrous fertilizers it results in heavier wheat grains. This puts the “top-heavy” wheat at risk of braking the stem in wind and rain. So the solution to this problem is to spray the wheat with chemicals that shortens the growth of the stem such as Chlormequat. These chemicals has been proven to have a negative impact on male reproductive cells – not only in humans – but in several (all?) mammals. These chemicals are used not only in wheat but most cereals.

In short – avoid wheat – it is for so many reasons not healthy for you!