In a message dated 7/25/02 6:08:56 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:

<< It's an interesting theory, but it has several weaknesses.
First, what would move people to eat grains in the first place,
to discover their opioid properties?  Second, at least some of
the earliest crops lacked these opioids: millet, rice, lentils,
etc.  Third, it is frankly hard for me to believe that the buzz
from wheat was so powerful as to overturn an entire way of life. >>

From what I can gather about stone age man is that he would eat basically
anything that moved or grew -- but because of conditions and availability he
was most likely to eat meat, fish, nuts, leaves, flowers, twigs, etc. except
for a few months in the summer when he'd have access to more sugary carbs
(good for laying down a fat pad to help him survive the winter and/or
non-fruiting season -- I actually think we are hard wired to eat sugar -- the
conditions under which we evolved gave us natural limits,  and later the
agrarian life was so hard we could hardly eat enough to keep up -- but now --
the sky's the limit!!). Stone age probably nibbled on wild grains all along
in small quantities. However, as things warmed up and the area native to our
ancestral grains got wetter at the end of the last ice age, these grains were
probably more plentiful. Started to settle around these grass crops and soon
discovered he could stay put and grow this stuff himself. Soon discovered
ways to process the stuff and make it go further. Also appears that some of
the animals we were used to hunting (reindeer and horses) went north toward
the retreating glaciers. Smaller game and fish became important. Our
omnivorous forebears did need too much of a push to try to do more with this
stuff growing all around. Wild wheat was not a first choice food at first. In
fact, it's called a third choice food because it was relatively difficult to
gather and process. We probably first ate it in any quantity because we were
hungry; we had to. But it had certain advantages: one, it was storable, rela
tively plentiful, easy to grow -- and probably made us feel good. Only later
did we know the cost -- by then we didn't know how to go back.  The authors
of the Origins of Agriculture are not suggesting that the opioids were the
only reason for a turn to grains -- admittedly grains also provide nutrition,
not just a high. But their potency as a mood altering 'substance' may indeed
have played a part in the move to agriculture: Groups led by Zioudrou (1979)
and Brantl (1979) found opioid activity in wheat, maize and barley
(exorphins), and bovine and human milk (casomorphin), as well as stimulatory
activity in these proteins, and in oats, rye and soy. Cereal exorphin is much
stronger than bovine casomorphin, which in turn is stronger than human
casomorphin. Mycroft et al. (1982, 1987) found an analogue of MIF-1, a
naturally occurring dopaminergic peptide, in wheat and milk. It occurs in no
other exogenous protein. ...
Since then, researchers have measured the potency of exorphins, showing them
to be comparable to morphine and enkephalin (Heubner et al. 1984), determined
their amino acid sequences (Fukudome &Yoshikawa 1992), and shown that they
are absorbed from the intestine (Svedburg et al.1985) and can produce effects
such as analgesia and reduction of anxiety which are usually associated with
poppy-derived opioids (Greksch et al.1981, Panksepp et al.1984). Mycroft et
al. estimated that 150 mg of the MIF-1 analogue could be produced by normal
daily intake of cereals and milk, noting that such quantities are orally
active, and half this amount 'has induced mood alterations in clinically
depressed subjects' (Mycroft et al. 1982:895). (For detailed reviews see
Gardner 1985 and Paroli 1988.)
Of course, over time we individually and as a species - adapt -- habituate --
down regulate -- and our need for the stuff grows greater to get the same fix
-- and thus, "bread becomes the staff of life". We become the one and only
grass eating primate.  What's a little ill health, dental caries, loss of
brain mass, lower stature, diabetes -- as long as we have our bread.  You
mentioned that rice, millet, and lentils do not contain opioids -- these
foods were all domesticated after the agricultural way of life was well
underway.  But it is noteworthy that the first three cereal products we did
domesticate, wheat and barley in Southwest Asia and maize in the Americas do
contain mood altering compounds.  It is shocking how quickly the practice
spread. Obviously as we grew dependent on agriculture we domesticated more
and more species and ways to store it and eat it all year round.   For the
first time in history an animal was in control of his own carbohydrate supply
without regard to season -- this was indeed revolutionary.


But now that we know the consequences .......?




Namaste, Liz
<A HREF="http://www.csun.edu/~ecm59556/Healthycarb/index.html">
http://www.csun.edu/~ecm59556/Healthycarb/index.html</A>