From Lauren Cordain's "Cereal Grains: Humanity's Double-Edged Sword"
"For the vast majority of mankind's presence on this planet, he rarely if
ever consumed cereal grains."
"?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, an
increase in infant mortality, a reduction in lifespan, an increased
incidence of infectious diseases, an increase in iron deficiency anemia,
an increased incidence of osteomalacia, porotic hyperostosis and other
bone mineral disorders, and an increase in the number of dental caries and
enamel defects."
"All cereal grains have significant nutritional shortcomings?"
"?humans, like all other primates have had little evolutionary experience
in developing resistance to [cereal grains'] secondary and antinutritional
compounds."
"Dietary cereal grains are the known environmental causative agent for at
least two autoimmune diseases: celiac disease and dermatitis
herpetiformis. Withdrawal of gluten-containing cereals from the diet
ameliorates all symptoms of both diseases. Further, evidence from
clinical, epidemiological and animal studies implicate cereal grains in
the etiology of other autoimmune diseases."
"?it has been suggested that [a gluten-free diet] may result in
stabilization or even improvement of neurological dysfunction."
"?there is a significant body of evidence which suggests that cereal
grains are less than optimal foods for humans and that the human genetic
makeup and physiology may not be fully adapted to high levels of cereal grain consumption." (italics added)
"?cereal grain consumption?disrupt[s] health and well being in virtually
all people when consumed in excessive quantities." (italics added)
An excellent paper. Thanks to Jens for the recommendation. I had one
problem with it, the same issue I had with "the Paleo Diet."
If the italics come through in this post, I've highlighted part of the
last two quotes. How does Dr. Cordain define "excessive quantities?"
Although I've not seen it yet in any of his writings, I would suggest that
at least some humans are not adapted to even low levels of grain
consumption ? particularly gluten-containing grains. In other words, for
at least some folks ? and I'm included in this group -- "excessive
quantities" means "any quantity." One pretzel and I can count on bad
things. Ditto to one slice of bread or a couple of bites of oatmeal. And
I'm sure I'm not alone.
Given all the bad, bad things grains can do to us, wouldn't it make sense
to recommend complete abstention? At the very least, beginners to the
diet should give up the stuff for a period of say eight weeks before
gradually adding them back into the diet.
Thoughts?
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