Thread by @eurekathreads

1/ Grains are the primary food of every 2nd person on Earth

Should they be?

Grains can negatively affect our bodies and brains - let's find out how

Here are the most important ideas from a fascinating research paper, "Bread and Other Edible Agents of Mental Disease"

👇👇👇

2/ As humans started growing and eating grains 10,000 years ago, the following went up:

- Infant mortality
- Infectious diseases
- Bone mineral disorders

The following went down:

- Lifespan
- Average height

Today we are “3 cm shorter than our pre-agricultural ancestors”

3/ WW 2 lead to wheat shortages in several countries

Hospitalization of schizophrenic patients went down in the same period

In the same interval, "consumption of wheat rose rather than diminished" in the US.

Cases of schizophrenia went up

4/ How are grains involved with mental disease?

In mice studies, grain proteins cross the “blood-brain barrier” and impede the action of the nerve growth factor

And that's just the start

5/ Gluten, found in wheat, makes human guts more permeable. This is how:

- Our immune system sees gluten as a microbial molecule, & releases zonulin
- Zonulin inflames the gut & flushes it with water to remove foreign molecules
- 92% of schizophrenic patients have inflamed guts

6/ Extreme allergy to gluten = celiac disease

Immune system badgers the small intestine so much in celiac patients that millions of “ finger-like protrusions” on the intestinal wall go flat, destroying its ability to absorb nutrients from food

Now, onto worse news:

7/ For every 1 person with a known case of celiac disease, there are 6 undiagnosed cases.

The average gap between the onset of celiac symptoms and the diagnosis is 17 years.

8/ The immune system sometimes produces “antibodies against gluten”

In a petri dish, these antibodies attack:

- Proteins found in our hindbrain
- “Myelin sheath that insulates nerves”
- Enzymes crucial for the production of neurotransmitters like GABA

9/ In short, antibodies triggered by gluten can turn on vital parts of our brain.

“Antibodies against gluten” are present in most autistic children and absent in most normal children

Read the attached quote:

10/ Gluten's breakdown in the body creates fragments that resemble morphine

They’re called “exorphins”

Some speculate that cereals and grains replaced traditional (and more nutritionally dense) food partly because the exorphins gave people a “high” they kept returning for

11/ Exorphins disrupt the functioning of our internal endorphins

Endorphins are released by the body when needed. In the past, endorphins helped us get through migrations & hibernations

Exorphins, unlike endorphins, are created by most “modern meals” - whether needed or not

12/ Recall how gluten makes the gut more permeable? Well:

“Abnormally high levels of exorphins" have been found in the cerebrospinal fluids of:

- Psychotic kids
- Schizophrenia patients
- Women with postpartum psychosis

Injecting exorphins into rats makes them autistic

13/ I’m not a doctor. Not recommending anything here

Just sharing information I think can be clarifying & helpful!

I encourage you to read the original paper, too: it’s highly readable and has a lot more information than I was able to cover here!

bit.ly/3o1vmpe

14/ To learn more about gluten and grains, check out this conversation between @drmarkhyman and Dr. Alessio Fasano

15/ Thank you for reading! 🙏

Follow @eurekathreads for more engaging breakdowns of brilliant papers👌