The bestselling book, Wheat Belly, by Dr. William Davis, provides logical explanations for why we should stop consuming wheat. The science behind this advice is mostly good, although a little uneven.

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Wheat Belly Book

Rodale Press has created a full-fledged marketing program for this book, with backing by the requisite blog: Wheat Belly Blog. It has hit the target market so well that is has become a New York Times Bestseller, which just means that the marketing program is working very well.

I was initially thrilled to see this book come out, since I feel that way about most new diet books. My thrill was helped along in part because the theme of the book slammed dietary carbohydrates, which is a good thing. Going low in carbs is the best of the fat burning diets.

I will have to admit, though, that the book undermines something that I take pride in. It is that, as a professional botanist, I have always proudly called my students’ attention to the only two botanists who have ever won a Nobel Prize. One of them is Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his role in developing modern dwarf wheat. This high-yield wheat is credited with saving over a billion people worldwide from starvation.

That is the good news.

The bad news is that there has never been any human toxicity or tolerance testing of modern wheat. Now, it turns out, the growing problems of obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, gluten intolerance, celiac disease, and maybe even depression and other mental disorders are rooted in the consumption of dwarf wheat.

The bottom line is that, for the purposes of better health, the recommendation by Dr. Davis and a growing cadre of other medical professionals is to eliminate dwarf wheat from the human diet. Since at least 99 percent of the wheat-based and wheat-adulterated products on the market are made from dwarf wheat, this means to just stop eating wheat altogether.

All in all, this is outstanding advice.

Tens of thousands of people have already undertaken this dietary change, including me. This doesn’t even include those who have been diagnosed with celiac disease and have had to eliminate dietary gluten completely.

The Test of Science

Most diet books have been published without any scientific backing whatsoever. My first test in evaluating the potential quality of a diet book is to look in the back to see whether there are any references to scientific research. And if they are there, are they high quality. Dr. Davis does, indeed, provide them. This may seem like a nerdy requirement, and you may never look at the list yourself, but it is important to see what the scientific foundation might be for a new diet.

I will be commenting on various aspects of wheat vs. human health in future posts, as explained by Dr. Davis. However, the key point above all is the relationship between modern wheat and obesity. Specifically, is there a cause and effect relationship? This is the most difficult type of challenge for science, and studies of historical correlations or testimonials, no matter how compelling they seem, do not justify any claims about cause and effect. It is it likely that wheat causes the accumulation of visceral fat? Yes, it is likely. We just do not know for sure.

Regarding that point, at the moment we have no experimental studies to rely on except for those involving celiac patients. Let’s hope the critical studies are in the pipeline by now.

This just means that the evidence that we can evaluate is testimonial, or case study, evidence. This is what Dr. Davis provides in abundance, including commentary on his own personal case. It is not experimental science. It is observational science, which is a good start.

Indeed, I can add case histories of many of my friends who suffered long-term overweight, poor digestion, and general health problems that would not go away until they embarked on a wheat-free diet. Some even did experiments on themselves — always seeing weight gain, gas and bloating, and indigestion when returning to wheat, and always seeing these symptoms reverse when they went wheat-free. (They really didn’t mean to do such experiments. They just succumbed to the allure of wheat, repeatedly.)

Do I think that the Wheat Belly diet is worthwhile? Absolutely. I have even come to enjoy planning, preparing, and eating meals without wheat products. I have no need for wheat, and neither do you.

Stay tuned to this topic. There is a lot more to know, and I look forward to digging into it all and talking about it here. I hope you enjoy learning about the ‘quit wheat’ movement as much as I do.

Wheat Belly updates,

Dr. D