There are many varieties of wheat grain available under many different names. In this first article about wheat, we will provide an introduction to wheat, discuss the controversial topic of crop breeding, and what this has done to our current wheat crops. In the next article we will learn about the various forms and varieties of wheat including farro, semolina, farina, bulgur, wheat berries, couscous, bran, durum, and kamut.

Hulled wheats were the first wheat crops that were domesticated; they were grown in the Fertile Crescent area of the world. This area of the world is where the Old and New Testament nations were situated. These crops were used by the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians, as well as by the Romans later on. They were also used by the Israelites as we find many references to these grains in the Bible, with them first being mentioned in Isaiah. In Isaiah 28:27 we read, “For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, . . . but the fitches are beaten out with a staff.” In Ezekiel 4:9, the famous Ezekiel Bread recipe also refers to fitches.  The other name for fitches is spelt, which is an ancient wheat grain that is still used today. We will learn more about hulled wheats next month.

Wheat is a grass which is cultivated for its seed. It is in the family of cereal grains and is the most well-known grain worldwide. Wheat is also grown more widely than any other food crop in the world. All wheat species are classed as different varieties of triticum. It is the leading source of vegetable protein in food worldwide, with a protein content of 13%. Wheat became popular because all wheat species contain a large amount of protein known as gluten; this allows for wheat flour to be used in making risen breads. The variety of wheat which is used for breadmaking, known as common wheat (triticum aestivum) contains 75–85% of its protein in the form of gluten. Glutens have viscoelastic and adhesive properties; these characteristics give the dough elasticity, allowing it to rise, to return to its original shape after stretching, and leaves the final product chewy. When wheat dough is leavened with yeast, the fermentation process creates bubbles of carbon dioxide, causing the dough to rise. The kneading of the dough which contains gluten produces foods which are chewier and less crumbly; the more kneading, the more chewier the final product.  When the leavened dough is baked, the gluten coagulates, stabilizing the shape of the final product. These properties of gluten are necessary to produce risen breads and other baked products. Other whole grains which do not contain gluten do not rise, and thus cannot produce risen breads. Often the gluten from wheat is also used as the basis for imitation meats. Thus, the use of gluten is a popular way of adding supplemental protein to vegetarian diets.

WHEAT SENSITIVITIES

No article on wheat is complete without addressing the increasing incidence of people who cannot tolerate consuming wheat. Up to 15% of the population are either sensitive or allergic or have an autoimmune response to the gluten in wheat, and cannot consume wheat products. As we have learned throughout this series of articles, there are many non-gluten food sources of whole grains for those who are unable to tolerate gluten-containing foods and still want to benefit from having whole grains as part of a healthy diet. Since 2017, the number of people with gluten-related disorders have been increasing in frequency in some areas of the world. The reason for this might have many explanations, but one of the current explanations is that more people are using wheat products than ever before, the popular Mediterranean diet promotes wheat-based foods, wheat is replacing rice in many countries, and new types of wheat that have been grown in recent years appear to have higher levels of gluten. Because of the increase in gluten sensitivity, many people with allergies or sensitivities must remove gluten from their diets to prevent negative symptoms. They need to be able to choose gluten-free products at the grocery store. Food products which are labeled “gluten-free” may contain very small amounts of gluten but they must be below the level which would harm someone who has celiac disease. Each country has its own rules regarding gluten labeling. Many countries must identify the presence of gluten if the level is greater than 20 parts per million.

Wheat and gluten are labelled separately on food products even though wheat contains gluten. Gluten is not considered an allergen; however, in many countries, wheat is considered one of the recognized allergens, and must be listed on the ingredient label as such. A wheat allergy causes your immune system to have an allergic reaction to any of the four proteins contained in wheat—albumin, globulin, gliadin, or gluten. Signs of an allergic reaction range anywhere from swelling, hives, rash, nausea, diarrhea, and can also lead to a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction. However, people who have celiac disease are not allergic to gluten but have a specific autoimmune reaction to gluten where the body attacks itself and destroys the lining of the small intestines and prevents it from absorbing most nutrients. This damage causes diarrhea, fatigue, bloating, weight loss and anemia, and can lead to serious health complications. Those with gluten sensitivities and intolerances can develop problems with the digestive system, but it will not cause permanent damage in your stomach, intestines or other organs. However, you can get similar symptoms such as stomach bloating and pain, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, fatigue, bone or joint pain, headaches, numbness, depression, and itchy skin. A gluten intolerance or sensitivity can show up at any time; some young children already have it and other times adults develop it later in life.

WHEAT BREEDING

Plants naturally evolve over time to produce hardier varieties in order to survive extremes in weather, pests, and diseases. Also, over time, crop plants can naturally and spontaneously mutate and produce new either positive or negative traits, such as allergens, toxins or other antinutritional substances. As an extension to nature’s selective breeding, natural methods to create new genetic varieties have been used to improve food crops. Classical breeding selects the plants with the desirable traits and eliminates those with less desirable traits. Then those plants with the desirable traits are used in replanting crops. But, this process is very slow in creating new varieties, as the possibility of producing an improved crop are random.

Certain wheat varieties have also been crossbred to produce new hybrids to improve certain characteristics of the grain, such as to increased yields, and pest resistance. Agricultural scientists argue that hybrids are necessary in order to produce enough wheat to feed an ever-expanding world population. Thus, wheat needs to be able to thrive in many difficult conditions, such as during long periods of drought, to increase the yield without needing more land for growing crops.

This crossbreeding of wheat varieties, especially if the focus is on increasing crop yields, may have unintended effects, such as changing the nutritional content of wheat or introducing substances into the wheat crop which may decrease its tolerability for human consumption. These changes (hybrids) may also contribute to people’s intolerance of current wheat species. However, not enough research has been done to determine the effects on human health when wheat is hybridized. Some argue that since wheat is only crossbred with other wheat species, this will not introduce substances that would reduce its tolerability as a food crop. Conventional crossbreeding is a slow process that can take up to five years to eliminate the unwanted characteristics and develop the sought-after traits. As previously mentioned, most plants can also naturally develop unwanted traits or natural mutations. These need to be identified and eliminated before being sold as food. As an example, potato breeders monitor for levels of the toxin, solanine. in their potatoes. If the levels begin to rise, that specific line of potatoes is eliminated. Canola breeders monitor levels of glucosinolates. Elevations of this compounds can occur naturally, so crops are continually monitored for levels that go beyond what is safe to eat. Therefore, even non-genetic engineering breeding methods can have unintended effects and generate potentially hazardous new products.

A quicker process in developing new varieties of crops is to artificially induce changes in plants, using either physical or chemical agents. Since the 1920s, scientists

have exposed seeds to either ionized radiation or chemicals such as ethyl methane sulfonate, in order to generate multiple random mutations of the original plant. Once these mutations have taken place, the next step is to see whether any of these mutations have produced the desired traits that they had been looking for. Since the 1920s, thousands of these mutations have been planted and used for human food, including new varieties of lettuce, beans, oats, rice, wheat, barley, peas, sunflowers, peanuts, and grapefruit. As we can see from the list, wheat is included in the foods that have produced mutated varieties from this method. This form of creating new varieties of plants is considered a “conventional” breeding method, as no DNA from another species of plant are introduced into the plant. However, the changes in the plants due to exposure to radiation or chemicals change the DNA of the plant. Even though these new plant varieties have been tested for productivity, reactions to disease and pests, they are not routinely assessed for unintended effects at the molecular level, to the DNA of the plant, and how it has been altered.

There are no laws requiring identification of these new varieties in any way; therefore, many of us have been eating these mutated foods, unaware of their origins. Even organic organizations accept these foods from mutated breeding to be grown, sold, and labelled as organic. When producing these mutations, the results are unpredictable and uncontrolled. The concern is whether this method could also introduce unintended and perhaps harmful effects in the new varieties. In the United States, it is left up to the breeders and food regulation agencies to determine if a new variety should not be grown because of some type of hazard to humans or the environment. In Canada, these new varieties must first be grown in government-administered fields. Data from these trials, looking at food quality, disease resistance, and agronomic (applying plant science for crop production) factors. These crops are grown in different areas over a period of multiple years.  The data is then evaluated by a team of experts before being allowed into the market. The breeder must also convince these experts that the new variety will be competitive and worthy related to already commercially available varieties of that crop, based on the data. Only when the team of experts decides that the new variety performs as the breeder anticipates, does it obtain approval for commercial use.

GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS

Genetically modified foods (GMOs) are created when genes (DNA) from one species, either another plant, or bacteria, are introduced into a plant from another species to change its DNA, to produce a new and desired trait into the plant. This is known as genetic engineering, as the introduction of new genes into a plant would never occur naturally. This method is considered more precise because only known genes are transferred from one species to another; this also allows for a desired trait to be identified quickly. However, the risk of unintended effects is higher when plants who have thousands of genes interact with a completely different species with their set of thousands of genes. Contrary to widely spread rumours, no animal species have yet been used to create GMO plants.

Many of the GM crops were created to resist being killed by the herbicide, RoundUp, when applied to the crop fields. RoundUp is designed to kill all plants exposed to it, but will not damage the crop that has been modified to be “RoundUp Ready”. The challenge with using herbicides such as RoundUp is that it kills many of the wild plants that grow in the area of the GM crops, it depletes the soil of nutrients, destroys helpful microorganisms, it goes into the water system and harms aquatic plant and animal life. And, with weeds growing resistant to the currently used herbicides, there is a need for stronger, more toxic herbicides to combat weeds. As of 2016, 56% of the use of RoundUp and other glyphosate-containing herbicides are in GM crops, which are increasingly being grown to increase crop yields. If a field is not sprayed with an herbicide, up to 30% of the crop can be lost. There is a lot of controversy surrounding GM foods. The concerns arise from the impact that GMOs have on the human digestive system, antibiotic resistant genes being used, and the potential for introducing allergens into foods when using genes from a potentially allergenic plant. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that every GM crop be tested individually to determine their safety for human consumption and the environment.

Because GM foods are so highly regulated, it is considered more likely that traits with potentially hazardous traits would not pass the early developmental phases. However, because genetic changes result in protein changes, differences in food nutrition due to differing levels of proteins can be expected. This is an unintended change, but it is a product of the gene transfer process.

Although wheat has never been grown as a genetically modified organism (GMO), there is another culprit in the development of sensitivity to wheat. When wheat is ready to be harvested, farmers use glyphosate, the same herbicide used on GMO crops, to dry down the wheat to bring it to low moisture levels so that it can be harvested sooner. Glyphosate has been shown to be a human carcinogen (cancer causing). Many wheat sensitivities may actually be a reaction to glyphosate, not only from wheat but from other GMO crops which use glyphosate as an herbicide. One Saskatchewan farmer stated, “We are told these (glyphosate residues) are too small to matter but can we believe that? I think everyone, even farmers that use and love glyphosate, would rather not eat a loaf of bread with glyphosate in it.” A recent study determined that the most important cause for the increase in celiac disease and gluten intolerance worldwide is the use of glyphosate in food crops. Glyphosate causes an imbalance in the gut bacteria, by decreasing the levels of good bacteria, which allows disease-causing germs to flourish. This process damages the gut lining, similar to what happens in celiac disease. Once the lining is damaged, toxins, microbes, undigested food particles, and antibodies can escape through the intestines and travel through the body. Their conclusion was that the culprit for increased gluten intolerance is not wheat, but glyphosate. Most wheat products in North America contain glyphosate. Some organic companies make an effort to avoid glyphosate in their products; you will have to research which ones they are.

The reason why there are no GM wheat crops grown anywhere in the world, nor have been sold on the market is in part due to the refusal of many countries, especially in Europe, to purchase GM foods. Therefore, farmers in large wheat-producing countries which export much of their wheat to other countries have chosen not to genetically modify wheat for financial reasons.

In 2012, a UK scientist worked to introduce a GM wheat, which would be resistant to aphids. The lab results showed that it would work; however, when the GM wheat was planted outdoors, there was no change in its resistance to aphids. Therefore, the project was cancelled. There had been no further attempts to create GM wheat until in 2020, when the government of Argentina approved a drought-resistant and herbicide-resistant GM wheat. Many farm groups in Argentina objected to the government’s approval of the product, over concerns it could prove a stigma for exporters. No other countries have yet approved the importation of GM wheat, leaving Argentine farmers with little incentive to plant it. Environmental groups have warned that not enough is yet known about GM crops, treated with weed killers like glufosinate sodium and glyphosate, for them to be safely consumed by humans. The majority of Canadian farmers rejected the introduction of Roundup Ready GM wheat, which would be resistant to Roundup, the glyphosate-containing herbicide. In all, in the year 2009, 233 farmer and consumer groups in 26 countries rejected GM wheat. However, the financial benefit of using glyphosate on wheat (which is typically only used with GM crops) to speed up the drying process has contributed to the increasing intolerance of wheat products.

All crop foods, whether they remain in their original natural state, have been crossbred, mutated or genetically engineered, can possibly produce potentially hazardous substances that can negatively impact human or environmental health. Thus, regular assessment of all crops are carried out to determine their safety. In the case of wheat, many changes have taken place since wheat was first introduced as a crop in the Fertile Crescent area of the world. Despite this, many people are able to eat wheat and other gluten-containing whole grains without having a negative reaction.  Everyone will have to make a decision for themselves as to whether they are able to consume wheat products.

We need to eat as natural a diet as possible, to ensure lifelong good health. We also need to be educated on the foods that are most beneficial to us, and avoid those foods which can harm our health. With all the information that we have readily accessible to us, there is no excuse for ignorance concerning our responsibility to maintain the health of our bodies. “There are but few as yet who are aroused sufficiently to understand how much their habits of diet have to do with their health, their characters, their usefulness in this world, and their eternal destiny. I saw that it is the duty of those who have received the light from Heaven, and have realized the benefit of walking in it, to manifest a greater interest for those who are still suffering for want of knowledge.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 488

NEXT MONTH: EXPLORING WHEAT VARIETIES