Davis said that the wheat we eat these days isn't the wheat your grandma had: "It's an 18-inch tall plant created by genetic research in the '60s and '70s," he said on "CBS This Morning." "This thing has many new features nobody told you about, such as there's a new protein in this thing called gliadin. It's not gluten. I'm not addressing people with gluten sensitivities and celiac disease. I'm talking about everybody else because everybody else is susceptible to the gliadin protein that is an opiate. This thing binds into the opiate receptors in your brain and in most people stimulates appetite, such that we consume 440 more calories per day, 365 days per year."
Wikipedia defines Gliadin as a glycoprotein present in wheat and several other cereals within the grass genus Triticum. Gliadin have properties similar to opiates. Modern wheat cultivars might contain more gliadins. Giadins are also implicated in promoting appetite. Gliadins and glutens are essential for giving bread the ability to rise properly during baking.
Partial Contents of the Wheat Belly book
PART TWO WHEAT AND ITS HEAD-TO-TOE DESTRUCTION OF HEALTH
Chapter 4 Hey, Man, Wanna Buy Some Exorphins? The Addictive Properties of Wheat
Chapter 5 Your Wheat Belly Is Showing: The Wheat/Obesity Connection
Chapter 6 Hello, Intestine. It’s Me, Wheat. Wheat and Celiac Disease
Chapter 7 Diabetes Nation: Wheat and Insulin Resistance
Chapter 8 Dropping Acid: Wheat as the Great pH Disrupter
Chapter 9 Cataracts, Wrinkles, and Dowager’s Humps: Wheat and the Aging Process
Chapter 10 My Particles Are Bigger Than Yours: Wheat and Heart Disease
Chapter 11 It’s All in Your Head: Wheat and the Brain
Chapter 12 Bagel Face: Wheat’s Destructive Effect on the Skin
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