Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/755637
Abby's Magazine - Volume 4 Issue 6 | Page 39 Prominently situated at the base of the food pyramid, grains are promoted as the fiber rich founda on of a healthy diet. But are grains really a necessary part of your diet or can they in fact be harmful? Any flour made from the starchy endosperm of grains contains prolamine proteins that may be poten ally problema c to the grain intolerant person. Wheat gluten contains the prolamine group consis ng of four forms of gliadin, which damages the villi of the small intes ne of celiacs. Each grain contains a different prolamine: Grain Prolamine % Wheat Gliadins 69 Corn Zien 55 Rye Secalinin 30-50 Barley Hordein 45-52 Millet Panicin 40 Oats Avenin 16 Rice Orzenin 5 Those who are sensi ve to the prolamine in wheat may also have sensi vity to the prolamines in other grains. The trick to benefi ng from consuming grains is knowing how to get to the nutrients. The outer shell of grain seeds is extremely durable and not easily broken down by the human diges ve tract. Thankfully, there are methods that help break down these protec ve compounds and make the nutrients in grains more available during diges on. The Problem with Grains The Problem with Grains The Problem with Grains Tradi onal cultures where grains were consumed regularly or in large amounts found ways to reduce the harmful components through methods like soaking, sprou ng, and fermen ng. These methods are designed to do what our body can't: break down prolamines, phylic acid, etc. The ques on remains, do these methods reduce the harmful proper es enough to make modern grains safe to consume? Unfortunately with hybridized, highly sprayed, and processed modern grains, there is no easy answer and the tradi onal methods may not be enough to reduce all the harmful proper es in those foods. Certainly, if you consume grains it would be best to mill flour yourself using ancient grains that have been grown organically. It is also important to note that there are no nutrients in grains that are not found in other foods (which are higher sources of nutrients). Grains are far from a super food, especially modern, highly processed grains. Tradi onally prepared grains are definitely a step in the right direc on but don't compare to organic vegetables when it comes to nutrients.