Sourced from: Infinite Health Blog, by Dr. Davis, originally posted on the Wheat Belly Blog: 2012-02-18

Wheat Belly on local TV

Here’s a recent TV interview for local Milwaukee TV.

(page missing, and nothing turns up
in a search of the WISN station site)

The local reporter interviews a nutritionist at the Medical College of Wisconsin, who brilliantly defends the “healthy whole grain” dictum. (Just kidding; she barely knew what she was talking about.)

The inevitable Dr. Glenn Gaesser of the Grain Foods Foundation makes a brief phone appearance, as well, defending Frankengrain by pointing out that it is not “genetically-modified” and people who eat wheat are more slender. (It’s always good to throw in a bit of comedy with the serious stuff!)

Followers of this conversation already know that:

1) Modern high-yield, semi-dwarf wheat created by geneticists in the 1970s has indeed NOT been genetically-modified, applying the terminology of geneticists. In other words, gene splicing techniques have not been used to insert or delete genes in any commercially available wheat strain today. (It is done quite actively in research, however.) Instead, the techniques used to generate the 25,000 current strains of wheat were less precise, less predictable, less controlled than genetic modification, involving techniques like repetitive hybridization, crossing dissimilar strains, backcrossing, embryo “rescue,” and chemical and gamma ray and x-ray mutagenesis (induction of mutations). In short, the techniques used to generate modern wheat were far WORSE than the relatively controlled methods of genetic modification. So Dr. Gaesser uses this semantic sleight-of-hand to throw off the uninformed public. (Is this the best the Wheat Lobby can do?)

2) People who consume whole grains are indeed more slender and healthier . . . compared to people who consume processed white flour products. But that’s not the issue. The issue is what happens when you eliminate wheat. That’s when you witness the transformations, the relief from joint pain and stiffness (as did Joe and Darleen, the interviewees in the report), spectacular weight loss (27 pounds in 3 months for Joe, 55 pounds over 6 months for Darleen), reversal of multiple gastrointestinal complaints, and on and on.

I am grateful to Joe and Darleen, who took the time and effort to be in my office for the interview, as well as the WISN team who put together a very nice report.