Why Breakfast Cereals Aren't the Best Way to Start Your Day

Coming from someone who grew up eating cereal on a regular basis, and who still ate it throughout most of his adult life (healthier options by that time of course), breakfast cereals were hard to give it up until I learned about the health consequences of partaking of it on an almost daily basis. Yes, it is a quick and easy source of food, they taste good (almost to the point of being addicting) and the marketing departments make them sound like they are the healthiest foods possible, but there are a few things to consider before grabbing those boxes and digging in or pouring a bowl for the children.

One of the major issues is what they are primarily composed of: the grains. According to a growing number of experts, including Dr. Loren Cordain, a professor at Colorado State University and an expert on Paleolithic lifestyles, humans are NOT designed to eat grains, and doing so may actually be damaging to your gut. The problem isn't only that they are inferior sources of nutrients compared to foods like fruits and vegetable; grains actually contain anti-nutrients that may damage your health. Ironically, we're often told that whole grains are the best for our health, but the high-fiber bran portion of grain – a key part that makes it a whole grain -- actually contains many anti-nutrients that may increase intestinal permeability and lead to leaky gut syndrome.

Gliadin

Gliadin is the primary immunotoxic protein found in wheat gluten and is among the most damaging to your health. Gliadin gives wheat bread its doughy texture and is capable of increasing the production of the intestinal protein zonulin, which in turn opens up gaps in the normally tight junctures between intestinal cells (enterocytes).

In celiac disease the body will make antibodies to gliadin after it is digested by the intestinal enzyme tissue transglutaminase, resulting in severe autoimmune damage to the delicate, absorptive surfaces of the intestines. It does not, however, require full blown celiac disease to suffer from the adverse effects of this protein. In fact, it is likely that our intolerance to gliadin and related wheat proteins is a species-specific intolerance, applicable to all humans, with the difference being a matter of the degree to which it causes harm. This helps to explain why new research clearly shows gliadin increases intestinal permeability in both those with, and those without, celiac disease.

Lectins

Lectins are a key mechanism through which plants protect themselves against being eaten, and are found in highest concentrations in their seed form -- which makes sense, considering that seeds are the plants' "babies" and whose survival ensures the continuation of their species. When animals consume foods containing lectins, they may experience digestive irritation, along with a wide range of other health complaints. The degree to which the adverse effects are expressed depends largely on how long that species has had to co-evolve with that particular form of plant food it is eating. Since humans have only been consuming unsprouted grains and beans in large amounts for approximately 500 generations, we still suffer far more than certain rodents and birds, who have had thousands of generations longer to adapt to this way of eating.

We are mostly exposed to lectins from grains, beans, dairy products and nightshade plants, such as potato, tomato, and chili peppers. However, bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) has a prominent role to play in lectin-induced adverse effects, due to the fact that it is a relatively new form of wheat, and contains wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) – a particularly resilient and problematic lectin, considering it is not eliminated through sprouting and is actually found in higher concentrations in whole wheat.

Sugar

A new report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) revealed that many popular children's cereal brands contain more sugar than snack cakes and cookies. For instance, one cup of Kellogg's Honey Smacks, which is nearly 56 percent sugar by weight, has more sugar than a Twinkie, while a one-cup serving of 44 other children's cereals analyzed contain more sugar than three Chips Ahoy! cookies.

If you need a recap of why sugar is a health disaster, we have posted other blogs on this topic. However, as it pertains to leaky gut, you should know that sugar, like grains, can upset the balance of bacteria in your digestive tract, encouraging damage to your intestinal lining that can lead to leaky gut. So, sugary children's cereals are a double-edged sword, assaulting your gastrointestinal tract with both damaging sugar and grains.

For breakfast, try focusing on healthy protein choices, quality fats and fruits and vegetables to get your body and brain started off in high gear and fueled for the day to come!

In Health, 

Dr. Brad Niewierowski 

Does fructose damage your body?

With all of the confusing information circulating out there concerning how bad sugar is for our bodies and debating whether sugar itself or artificial sweeteners are worse to ingest, it can make it very hard to feel like we’re not damaging ourselves by eating anything sweet. Most people tend to enjoy having something of that flavor profile in their diet, so it can be helpful to know, if you can’t abstain all together, which ones tend to be more or less harmful. Of all the types of sugar you could consume, refined fructose is by far the most damaging. Research as shown high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is more toxic than table sugar (sucrose). Mice fed a high-HFCS diet had nearly twice the death rate of mice fed a diet high in sucrose. Table sugar consists of two molecules, which separate in your gut: fructose and glucose. Glucose travels throughout your body and fuels your muscles and brain, making it our primary and most readily available energy source. But fructose, on the other hand, goes straight to your liver where all sorts of problems result. Your liver readily turns this fructose into liver fat, which causes a slew of metabolic problems. When we see elevations on lab results for AST and ALT liver enzyme tests, fatty liver becomes a likely suspect, especially if other values like triglycerides and cholesterol are also high.

Excess fructose shuts down the part of your brain that tells you when you’re full, making overeating likely. This is triggered by the hormone leptin. Leptin is a very powerful and influential hormone produced by your fat cells. Your fat, by way of leptin, tells your brain whether you should be hungry, eat and make more fat, whether you should reproduce, or (partly by controlling insulin) whether to engage in maintenance and repair. In short, leptin is the way that your fat stores speak to your brain to let your brain know how much energy is available and, very importantly, what to do with it. You become leptin-resistant by the same general mechanism that you become insulin-resistant – by continuous overexposure to high levels of the hormone. If you eat a diet that is high in sugar (particularly fructose), as the sugar gets metabolized in your fat cells, the fat releases surges in leptin. Over time, if your body is exposed to too much leptin, it will become resistant, just as your body can become resistant to insulin. The resulting insulin resistance is at the core of a long list of serious health problems, including cancer, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease. And the list seems to grow longer by the day. Research published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)3 shows your risk of dying from heart disease nearly triples if 25 percent or more of your daily calories come from sugar. 

You may not realize that insulin resistance affects each organ differently. For example, insulin resistance may be the first step toward the development of hyperlipidemia and cardiovascular disease. Added sugars, especially fructose, may play more of a role than salt in high blood pressure. When certain organs experience insulin resistance, specific diseases may develop. Type 2 diabetes results from the muscles not being able to properly uptake glucose, and if it starts affecting the nerves, that’s when peripheral neuropathies set it. We already mentioned its effect on the liver, which is non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. If it develops in the ovaries there is polycystic ovary syndrome, and insulin resistance by brain cells can lead to brain fog and ultimately Alzheimer’s disease.

Therefore, we need to limit the fructose-containing foods in our diets in order to minimize our risk. The majority should come from natural sources only, such as fruits, which are typically higher in fructose but also have numerous vitamins, antioxidants, phytochemicals and fiber to help offset the negative effects. Agave syrup has been touted as a better alternative to some sweeteners, but it is very high in fructose content as a result of the processing techniques. Honey is a little better but only in raw form as, once again, processing increases the concentration of fructose. Pure maple syrup in small amounts can be used occasionally and stevia tends to currently be the best option as a sugar replacement. Enjoying healthy sweet foods should be able to be part of a balanced diet, but if you find that you need to get your “sweet fix” more frequently or it leads to making bad food choices, start by eliminating the poor sources of fructose from your diet and have yourself checked for insulin resistance.

In Health, 

Dr. Brad Niewierowski