And in the end, it's the same old, tiresome story-- too much Gluten. It's the same story as the one we told about sugar, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, soy and MSG.  We've written Newsletters about all of them, and every story has the same protagonist--Big Food. Big Food changes natural food into a processed food nightmare with TOO MUCH of what once was a good thing.

Meet Gluty. Gluty is a Brazilian rat who participated in a study by a Brazilian research team that published its report in the January 2013 Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. 

 

That was over three years ago. Still the detrimental effects of Gluten from wheat are being kept under wraps (quite literally) as the Wheat Lobby continues to push the health benefits of wheat. 

So what did Gluty demonstrate in this study? "The study was set up to examine the differences in specific genetic and biochemical markers between rats fed gluten and rats that were kept gluten free. The 'wheat belly' [see the book below by the same name] syndrome and how it leads to other health issues was the purpose of their research. 

The research team chose biological markers that could indicate the onset of obesity and metabolic syndrome, precursors to diabetes and cardiac issues". Both groups of rats were fed high fat diets. But one group was gluten free and the other group's diet was 4.5 percent gluten. Even without tracing their predetermined markers, it was obvious the gluten free mice exhibited weight loss without any trace of lipid (fat) excretion." (Quote taken from the Natural News website article entitled " Gluten confirmed to cause serious weight gain, or 'wheat belly'--scientific research")

But what in world happened to wheat to turn it into a toxic non-food? Here's the sad truth. The Gluten in wheat has increased ten times in the last 50 years through a process of agricultural hybridization, which "is frequently practiced in agriculture, to make stronger, healthier plants with desirable characteristics". Gluten became a 'desirable characteristic' as "the processed food industry's concern for production efficiency, [taste] and the perception of consumer demands" for more baked goods resulted in "artificially bleaching flour and adding 'improvers' with often toxic additives. [By] mixing the dough violently, loaves of bread could be baked, cooled, and packaged within a few, short hours. Cheap, unhealthy foods for many with massive profits for a few" were the awful results. (Quote taken from the Natural News website article entitled " Gluten confirmed to cause serious weight gain, or 'wheat belly'--scientific research")

Wah La! Wheat ended up with ten times more Gluten. What is Gluten anyway? The word Gluten comes from Latin, and quite simply, means glue. It is a mixture of proteins found in wheat, barley, rye and oat, but is more prevalent in wheat. "It gives elasticity to dough, helping it to rise and keep its shape while giving the final product a chewy texture. Gluten proteins have low biological and nutritional value." (Quote taken from Wikipedia page entitled " Gluten") 

But there's more to this sordid story. Once the large-scale industrial manufacturers got involved, the wheat starch was separated from the Gluten and Gluten became a commodity in its own right under the name Vital Dry Gluten. This Vital Dry Gluten is now what is being used in many bakery products sans the wheat altogether. Not only that, Vital Dry Gluten is now finding it's way into many processed, packaged foods as it takes the place of milk and soy proteins at a cheaper cost.  (Information supplied by the Research Gate website article entitled " Wheat-gluten uses and industry needs")

Then there's the use of Gluten as an actual glueing agent. You can read this document which explores " The Wood Adhesive Performance Of Wheat Gluten". Oh, my, Gluten can be used to glue furniture parts together with a strong enough bond that we can sit, sleep, jump and play on said furniture. That says a lot for why we shouldn't be putting it in our bodies unless, of course, we want to glue our organs together for some insane reason.

Now Gluten is even in products called Moo Gloo and ACTIVA. RM designed to glue pieces of meat together to make a single piece of meat out of scraps. Say what? Now, we're glueing pieces of scrap meat together? " 'Meat glue' is industry standard, and chances are if you eat meat, or even tofu, you're consuming this binding agent on a monthly, if not weekly, basis. And for all you vegetarians and vegans out there, please note: this stuff is not friendly to you and might be in your cheese, dairy, or tofu."

"Most TG is made from the cultivation of bacteria using the blood plasma (clotting factors) from cows and pigs. Some TG is made from cultivating bacteria using vegetable and plant extracts. Most TGs are mixed with other ingredients including gelatin and caseinate (milk derivative.)

The issue? Manufacturers don't have to tell you which method they're using, what type of animal plasma was used (cow, pig), or anything else that most of us would like to know more about." And don't forget about the Gluten. It's in there in spades. 

So what are the dangers of 'Meat Glue'? 

1. "Bacterial Contamination: When multiple pieces of meat are globbed together (potentially from different animals and multiple countries), this can be a hazard. 'If there is a bacteria outbreak, it's much harder to figure out the source when chunks of meat from multiple cows were combined,' says Keith Warriner who teaches food science at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada."

 

2. "Food Poisoning: The bacterial count in 'restructured' meat is extremely high because pieces of meat that were outside pieces are now glued together inside, making them hard to cook thoroughly. 'The amount of bacteria on a steak that's been put together with meat glue is hundreds of times higher,' says microbiologist Glenn Pener. This can lead to food poisoning, dire illness, and even death."

3. "Increased Risk Of Disease: In addition to an enormous increase in the likelihood of bacterial infections and food poisoning, there's a potential link between consumed TG and common diseases. Though not directly linked to consumption of transglutaminase, there's an increased risk to people who do not regulate the enzyme properly."

"For example, when TG is not properly regulated in the body, it's associated with plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's Disease patients; in the development of cataracts in the eyes; arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries); and various skin disorders. (Information taken from Science Direct article " Transglutaminases in Disease")

4. "Gluten Allergy And Celiac Disease: The 'glut' of transglutaminase stands for 'gluten.' We've recently seen an enormous increase in gluten sensitivity in the US. Might this increase, in part, be due to the continued and 'forced' consumption of this enzyme? Ingested meat glue is not a 'self' transglutaminase, and will therefore be recognized by the immune system as foreign. If this leads to your own transglutaminase being determined foreign as well, it could lead to the development of gluten allergy and Celiac (Coeliac) Disease."

Watch the frightening Video below about Meat Glue:

WOW! Big Food never comes to the end of finding horrible ways to make us sicker and them richer do they? I know I've seen "Meat Glue" glueing together sections of meat I purchased when I was a meat eater. I remember wondering about that white stuff running through the meat. Then I'd just put the thought out of my mind and get busy cooking. Have we hit our bottom line? We're not supposed to be eating glued together meat to help them increase their bottom line! 

Every time we run into another one of these crazy awarenesses about what Big Food is up to while writing our Newsletter, I get mad all over again. It never fails. One of my tests for these   Newsletters is this: Has it made me mad yet? Well, I'm there. One of these days, we're all going to get so mad that we walk away from Big Food's poison offerings in mass. Won't that be a great Movement?

Thank God for small favors. In this case, the favor is the fact that wheat is not GMO (yet). If it was GMO on top of everything else that's wrong with it, we would all be in much worse shape than we are as in fatter and way less healthy.

However, most people don't realize that wheat is not GMO so they fall for the false advertising that is using the Non GMO Label as a ploy to sell products by pushing the Non GMO message. Now, that's an interesting reversal of who are the bad guys and who are the good guys. It also says a lot about the power of that Non GMO Label.