What does the 4 billion a year, blockbuster Alzheimer’s drug donepezil (trade name Aricept) have in common with insecticides, chemical weapons and venom? Quite a lot more than consumers taking them have been lead to believe.

As a member of the chemical class known as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors donepezil interferes with the cholinesterase enzyme, preventing the neurotransmitter acetylcholine from breaking down, resulting in an increase in both its levels and duration of action.

While this can result in a temporary increase in memory, there is currently no definitive proof that use of donepezil or other similar agents slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.  Moreover, 21% of patients on this medication discontinue within 12 months due to serious adverse side effects

Donepezil is considered a reversible or non-competitive cholinesterase inhibitor, and therefore will not be as toxic as the reversible competitive or noncompetitive inhibitors of cholinesterase which kill insects and humans through its neurotoxic effects. The problem, however, is that – as is the case with virtually all FDA approved, novel and patented chemical drugs – it is evolutionarily and biologically unprecedented, representing a classical case of repackaging one of a drugs many “side effects” as a “therapeutic action.” After all, Alzheimer’s disease, or any neurodegenerative condition, is not caused by a lack of any drug.  In other words, the very premise upon which Alzheimer’s is treated with donepezil is bankrupt at the outset.

In 2010 the World Health Organization published a report which looked at over 71,000 documented cases of drug-induced seizures between 1998 and 2006 and found that donepezil was a major contributing factor in 8.4% of them.

Seizures represent the tip of a massive iceberg of adverse effects. Another classical side effect of organophosphate insecticide poisoning is bradycardia (arrhythmia),  a well documented side effect of donepezil.

What is so outrageous about the present situation is that non-patentable, inexpensive and relatively safe alternatives to intrinsically neurotoxic drugs like donepezil not only exist, but have been confirmed through clinical research.

Take gingko biloba as an example.  In 2006 the European Journal of Neurology published the results of a 24-week randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study showing an extract of this plant was as effective as donepezil for mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease:

Our study suggests that there is no evidence of relevant differences in the efficacy of EGb 761 [gingko biloba] and donepezil in the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s dementia, so the use of both substances can be justified. In addition, this study contributes to establish the efficacy and tolerability of the Ginkgo biloba special extract E.S. in the dementia of the Alzheimer type with special respect to moderately severe stages.  Source

Gingko biloba also has over 100 other potential medicinal applications. 

The reality is that there is a vast array of natural approaches available in the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, some of which have been demonstrated to regress the disease process by clearing pathological beta-amyloid brain plaque (Abeta).

A 2006 study in the Journal of Alzheimer’s disease reported on this phenomena with the use of curcuminoids (an extract of Turmeric):

The natural product curcuminoids enhanced brain clearance of Abeta in animal models. We, therefore, treated macrophages of six AD patients and 3 controls by curcuminoids in vitro and measured Abeta uptake using fluorescence and confocal microscopy. At baseline, the intensity of Abeta uptake by AD macrophages was significantly lower in comparison to control macrophages and involved surface binding but no intracellular uptake. After treatment of macrophages with curcuminoids, Abeta uptake by macrophages of three of the six AD patients was significantly (P<0.001 to 0.081) increased. Source

When combined with vitamin D, the effect is enhanced, as described in a 2009 study in the same journal. These findings are not novel, as there are at least 30 other studies indicating the anti-Alzheimer’s properties of curcuminoids.*

Unfortunately natural substances will never receive FDA drug approval because no one will invest the billion dollars or more in capital (or risk the opportunity costs should it fail)  necessary to pay for drug development and clinical trial phases 1, 2 and 3 on a substance that can be grown in your backyard for free. It therefore becomes necessary to alter the structure/function of natural compounds ostensibly to “improve upon nature,” while actually doing nothing more than granting the manufacturer patent exclusivity and a potentially astronomical return on its investment. Of course, the unintended, adverse effects of such a manipulation are devastating which cause the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives from drug-induced toxicity every year.

We should remember that while Nature’s formulas are proprietary – i.e. refractory to the pharmacological gaze –  she does not grant patents.  In other words, they are gifts – as health too is our birthright. 

*Curcuminoids have over 559 therapeutic applications. View the research here.

Quantum physics is no longer some exotic, strictly theoretical realm locked away in academic ivory towers. To the contrary, it is beginning to help us unravel the fundamental processes behind how the Earth’s countless plant species convert solar energy into LIFE energy….

“Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Berkeley have made the first observation of quantum entanglement* in a real biological
system.”

These researchers found that a protein-based ‘Light Harvesting Complex’ necessary for green plants to undergo photosynthesis is capable of INSTANTANEOUSLY transferring solar energy to molecules in electromagnetic reaction centers (within the plant).

Quantum entanglement explains how this natural photosynthetic process of light “transfer” is actually an expression of Non-Locality. Two electrons for instance while separated by their location in space, are inseparable/entangled on a deeper, quantum level, enabling them to communicate or be communicated to, to have energy/information transferred between them, instantaneously. In other words, nothing may actually be “transferred” in the tradition sense of moving an object from point A to point B, rather, the objects were already inseparably connected as part of a quantum field, if you will, i.e. pull one thing in the universe, and everything else moves with it.

*Quantum entanglement, also called the quantum non-local connection, is a
property of the quantum mechanical state of a system containing two or
more objects, where the objects that make up the system are linked in a
way such that one cannot adequately describe the quantum state of a
constituent of the system without full mention of its counterparts, even
if the individual objects are spatially separated.

Quantum entanglement in a real biological system found | KurzweilAI
www.kurzweilai.net
Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Berkeley have made the first observations of quantum

On March 5th Sayer Ji, founder of GreenMedInfo.com, spoke live (and via webinar) at the Integrity Biofeedback Academy in Bonita Springs Florida on the profound misconceptions associated with women’s breast cancer and osteoporosis prevention. This power-point presentation focused on the dangers associated with x-ray mammography and the misleading nature of bone density scans and the T-score rating system that is employed.  This hour and 15 minute long lecture, including the full power-point presentation can be viewed at the following link:
https://integritybiofeedback.webex.com/integritybiofeedback/ldr.php?AT=pb&SP=MC&rID=16532672&rKey=68df4fe5bda96a77

(Included above after Sayer’s is a presentation by Brenda Judah, founder of Integrity Biofeedback Academy on the top of Stress.)

We recently received a very important question:

“why does one have to ‘upgrade’ their user status to ‘Blossom’…in order to browse the articles”?

Actually you do not have to register or upgrade to view any article on GMI. Every one of the 15,660 studies (as of 2.25.11) is free to view, and will remain so as long as we can afford to do so.

So why upgrade to ‘Blossom’ status?

#1: so that our project will remain free for everyone to use. Without the financial support of our users we could not afford to provide this resource at all, and certainly not as an entirely solar-powered and advertisement free project.

#2: to take advantage of our novel evidence scoring system which we call “Evidence Density.” This system summarizes the research on our site so that you don’t have to sort through hundreds of studies to know which substance has the most evidence to support a specific disease, for instance. You also have access to other features, such as “Focus Articles” and Email Subscriptions, all of which are resource heavy functions. You can learn more about these features here.

Why not provide this for free for everyone? Our website does not use static HTML pages, as most websites. The information that you see on each page is drawn up dynamically from our MySQL database, now loaded to the hilt with data.  This makes for a  resource intensive website, and when someone is using our Evidence Density features to their fullest capacity this strains the resources and reduces the user experience (speed) of everyone else who is using the site for free. It is therefore only fair that those who are using the most CPU/RAM on our server contribute accordingly. In other words, if everyone had access to this feature either our website would be too slow to use, would crash, or we would have to upgrade our sever status to a point far beyond what our resources provide for.

If you wish to try out the Blossom features for a free monthly trial you can register here https://www.greenmedinfo.com/user/register Or, you can login as an already registered user and apply for a trial. If you have any trouble email us at info@greenmedinfo.com so we can help you.

Also, if you missed our last newsletter and would like to know more about the new Sponsor Role on GreenMedInfo.com view a detailed description here.

Its official!  We have just completed our two week long project of reviewing all 3,866 studies on Turmeric (and its major phenolic compound curcumin) on MEDLINE and we have published our results on the GreenMedInfo.com Turmeric page.  We believe that this page (which will take a minute to load, due to the voluminosity of data) is the worlds’ most extensive biomedical resource on the subject of this herb’s benefits and we encourage you to share it with others and link to it.

We have found no less than 1489 studies indexed across 152 pharmacological actions indicating its therapeutic value in the prevention or treatment of 564 Diseases.  All of these are now freely available on our database.

Below you will find a screenshot showing the top diseases (37 visible) that Turmeric compounds that the evidence demonstrates have therapeutic value in preventing or treating.*

We determine these disease rankings according to both the number and quality of studies that exist supporting its use.  We call this rating  “evidence density,” and it attributes greater value to human, animal, and test tube (in vitro) studies, in that descending order. (Click here to learn more about evidence density)

As you can see there are 168 studies indicating it has antioxidant activity, 29 on its potential value for Alzheimer disease, and 51 on its value for inflammation. 

*Due to the FDA’s unconstitutional gag order against our first amendment right to speak truthfully about the science indicating the therapeutic value of natural substances in disease prevention and treatment, we have created an algorithm which generates a statement about a substance’s “evidence density” based on the quantity and quality of research on our database that exists to support it.  To learn more about evidence density go here.

Osteopenia (1992) and Osteopororsis (1994) were formally identified as diseases by a group of World Health Organization (WHO) “experts” as bone mineral densities 1 and 2.5 standard deviations below the peak bone mass of a 30 year old  healthy female average, as measured by Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA, or DEXA).

These radical new definitions resulted in the diagnosis and subsequent labeling of millions of healthy middle-aged and older women with what they were made to believe was a “condition” serious enough to justify the use of expensive, experimental and extremely dangerous drugs in the pursuit of increasing bone density by any means necessary.

Osteopenia is in fact a medical and diagnostic non-entity. The term itself describes nothing more than a statistical deviation from an arbitrarily determined numerical value or norm. Anyone over 30 years of age should have lower bone density than a 30 year old, as this is consistent with the normal and natural healthy aging process.  And yet, according to the definition of Osteopenia being employed, the 3 billion years of evolution which programmed our bodies to gradually shed bone density as we age, is to be considered a faulty design and/or pathology.  How the WHO, or any other organization which purports to be a “medical authority” can make an educated public believe that the natural thinning of the bones which accomodates aging is not normal, or more absurdly: a disease, is simply beyond me.  In defense of the public, the cryptological manner in which these definitions and diagnoses have been intentionally cloaked makes it rather difficult for the layperson to discern just how outright insane the logic they are employing really is.

WHO are they kidding?

If it not already obvious following the fraudelent H1N1 pandemic, the WHO is a morally bankrupt organization, whose crimes against humanity are increasingly becoming difficult to conceal.  In a past expose we looked closer at the WHO’s targeting of pregant women and children to be the first to receive both Tamiflu and experimental vaccines, despite the fact that these are exactly the populations most susceptible to being harmed by them. It is for this reason that when the WHO makes pronouncements and/or definitions about health, I do not automatically assume their motive is one of public service.

There are several insurmountable problems with the WHO’s definitions.

#1: Previous to the 1994 WHO definition the term “osteoporosis” was only used after a fracture or break had occured in the elderly.  It was not a term that described the density of the bone, rather, it was used to describe a lack of bone quality or strength…..which incidentally can not be determined by bone mineral density readings alone.

#2: The Dual energy X-ray absorpitometry device simply reveals the mineral density of the bone, but not the bone quality/strength.  In some cases having higher bone density means that the bone is actually weaker. Glass, for instance, has high density, but it is extremely brittle and lacks the tensile strength required to withstand a fall. Wood, on the other hand, which is closer in nature to human bone is relatively less dense, but extremely strong, capable of bending and stretching to withstand the very same forces which the bone is faced with during a fall.  In this scenario, having high bone density (and thereby not having osteoporosis) would actually increase the risk of fracture in a real-life scenario like this.

#3: A 60-year old woman’s bones should not be as dense as a 20-year old woman’s bones. But if we accept the WHO’s T-score based definition, we are to believe that the natural thinning of the bone which accompanies healthy aging is a disease, and must be stopped by all means necessary.

The new definition of Osteoporosis distracts from key issues surrounding bone quality.  The quality of human bone depends entirely on dietary and lifestyle patterns and choices, and unlike x-ray-based measurements, bone quality is not decomposable to strictly numerical values, e.g. mineral density scores.  Vitamin K2 and soy isoflavones, for instance, significantly reduce bone fracture rates without increasing bone density.  Scoring high on bone density tests may save a woman from being intimated into taking dangerous drugs or swallowing massive doses of inorganic calcium, but it may not translate into preventing “osteoporosis.”

Ultimately, with the WHO’s bone density definitions the goal of osteopenia/osteoporosis prevention and treatment became densification of the bone by any means necessary.  Medical authorities, allopaths and naturopaths included, advocate taking massive doses of inorganic calcium, including the very kinds found as contributing factors in diseases like breast cancer and artherosclerosis: calcium hydroxyapatite, a.k.a. bone meal (Learn more about the problem with calcium supplements). We are quite literally being asked to turn ourselves into stone.

Here are a few Myths which are ripe for debunking….

Myth #1:  High Bone Density is good for your health.

FACT: Being in the top quarter percentile for bone density in middle-aged and older women actually INCREASES their risk of breast cancer by 200-300%, and this is according to research published in the world’s most esteemed journals.  It has been known for well over a decade that high bone density profoundly increases the risk of breast cancer  – and particularly the malignant variety – and this research has been published in some of the world’s most esteemed and well-respected journal, i.e. the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the New England Journal of Medicine, etc. view the articles here.

This should put a nail in the coffin of any lingering doubt that the WHO’s fixation on high bone density was designed not to protect or improve the health of women, but rather to convert the natural aging process into a blockbuster disease, capable of generating billions of dollars of revenue.  The truth is that increasing bone density beyond the natural density of one’s age group (the Z-score), may result in one of the most terrorifying diseases that afflict women today: breast cancer.  Given the increased risk for breast cancer associated with scoring well on bone density tests, being diagnosed with Osteopenia and Osteoporosis within the WHO’s definitions may actually be a good thing for overall health.  After all, one may survive a fracture and/or bone break and attain a full recovery, but breast cancer often results in mortality, if not a lifelong depreciation in the quality of life caused by chemotherapy and radiation.

Sally Fields Selling Out Millions ofTrusting Women, Knowingly or Unknowingly?

Myth #2: Osteoporosis is caused by Calcium Deficiency

FACT: There is no word for “osteoporosis” in the Chinese language (a 5,000 year old system), and the average Chinese woman, for instance, consuming a traditional calcium poor (250 mg), high potassium, silica and magnesium rich whole-food, plant-based diet has less dense but far stronger bones than us.

FACT: The Harvard Nurses’ study, which tracked the dairy-based calcium consumption of over 78,000 Nurses for 12 years, demonstrated that those in the highest quarter percentile for calcium consumption had the highest risk of bone fracture.

FACT: Mammals, in part through the symbiotic bacteria that inhabit their ailmentary tracts, are capable of biotransforming minerals like potassium, silica and magnesium into calcium, making it unnecessary to consume the mineral in large amounts.  This is clearly demonstrated in cows and chickens who excrete far more calcium than they ingest.  For more informaton read Louis Kervran’s Biological Transmutations and Modern Physics

Myth #2: Bone Drugs Are Safe and Effective.

FACT: Bisphosphonates such as Fosamax, Evista, Actonel and the horrific injectable form known as Reclast, are all derivatives/analogues of industrial cleaning solvents. The mechanism of action upon which they depend requires the poisoning, inhibition and destruction of the bone-building cells known as osteoclasts which are responsible for breaking down the bad bone so that new healthy bone can be put in its place via the osteoblasts.   The drugs cause the bad bone to build up, making the bone denser BUT WEAKER, while also acting as a metabolic poison generating serious, if not sometimes life-threatening side effects, e.g. osteonecrosis, atrial fibrillation, sudden bone fracture, esophageal ulceration/perforation, liver and kidney damage, etc.  There are millions of formerly healthy women who by taking these drugs have had their right to informed consent violated. In turn thousands of physicians have violated the Nuremberg code of medical ethics, in their immoral promotion of an industrial cleaning solvent to treat medical conditions which do not exist.  I believe that history will show the use of bisphosphonates is a major contributor to what has become nothing short of a medical holocaust.

FACT: Forteo, the parathyroid hormone analogue produced from genetically modified E. Coli, is associated wtih aggressive bone cancer.

FACT: Evista, the synthetic selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM), is associated with increased risk for embolism. Evista has wanna-be selectivity, but does not approximate the built-in adaptogenic properties of the soy isoflavone genistein, whose metabolic behavior almost conveys a rudimentary form of intelligence.

Myth #3: The T-Score is Relevant and Valid

FACT: The T-score is used because if you compare the bones of a middle-age or older woman to that of a 30 year-old at peak bone mass (which is what the T-score is), most all women will fall short, and will then be required to subject themselves to an invasive, though profitable treatment.  The expressed reason why the Z-score is not used is because if you compare a 65 year old woman’s bone density score to that of a 65 year old woman (which is the age-mediated Z-score), in most cases her bones will be right in line with what they should be for their age. This would ruin the drug-manufacturers and DEXA-scan operators who depend on misinformation for the bread and butter.
Read more about the T-score/Z-score mythology here.

For more information on this topic read my article…..
“The Breaking Point: How Too Much Calcium and Over-Medication can break your bones”

Greenmedinfo added a “Therapeutic Actions” page to include all the alternative, non-invasive therapies with therapeutic value as part of the project. What follows is the list of Actions and the number of articles indexed so far.

J Nat Prod. 1996 Feb;59(2):100-8.

Five novel mono-tetrahydrofuran ring acetogenins from the seeds of Annona muricata.

Rieser MJ, Gu ZM, Fang XP, Zeng L, Wood KV, McLaughlin JL.

AgrEvo Research Center, Pikeville, North Carolina 27863, USA.

[As published in the 2009 winter edition of the Journal of Gluten Sensitivity]

by Sayer Ji

Now that celiac disease has been allowed official entry into the Pantheon of established medical conditions, and gluten intolerance is no longer entirely a fringe medical concept, the time has come to bring attention to the powerful little chemical in wheat known as ‘wheat germ agglutinin’ (WGA) which is largely responsible for wheat’s pervasive and difficult to diagnose ill effects.  Not only does WGA throw a monkey wrench into our assumptions about the primary causes of wheat intolerance, but due to the fact that WGA is found in highest concentrations in “whole wheat,” including its supposedly superior sprouted form, it also pulls the rug out from under one of the health food industry’s favorite poster children.

Beneath the radar of conventional serological testing for antibodies against the various gluten proteins and genetic testing for disease susceptibility, the WGA “lectin problem” remains almost entirely obscured. Lectins, though found in all grains, seeds, legumes, dairy and our beloved nightshades: the tomato and potato, are rarely discussed in connection with health or illness, even when their presence in our diet may greatly reduce both the quality and length of our lives.

Although great progress has been made in the direction of revealing the dark side of wheat over the past decade, gluten receives a disproportionate amount of the attention. Given that modern bread wheat (Triticum Aestivum) is a hexaploid species containing three distinct sets of chromosomes capable of producing well over 23,000 unique proteins, it is not surprising that we are only just now beginning to unravel the complexities of this plant’s many secrets. [1] What is unique about the WGA glycoprotein is that it can do direct damage to the majority of tissues in the human body without requiring a specific set of genetic susceptibilities and/or immune-mediated articulations. This may explain why chronic inflammatory and degenerative conditions are endemic to wheat-consuming populations, even when overt allergies or intolerances to wheat gluten appear exceedingly rare.  The future fate of wheat consumption, and by implication our health, may depend largely on whether or not the toxic qualities of WGA come to popular light.

Nature engineers within all species a set of defenses against predation, though not all are as obvious as the thorns of a rose or the horns of a rhinoceros. Plants do not have the cell-mediated immunity of higher life forms, like ants, nor do they have the antibody-based secondary immune systems of jawed vertebrates. They must rely on a much simpler innate immunity.  It is for this reason that seeds of the grass family, e.g. rice, wheat, spelt, rye, are designed with exceptionally high levels of defensive glycoproteins known as lectins. Cooking, sprouting, fermentation and digestion are the traditional ways in which man, for instance, deals with the various anti-nutrients found within this family of plants, but lectins are, by design, particularly resistant to degradation through a wide range of pH and temperature.

WGA lectin is an exceptionally tough adversary as it is composed of the same disulfide bonds that make vulcanized rubber and human hair so strong, flexible and durable. Like man-made pesticides, lectins are extremely small, difficult to break down by living systems, and tend to accumulate and become incorporated into tissues where they interfere with normal biological processes.  Indeed, WGA lectin is so powerful an insecticide that biotech firms have used recombinant DNA technology to create genetically modified WGA-enhanced plants.  We can only hope that these virtually unregulated biotech companies, who are in the business of playing God with the genetic infrastructure of Life, will realize the potential harm to humans genetic modification in which this will result.

Lectins are glycoproteins, and through thousands of years of selectively breeding wheat for bread-making purposes to contain increasingly higher quantities of protein, the concentration of WGA lectin has increased proportionately.  This, no doubt, has contributed to wheat’s global dominance as one of the world’s favored monocultures, offering additional “built-in” pest resistance. The word lectin comes from the same etymological root as the word select, and literally means “to choose.”  Lectins are designed “to choose” specific carbohydrates that project off the surface of cells and upon which they attach. In the case of WGA the two glycoproteins it selects for, in order of greatest affinity, are N-Acetyl Glucosamine and N-Acetylneuraminic acid (sialic acid).

WGA is Nature’s ingenious solution for protecting the wheat plant from the entire gamut of its natural enemies. Fungi have cell walls composed of a polymer of n-Acetylglucosamine.  The cell wall of bacteria is made from a layered structure called the peptidoglycan, a biopolymer of N-Acetylglucosamine. N-acetylglucosamine is the basic unit of the biopolymer chitin, which forms the outer coverings of insects and crustaceans (shrimp, crab, etc).  All animals, including worms, fish, birds and humans, use N-Acetyglucosamine as a “ground substance” for building up the various tissues in their bodies, including the bones.  The production of cartilage, tendons, and joints depend on the structural integrity of N-Acetylglucosamine.  The mucous known as the glycocalyx, or literally, “sugar coat” is secreted in humans by the epithelial cells which line all the mucous membranes, from nasal cavities to the top to the bottom of the alimentary tube, as well as the protective and slippery lining of our blood vessels. The glycocalyx is composed largely of N-Acetylglucosamine and N-Acetylneuraminic acid (also known as sialic acid), with carbohydrate end of N-Acetylneuraminic acid of this protective glycoprotein forming the terminal sugar that is exposed to the contents of both the gut and the arterial lumen (opening).  WGA’s unique binding specificity to these exact two glycoproteins are not be accidental. Nature has designed WGA perfectly to attach to, disrupt and gain entry through these mucosal surfaces.

It may strike some readers as highly suspect that wheat – the “staff of life” – which has garnished a reputation for “wholesome goodness” the world over, could contain a powerful health-disrupting anti-nutrient, the likes of which are only now coming to public attention. And yet, the truth is that the presence of WGA has been overshadowed by other proteins in wheat, which humans – not Nature – have spent thousands of years cultivating in order to contain larger and larger quantities. These pharmacologically active, opiate-like proteins in gluten are known as gluten exorphines (A5, B4, B5, C) and gliadorphin, and they may effectively anesthetize us, in the short term, to the long term adverse effects of WGA. Gluten also contains exceptionally high levels of the excitotoxic l-aspartic and l-glutamic amino acids, which can be highly addictive, not unlike their synthetic shadow molecules aspartame and monosodium glutamate.¹ In a previous article on the topic, The Dark Side of Wheat: New Perspectives on Celiac Disease and Wheat Intolerance[2], we explored the role that these psychotropic qualities in grains played in ushering in civilization at the advent of the Neolithic transition 10,000 BC.  No doubt the narcotic properties of wheat are the primary reason why suspicions about its toxicity have remained merely speculation, for thousands upon thousands of years.

WGA is most concentrated in the seed of the wheat plant, likely due to the fact that the seeds are the “babies” of these plants and are invested with the entire hope for continuance of their species. Protecting the seed against predation is necessarily a first priority.  WGA is an exceedingly small glycoprotein (36 kilodaltons) and is concentrated deep within the embryo of the wheat berry (approximately 1 microgram per grain). WGA migrates during germination to the roots and tips of leaves, as the developing plant begins to project itself into the world and outside the safety of its seed. In its attempt to gain nourishment from the earth, its roots are challenged with fungi and bacteria seeking to invade, and in its attempt to receive sunlight and nourishment from the heavens, its leaves become prey to insects, birds, mammals, etc.  After the plant has passed beyond the germination and sprouting stages it continues to contain almost 50% of the levels of lectin found in the dry seeds, approximately 1/3 in the roots and 2/3rds in the shoot, for at least 34 days [3]

There exists 1 microgram per wheat grain of WGA, hardly enough it would seem to do any harm to an animal of our size. Lectins, however, are notoriously dangerous even in minute doses and can be fatal when injected directly into the blood or inhaled.  According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control it only takes 500 micrograms (about half a grain of sand) of ricin (a lectin extracted from castor bean casings) to kill a human. A one ounce slice of wheat bread contains approximately 500 micrograms of WGA, which if it were precipitated out in its pure form and injected directly into the blood, could in theory have platelet aggregating and erythrocyte agglutinizing effects strong enough to create an obstructive clot as occurs in myocardial infarction and stroke.  This, however, is not a likely route of exposure and in reality the immediate pathologies associated with lectins like ricin and WGA are largely restricted to the gastrointestinal tract where they cause mucosal injuries. The point is that WGA, even in small quantities, could have rather profound adverse effects, given suitable conditions.  Ironically, it is only because WGA is exceptionally small at 36 kilodaltons (approximately the mass of 36,000 hydrogen atoms) that it can pass through the cell membranes of the intestine with ease. The intestines will allow passage of molecules up to 1,000 kilodaltons in size.  Moreover, since one wheat kernel contains 16.7 trillion individual molecules of WGA, with each molecule of WGA having four N-Acetylglucosamine binding sites, the disruptive and damaging effects of whole wheat bread consumption in someone whose protective mucosal barrier has been compromised by something as simple as Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug (NSAID) use, or a recent viral or bacterial infection, are formidable.  The common consumption of both wheat and NSAIDs represent a vicious cycle, as dependency on anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen and aspirin which increase intestinal permeabilty may cause even higher than normal amounts of pro-inflammatory WGA to being absorbed. Conversely, the inflammation caused by the absorption of WGA lectin is the very reason why there is a great need for the inflammation-reducing effects of NSAIDs.

Perhaps one way to gauge how pervasive the adverse effects of WGA are in wheat consuming populations is the popularity of glucosamine as a dietary supplement. A quarter billion dollars of the stuff is sold in US annually. The main source of glucosamine on the market is from the N-Acetylglucosamine rich chitin exoskelotons of crustaceans, like shrimp and crab. The pain and inflammation reducing effects of glucosamine are obviously not due to a deficiency of the pulverized shells of dead sea critters in our diet any more than the pain and inflammation reducing effects of NSAIDs are obviously not caused by a deficiency of these synthetic chemicals in our diet.  When we consume glucosamine supplements the WGA, instead of binding to our tissues, binds to the pulverized chitin in the glucosamine supplements, sparing us from the full impact of WGA.  Many millions of Americans who have experienced their pain and suffering greatly reduced by the ingestion of glucosamine and NSAIDs may be better served by removing wheat, the underlying cause of their malaise, from their diet, as this would result in even greater health and far less dependency on palliative supplements and medicines alike.

In order to underscore this point further, what follows are the numerous ways in which WGA contributes to disrupting our health, and glucosamine contributes to blocking:

WGA may be Pro-inflammatory

At exceedingly small concentrations (nanomolar), WGA stimulates the synthesis of pro-inflammatory chemical messengers (cytokines) including Interleukin 1, Interleukin 6 and Interleukin 8 in intestinal and immune cells.[4] WGA has been shown to induce NADPH-Oxidase in human neutrophils associated with the “respiratory burst” that results in the release of inflammatory reactive oxygen species[5] WGA has been shown to play a causative role in patients with chronic thin gut inflammation.[6]

WGA may be Immunotoxic

WGA induces thymus atrophy in rats[7], and may directly bind to leukocytes and activate them.[8] Anti-WGA antibodies in human sera have shown the ability to cross react with other proteins, indicating they may contribute to autoimmunity.[9] Indeed, WGA appears to play a role in the pathogenesis of celiac disease (CD), entirely distinct from that of gluten, due to the fact that IgG and IgA antibodies to WGA are significantly higher in CD than patients with other intestinal disorders and these antibodies were shown not to cross-react with gluten antigens[10] [11]

WGA may be Neurotoxic

WGA is capable of passing through the blood brain barrier (BBB) through a process called “adsorptive endocytosis”[12] and is able to travel freely throughout the tissues of the brain which is why it is used as a marker for tracing neural circuits[13] WGA’s ability to pass through the BBB without damaging it, as well as to pull through other substances to which it is bound, has perked the interest of pharmaceutical developers looking to find ways to delivering drugs to the brain. WGA has a unique binding affinity for N-Acetylneuraminic acid, a crucial component of neuronal membranes found in the brain such as gangliosides which have diverse roles such as cell-to-cell contact, ion conductance and as receptors, and whose dysfunction have been implicated in neurodegenerative disorders. WGA may attach to the protective coating of the nerves known as the myelin sheath[14] and is capable of inhibiting nerve growth factor,[15] which is important for the growth, maintenance and survival of certain target neurons. WGA binds to N-Acetylglucosamine which is believed to function as an atypical neurotransmitter functioning in nocioceptive (pain) pathways.

WGA may be Cytotoxic

WGA has been demonstrated to be cytotoxic to both normal and cancerous cell lines, capable of inducing either cell cycle arrest or programmed cell death (apoptosis). [16]

WGA may interfere with Gene Expression

WGA demonstrates both mitogenic and anti-mitogenic[17] activities. WGA may prevent DNA replication[18] WGA binds to polysialic acid (involved in posttranslational modifications) and blocks chick tail bud development in embryogenesis, indicating that it may influence both genetic and epigenetic factors.

WGA may disrupt Endocrine Function

WGA has also been shown to have an insulin-mimetic action, potentially contributing to weight gain and insulin resistance.[19] WGA has been implicated in obesity and “leptin resistance” by blocking the receptor in the hypothalamus for the appetite satiating hormone leptin.  WGA stimulates epidermal growth factor which when upregulated is associated with increased risk of cancer. WGA has a particular affinity for thyroid tissue and has been shown to bind to both benign and malignant thyroid nodules[20] WGA interferes with the production of secretin from the pancreas, which can interfere with digestion and can cause pancreatic hypertrophy.  WGA attaches to sperm and ovary cells, indicating it may adversely influence fertility.

WGA may be Cardiotoxic

WGA induces platelet activation and aggregration[21] WGA has a potent, disruptive effect on platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1, which plays a key role in tissue regeneration and safely removing neutrophils from our blood vessels.[22]

WGA may adversely effect Gastrointestinal Function

WGA causes increased shedding of the intestinal brush border membrane, reduction in surface area, acceleration of cell losses and shortening of villi, via binding to the surface of the villi. WGA can mimic the effects of epidermal growth factor (EGF) at the cellular level, indicating that the crypt hyperplasia seen in celiac disease may be due to the growth-promoting effects of WGA.  WGA causes cytoskeleton degradation in intestinal cells, contributing to cell death and increased turnover.  WGA decreases levels of heat shock proteins in gut epithelial cells leaving these cells less well protected against the potentially harmful content of the gut lumen.[23]

WGA may share pathogenic similarities with certain Viruses

There are a number of interesting similarities between WGA lectin and viruses. Both viral particles and WGA lectin are several orders of magnitude smaller than the cells they enter, and subsequent to their attachment to the cell membrane, are taken into the cell through a process of endocytosis.  Both influenza and WGA gain entry through the sialic acid coatings of our mucous membranes (glycocalyx), each with a sialic acid specific substance, the neuriminidase enzyme for viruses and the sialic acid binding sites on the WGA lectin.  Once the influenza virus and WGA lectin have made their way into wider circulation in the host body they are both capable of blurring the line in the host between self-and non-self.  Influenza accomplishes this by incorporating itself into the genetic material of our cells and taking over the protein production machinery to make copies of itself, with the result that our immune system must attack its own virally transformed cell, in order to clear the infection.  Studies done with herpes simplex virus have shown that WGA has the capacity to block viral infectivity through competitively binding to the same cell surface receptors, indicating that they may effect cells through very similar pathways. WGA has the capability of influencing the gene expression of certain cells, e.g. mitogenic/anti-mitogenic action, and like other lectins associated with autoimmunity, e.g. soy lectin, and viruses like Epstein-Barr Virus, WGA may be capable of causing certain cells to exhibit class 2 human leukocyte antigens (HLA-II), which mark them for autoimmune destruction by white blood cells.  Since human antibodies to WGA have been shown to cross react with other proteins, even if WGA does not directly transform the phenotype of our cells into “other,” the resulting cross-reactivity of antibodies to WGA with our own cells would result in autoimmunity nonetheless.

Given the multitude of ways in which WGA may disrupt our health, gain easy entry through our intestine into systemic circulation, and remain refractory to traditional antibody-based clinical diagnoses, it is altogether possible that the consumption of wheat is detracting from the general health of the wheat-consuming world and that we have been, for all these years, “digging our graves with our teeth.”  This perspective may come to the great surprise of the health food industry, whose particular love affair for whole wheat products has begun to go mass market. The increasingly hyped-up marketing of ”whole wheat,” “sprouted grain,” and “wheat germ” enriched products, all of which may have considerably higher levels of WGA than their processed, fractionized, non-germinated and supposedly “less healthy” equivalents, may contribute to making us all significantly less healthy.

It is my belief that a careful study of the wheat plant will reveal that despite our projections man does not have self-proclaimed dominion over Nature, and all that he deems fit for his consumption may not be given to him for food as an inborn right. Though the wheat plant’s uniquely defenseless disposition would appear to make it a rather suitable candidate for mass human consumption, it has been designed with a multitude of invisible “thorns,” with WGA being its smallest and perhaps most potent. If WGA is an uninvited guest at our table, so too are we wheat’s uninvited guest.  Perhaps the courteous thing to do, having realized our mistaken intrusion, is to lick our wounds and simply go our separate ways. Perhaps as the distance between man and his infatuation with wheat grows, he will grow closer to himself and will discover far more suitable forms of nourishment that Nature has not impregnated with such high levels of addictive and potentially debilitating proteins.

[1] Desmond S. T. Nicholl, An Introduction to Genetic Engineering, 3rd Edition ISBN-13: 9780521615211

[2] Ji, Sayer “The Dark Side of Wheat – New Perspectives on Celiac Disease & Wheat Intolerance.” Winter, 08’, Journal of Gluten Sensitivity

[3] Distribution of Wheat Germ Agglutinin in Young Wheat Plants.  Plant Physiol. 1980 Nov;66(5):950-955.  PMID: 16661559

[4] Effects of wheat germ agglutinin on human gastrointestinal epithelium: insights from an experimental model of immune/epithelial cell interaction. Toxicol and Applied Pharmacology 2009 Jun 1;237(2):146-53. Epub 2009 Mar 28. PMID 19332085

[5] Wheat germ agglutinin induces NADPH-oxidase activity in human neutrophils by interaction with mobilizable receptors. Infection and Immunity. 1999 Jul;67(7):3461-8. PMID 10377127

[6] Lectin glycosylation as a marker of thin gut inflammation. The FASEB Journal. 2008;22:898.3

[7] Antinutritive effects of wheat-germ agglutinin and other N-acetylglucosamine-specific lectins.The British Journal of Nutrition 1993 Jul;70(1):313-21. PMID: 8399111

[8] Lectinlike properties of pertussis toxin. . Infection and Immunity 1989 Jun;57(6):1854-7.  PMID: 2722243

[9] Natural human antibodies to dietary lectins. FEBS Lett. 1996 Nov 18;397(2-3):139-42.  PMID: 8955334

[10] Antibodies to wheat germ agglutinin in coeliac disease. Clin Exp Immunol. 1986 January; 63(1): 95–100. PMID: 3754186

[11] Elevated levels of serum antibodies to the lectin wheat germ agglutinin in celiac children lend support to the gluten-lectin theory of celiac disease. Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 1995 May;6(2):98-102. PMID: 7581728

[12] Transcytotic pathway for blood-borne protein through the blood-brain barrier. Proceedings from the National Academy of Sciences U S A. 1988 Jan;85(2):632-6.  PMID: 2448779

[13] Transsynaptic transport of wheat germ agglutinin expressed in a subset of type II taste cells of transgenic mice.  BMC Neuroscience. 2008 Oct 2;9:96.  PMID: 18831764

[14] Distribution of concanavalin A and wheat germ agglutinin binding sites in the rat peripheral nerve fibres revealed by lectin/glycoprotein-gold histochemistry. The Histochem Journal. 1996 Jan;28(1):7-12.  PMID: 8866643

[15] Wheat germ agglutinin, concanavalin A, and lens culinalis agglutinin block the inhibitory effect of nerve growth factor on cell-free phosphorylation of Nsp100 in PC12h cells.  Cell Struct and Function 1989 Feb;14(1):87-93. PMID:2720800

[16] Wheat germ lectin induces G2/M arrest in mouse L929 fibroblasts. J Cell Biochem. 2004 Apr 15;91(6):1159-73. PMID: 15048871

[17] Wheat germ agglutinin and concanavalin A inhibit the response of human fibroblasts to peptide growth factors by a post-receptor mechanism. J Cell Physiol. 1985 Sep;124(3):474-80.  PMID: 2995421

[18] DNA replication in cell-free extracts from Xenopus eggs is prevented by disrupting nuclear envelope function. J Cell Sci. 1992 Jan;101 ( Pt 1):43-53. PMID: 1569128

[19] Effects of wheat germ agglutinin and concanavalin A on the accumulation of glycosaminoglycans in pericellular matrix of human dermal fibroblasts. A comparison with insulin.  Acta Biochim Pol. 2001;48(2):563-72. PMID: 11732625

[20] Analysis of lectin binding in benign and malignant thyroid nodules. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1989 Feb;113(2):186-9. PMID: 2916907

[21] Further characterization of wheat germ agglutinin interaction with human platelets: exposure of fibrinogen receptors. Thromb Haemost. 1986 Dec 15;56(3):323-7. PMID: 3105108

[22] Wheat germ agglutinin-induced platelet activation via platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1: involvement of rapid phospholipase C gamma 2 activation by Src family kinases. Biochemistry. 2001 Oct 30;40(43):12992-3001. PMID: 11669637

[23] Decreased levels of heat shock proteins in gut epithelial cells after exposure to plant lectins.  Gut. 2000 May;46(5):679-87. PMID: 10764712