Today I was reading the the UC Davis food blog and came across this post about improving wheat. The benefits to this new wheat is better iron, zinc and protein. Cool right?
Well, maybe. Look closer. Where does the protein come from? Gluten? Yep.
Now, is this a good thing? With the prevalence of gluten sensitivity on the rise, should we be consuming highly glutenized wheat? I get it that it’s resistant to insects, but maybe the vunerability to insects is part of the balance for natural wheat.
Is this another example of ‘too much of a good thing’ with science? Just because we can increase the gluten of wheat doesn’t mean we should.
To me, this is just another reason to eat spelt, a cousin of wheat that is not genetically modified like wheat is because it’s not as ‘important’ of a crop. Wheat makes up a huge proportion of most people’s diets, so it make sense why farmers want to improve yield. But Spelt doesn’t have those pressures, yet.
Is there ‘heirloom’ wheat? Hmm.. I don’t know – maybe that is what spelt and Kamut and bulgar are – heirloom wheats that continue to become more and more distinct from everyday wheat as genetic modification expands.
Off White Living 