Grains are a controversial food in modern times, and perhaps with good reason. They aren’t the food they were thousands of years ago, or hundreds of years ago, or even 50 years ago.
Are All Grains Bad?
Maybe you’ve wondered why grains have become so controversial when people from other countries (usually Asia and Italy are mentioned here) are able to eat them regularly while staying thin and living long lives. There are actually several factors that seem to contribute here, including genetics, other dietary differences, and a vast difference in the actual grains themselves.
Also- while grain consumption is an inherently irrelevant statistic when it comes to both weight and longevity, if you want a statistically valid comparison, squatting while using the restroom actually seems to be one of the best predictors…
Even in the health community, there is a split between WAPF (Weston A. Price Foundation) followers and the Paleo/Primal/Low Carb group on the health and necessity of grains and if they should be eaten at all. Within these groups, there is disagreement among which grains are healthy and how they should be prepared.
While there is certainly a case to be made for avoiding modern grains for a variety of reasons, there are also traditional preparation methods that cultures have used for thousands of years to help reduce the not-so-great properties of grains and make them more bioavailable. Among these traditional methods are soaking, sprouting or fermenting (or a combination of all three).
What are Soaked, Sprouted or Fermented Grains?
All grains have various properties that protect them in the plant world and allow them to survive to produce seed. In animals, these protective features are often claws, teeth, sharp spines, venomous fangs, etc, or the ability to run away and escape enemies, but plants protective features tend to be a lot more subtle.
Since plants aren’t able to fight or evade, their protective mechanisms are less noticeable. Plants like poison ivy or poison oak have obvious protective mechanisms like the itch-inducing oils on their leaves.
The protective mechanisms of those amber waves of grain are harder to identify externally. These crops are often eaten by animals, so their protection lies in the ability of their seeds (the “grain” itself) to pass through the animal and emerge on the other side as a pre-fertilized seed, ready to grow.
Plants accomplish this through the presence of gluten, other lectins, enzyme inhibitors and phytic acid which allow the grains to pass through the digestive system without harm to the plant. (note: Phytic acid is especially damaging to bone and tooth health and has been linked to tooth decay) These indigestible compounds are great for ensuring the plants continued fertility, but they can be harmful to humans, especially in large amounts.
These natural protective compounds in plants can be harmful to humans, especially in large amounts, and especially for those with an underlying genetic or health issue. Thankfully, there are methods that help break down these protective compounds and make the nutrients in grains more available during digestion.
Soaking, Sprouting and Fermenting
Traditional cultures where grains were consumed regularly or in large amounts found ways to reduce the harmful components through methods like soaking, sprouting and fermenting.
These methods are designed to do what our body can’t and break down the anti-nutrients (gluten, lectin, phytic acid, etc) in grains so that they are more digestible to humans. Evidence shows that these methods do indeed make the nutrients in grains much more bioavailable and reduce the anti-nutrient properties.
These methods rely on using an acidic medium in liquid to soak the grains, a constructive environment to soak them and let them sprout, or a process like sourdough fermentation to alter the chemical make-up of the grain.
Sadly, most grains consumed these days are not prepared in any of traditional ways, and many cultures have largely given up these methods in the name of modern convenience. Yet, science is starting to understand the wisdom of these older methods and to realize that newer, more convenient forms of processing may not only be making grains harder to digest, but may be contributing to micronutrient deficiencies.
Are Soaked, Sprouted and Fermented Grains Healthy?
From a nutrient perspective, grains prepared in these ways have much higher nutrient levels and lower anti-nutrient levels than grains that are just ground into flour and baked, but should they be eaten?
The question remains, do these methods reduce the harmful properties enough to make these modern grains safe to consume. Unfortunately, with hybridized, highly sprayed and highly processed modern grains, there isn’t an easy answer and even these traditional methods may not be enough to reduce all of the harmful properties in these foods.
Mark Sisson sums up the effects of soaking and sprouting in his article about traditionally prepared grains:
Effect on phytate: If the grain contains phytase, some of the mineral-binding phytic acid will be deactivated, but not much. And if the grain has been heat-treated, which destroys phytase, or it contains very little phytase to begin with, the phytic acid will remain completely intact. Overall, neither soaking nor sprouting deactivates a significant amount of phytate.
Effect on enzyme inhibitors: Well, since the seed has been placed in a wet medium and allowed to sprout, the enzyme inhibitors are obviously mostly deactivated. Digestion is much improved (cooking will improve it further).
Effect on lectins: The evidence is mixed, and it seems to depend on the grain. Sprouted wheat, for example, is extremely high in WGA, the infamous wheat lectin. As the wheat grain germinates, the WGA is retained in the sprout and is dispersed throughout the finished plant. In other grains, sprouting seems more beneficial, but there’s always some residual lectins that may need further processing to deactivate.
Effect on gluten: Sprouting reduces gluten to some extent, but not by very much. Don’t count on it. A little bit goes a long way.
Adding fermentation to the mix reduces the harmful properties even more, but does not completely render them harmless.
The presence of these anti-nutrients in all grains also explains why people who avoid wheat for health reasons but still consume “gluten-free” foods may still have health problems. Wheat is definitely at the more dangerous end of the grain spectrum for those with certain health issues, but other modern grains aren’t harmless by a long shot, and many of them are higher in simple starches than wheat.
So, Should We Eat Them?
Certainly, these methods of preparation do improve the nutrient profile of grains, but this still doesn’t mean that sprouted, soaked, or fermented grains are as healthy as they once were or that they should be consumed in large amounts. Many modern grains have been hybridized to be higher yield, but less nutritious. Additionally, many grains are highly sprayed right before harvest, and these chemicals remain in the processed grain or flour and traditional methods of preparation will not remove them.
Certainly, if you consume grains, it would be best to use these traditional methods (preferably all three) and to mill flour yourself using ancient grains that have been grown organically and not hybridized to reduce nutrition.
It is also important to note that there are no nutrients in grains, even traditionally prepared ones, that are not found in other foods, and many other foods are higher sources of nutrients than even traditionally prepared grains. As statistics show that we are not consuming enough vegetables, I’d personally focus on adding more vegetables to our diets for nutrients, rather than spending the extra time and money to make quality traditionally prepared grains.
It should be noted that all plant substances have properties that can make them harmful to humans in some way, but that it is much easier to reduce these harmful properties in other plants (cooking cruciferous vegetables like Broccoli and cauliflower, peeling and cooking sweet potatoes, etc).
Long story short- grains are far from a super food, especially modern grains that have been highly processed. Traditionally prepared grains are definitely a step in the right direction but they don’t compare to vegetables when it comes to nutrients. For those with a gut or autoimmune issue, even traditionally prepared grains can be problematic.
Anyone who doesn’t have any food related problems and that have excellent gut health may do great with soaked, sprouted or fermented grains, but I’d still recommend only adding these in after optimizing other aspects of the diet, increasing vegetable intake and making sure to get enough high quality proteins and fats.
There is also a definite difference between grains high in anti-nutrients like wheat, barley, etc and ones like white rice (not brown rice) which are naturally free of the more potent anti-nutrients like gluten) and which seem to be somewhat less harmful.
The other point worth mentioning is that even sprouted, soaked and fermented grains cause a spike in insulin and can inhibit weight loss and lead to other health problems if eaten in large amounts.
Summary
- Yes, these methods do reduce the harmful properties but do not eliminate them. As grains still aren’t a stellar source of nutrition, even with all these elaborate preparation methods, and they can be/are harmful to many people.
- For the little bit of nutrition they might provide, the benefit is still overshadowed by the harmful properties that still exist in small amounts (gluten, lectin, phytic acid, etc) and they take an extreme amount of preparation time and energy for this small amount of nutrition.
- If you have a strong, healthy gut, eat an otherwise nutrient rich diet and go to these great lengths to properly prepare grains, you might be able to tolerate them occasionally, but why go through all the trouble when we live in a time where there is access to healthier foods (vegetables, meat, good fats, etc.).
- In an age where we are bombarded by toxins in our air, water and food supply, removing grains (even traditionally prepared ones) is an easy step we can take to improve our health and to make room for other, more nutritious foods in our diets.
- If a substance (in this case, grains) might be harmful for you to consume, and there are no negative effects of removing it, logically, it would be wise to avoid it.
What do you think? Do you consume sprouted, soaked, or fermented grains? Totally disagree with me? Share below!
Hi Wellness Mama – wondering what you thought of the post on Food Renegade today https://www.foodrenegade.com/win-enrollment-healthy-whole-grains-class/ about “healthy whole grains” through sprouting and fermentation?
This is definitely one area where I diverge from the WAPFers like Cheeseslave, Food Renegade, Healthy Home Economist, etc. I’m yet to see any of them provide detail or proof of the “nutrients” we miss by not eating grains, and while I agree that these ways of preparing make grains less harmful, I certainly don’t agree they are necessary or good!
Love this article! I have a blog with a friend who is a Paleo follower and I write from a more WAPF perspective. However, I am completely baffled by the over emphasis on grains in most of the WAPF blogs that I read. I do not understand the mindset that just because you ‘can’ sprout/soak to make it better than you should — always. There is a reason why those grains are so difficult to process — because we shouldn’t be eating that many of them.
My new philosophy is that I will have 1-2 meals a day with a grain (rice or a sourdough bread slice) The majority of the meal as a healthy fat, meat, and veggies, broth, etc. If a dessert is desired, it’s now a grain free dessert and I make it as nutrient dense as possible. My new favorite squash porridge – YUM!
I believe there is wisdom in your approach to food, Be informed but enjoy!
I’m pretty much anti-grain, but have had a hard time keeping them completely out of my system. I must ask though, what is bad about sweet potato skins that you said to peel them? I always thought the skins held a lot of vitamins, etc.
There are some anti-nutrients in the potato skins that can be harmful to some people.
But do I really have to cook them? I like to juice with my carrots!
Hi wellness mama! I was wondering if you have read the books Deep Nutrition and Food Rules by Catherine Shanahan? If not, you should definitely read them, they are extremely interesting and I think that they would be both interesting to you and beneficial for the blog and your nutrition knowledge.
I have, but don’t think I’ve mentioned/reviewed them yet. Thanks for the suggestion and I will re-read and suggest them soon 🙂
I agree! I am so passionate about the removal of grains from our diets. And GMOs are a WHOLE other piece to this. I think Dr. Davis (Wheat Belly) brings this into light. Very interesting.
Have just recently jumped on the ‘anti-nutrient’ learning curve. Thanks for the information.
Wow-Two articles in two days from you well written about two different subjects that are confusing. (yesterday it was about fats) This answered questions I have been wondering about. Well done. I agree that grains are highly over rated and unnecessary. Something else that could have been talked about more in this article is the ‘fiber” of grains. The fiber in grains is damaging to the digestive system. Not all fibers are created equal and the fiber in grains is as much as they would have believe (other plant foods have more) plus it is a different kind of fiber that is actually damaging. Do you agree?
Agreed! My manifesto against grain fiber is coming soon 🙂
How do I find the article about fats that you mentioned Brenda? I’m having trouble finding it. Hope someone can help!
you all do realize that since the dawn of humans , every civilization that has survived to modern times subsisted on a diet that consisted mainly of grains? ..most containing gluten.
To state that wheat , rye, etc provide no necessary nutrition is ludicrous…
During the rise of the Roman Empire the soldiers refused the fight if they ran out of bread ..yes they had traveling bakeries behind the front…no meat or veggies was OK , no bread they laid down their arms .
That said we bakers mark 1854 as the death of bread as that’s when yeast was discovered and the ability to make bread in a couple of hours was determined …proper bread is made with a natural starter..that consists of flour , water, a little salt and ferments for over 24hrs ( no conditioners , additives, DATEM , ADA, Ascorbic acid , Lcystenine, etc. needed ! )
Rather than eliminate grains from your diet I would encourage you to focus on eating whole grains ..preferably baked in an Artisan style of long fermentation and hearth baked
What you should try eliminating before jumping to conclusions that grain makes you feel bad is refined white flour, sugar , fat and salt …too much of these are the scourge of the American diet
On sprouted grains I am recently working on Artisan breads using them and I have to say they are wonderful , I encourage you to try them when you find them ..but watch for sugar content.
Real Bread is meant to be enjoyed!
Hi Dan,
I think there are quite a few cultures that survived well into the modern era without a diet of grains – island Gaelic, Polynesian, Inuit to name a few. That said, grains, properly prepared, were an important part of the vast majority of human diets. I think you can make the case that had Homo Sapiens not discovered grass seeds that could be stored, planted and harvested, we would have gone the way of the Neanderthal and eery other proto humanoid that relied on the so-called paleo diet.
The only problem humans have with grains is that we lack a second stomach. Grains need to be fermented prior to digesting. Sprouting or germination is critical to neutralizing phytic acids and, to suggest that the germinated seed or gain, will be unable to access the nutrition the germ has to offer as this author writes, is absurd.
The abstract she cites contradicts itself in its summary. Anyway, we sprout and ferment all our breads. Most of our customers are either diabetics or gluten zombies who have come back to life and recognize that the gluten scare was just that – a relatively short-lived dietary freak out put forward by well meaning types looking to demonize that one thing as if everything else was okay when, in realty, our entire food delivery system in this country is corrupt and designed to be toxic so long as it is profitable.
Our salvation will be thru bakers such as yourself and what we do. And with farmers who say no more to monocrops and to consumers who educate themselves – not thru dubious scare tactics like gluten free but by understanding and explaining to consumers that there is and was a set of traditional methods that went in to preparing healthy foods before corporations co-opted our food system and turned it into a nightmare
Doug
Thanks Don and Doug…i bake wild yeast sourdough from freshly ground wheat as our only bread…and i feel very strongly about it too.
To answer Katie’s rhetorical question “why eat grains if there are better options?” ….so if soaking and fermenting break down phytic acid and cause the nutrients (which are present, just look at the make up of a wheat berry, vitamin b being one which helps with mental health) to be available…then the reasons for consuming bread would be numerous :comfort food, filling teenage boys bottomless pits, saving money, stretching your proteins so they last longer, the amazing taste, the hundreds of meals that open themselves up, not being grumpy and uptight about food all the time…to name a few.
…so worth it.
Would you be willing to share your recipe? I bake bread from freshly-ground wheat but have not tried to make it with wild yeast. Thank you.
In response to Noelle’s question about wild sourdough fermentation:
It is not a complicated procedure, however, every region has different strains of wild yeast. I have done this myself, and the flavor was quite strong. I am aware that over time of repeatedly remaking the bread, the flavors do mellow out and improve, and I tried to stick it out, but after a couple of weeks of daily bread-making, I stuck it in the freezer and gave up. I’d suggest finding a culture to start with that will guarantee a better flavor.
As a side note, potatoes, while not perfect, are often a good substitute for grain for those attempting to cut back on their grain consumption. The island of Tristan, which had very little contact with outside cultures for a period, grew and consumed potatoes with their limited agriculture and were not plagued with the level of disease of modern countries.
I honestly think we need to start throwing physical, as well as air, quotes around “food” when describing those substances that do more harm than good to our systems. There’s a whole range of things growing out in the world and it’s only by convention that some of them are lumped in with bacon and cauliflower. We really need to Pluto most of these grains and vegetable oils that are crowding the cupboard. If you can start aligning them more with grass, trees, and motor oil, it’s going to go start eating at the subconscious and perception will slowly give rise to reality. By continually giving donuts the same status as tallow, we’re simply making it all the harder to get the point across.
Excellent point!
LOL I have this conversation with my 4-year-old regularly:
M (eating): Food is good for you!
Me: Well…some food is better than others. THAT food is good for you!
I think you’re really onto something, calling it out like that 🙂
lolz, I do the air quotes thing ><
I was getting bloated eating it but god has lead me to fast i had no grains for a over year and now can have garains no problem. I think in many cases there is a problem with grains Couse people don’t clean their body regullary and have bad guy bacterias. I think fear of eating grains is hugely overrated. It was main ingreedent for human, i think woring of the phytoc acid is unreasonable we ahsould learn from.ancestors. Meat was eaten rearly, we need animal products but plants are definatelly healthier, despite of the amount of nutirence..give your kids grains and fruts, don’t worry that’s. What makes us happy, halthy god made sugar, yeah thank you daddy
So glad you wrote an article on this. Shakeology is coming out with a new flavor called Tropical Strawberry. But they have changed the protein to make it vegan-friendly by making the protein source a sprouted brown rice protein. I think I read that it’s also fermented, as well as sprouted, but I can’t be sure. I just don’t know much about this new protein source. (all other flavors are whey protein isolate) I’m excited to try it, but the “rice” part kind of worried me. This eased my worries a little bit to really try it out. If I have issues, I’ll can easy switch back to the other flavor that has whey protein isolate.
Be careful…Shakeology claims they are healthy, but it’s loaded with fructose!
There’s a difference between fructose and hfcs. Fructose in and if itself is not bad for you. Look up Dr Ray Peat.
Fructose (not hfcs) has become an issue in the patients we see. We see a lot of people with metabolic disorder who eat better than the SAD. When we limit fructose and allow the body to utilized the excess we see positive results….their labs improve and they feel better.
This post came just in time! I just had this exact same conversation with my dad about grains this morning on my blog lol!
What about this article?
https://foodbabe.com/healthiest-bread-on-the-market/
She said that the breads made from sprouted grains are ok to eat because:
“the sprouts are much more easily digested than starchy flour, and contain more vitamins, minerals and antioxidants than whole grains. Phytic acid is destroyed when the grain sprouts, so your body is able to absorb the nutrients in these grains”
What’s the bottom line here?
They are more easily digested but in general, there are much more nutrient dense and less dangerous (digestive wise) foods than grains so we avoid them. Also, sprouting, etc reduces the anti-nutrients but doesn’t get rid of them completely.
What if you’re addicted to grains? I switched to whole grains a long time ago and I love whole wheat pasta, brown rice, and popcorn. I usually try to get organic, but sometimes I use brown rice noodles in homemade pho. I feel hungry and grumpy when I don’t have grains around and satisfied when I eat them, especially coated in healthy fat like olive oil, coconut oil, or grass fed butter.
Addictions of any kind aren’t healthy, so it may take a bit longer for you to overcome it.
Thank You Katie for getting some Barley information out there. From what I know the sprouted gluten-free Barley is the way to go for a healthy gut. Avoiding the gluten and getting the nutrients in the sprouting stage before they are lost. I saw on the google search something mentioned about a product called Barley Gold. I have been taking Barley Gold for a few years now. In the last few months I have found a company in St. Petersburg, FL. called Boomers Forever Young, who are one of the only distributors of Barley Gold’s unique sprouted barley. They call it Boomer Barley and you can find it here on their website. boomerboost.com…The benefits are amazing for athletes and diabetes sufferers. I was blown away to find someone close by that sold this stuff and I cannot believe how much my health has improved since finding this product. I feel young again and I contribute it to the digestive freedom the Barley gives me allowing me to absorb my nutrition at a much higher rate. I cant believe it took me 45 years to figure this out.
Love your website too! Very helpful.
Thank You Katie for getting some Barley information out there. From what I know the sprouted gluten-free Barley is the way to go for a healthy gut. Avoiding the gluten and getting the nutrients in the sprouting stage before they are lost. I saw on the google search something mentioned about a product called Barley Gold. I have been taking Barley Gold for almost a year now. In the last few months I have found a company in St. Petersburg, FL. called Boomers Forever Young, who are one of the only distributors of Barley Gold’s unique sprouted barley. They call it Boomer Barley and you can find it here on their website. boomerboost.com…Along with another ground breaking product called Boomer Boost. I recommend these guys to everyone I meet suffering from aging and malnutrition issues. The benefits are amazing for athletes and diabetes sufferers. I was blown away to find someone close by that sold this stuff and I cannot believe how much my health has improved since finding this product last year. I feel young again and I contribute it to the digestive freedom the Barley gives me allowing me to absorb my nutrition at a much higher rate. I cant believe it took me 45 years to figure this out. Our food doesn’t have the nutrition that we require.
Love your website too! Very helpful.
Please read this: https://chriskresser.com/are-legumes-paleo/