FRANKEN WHEAT...KILLING OUR BREAD SYSTEM!

 

“Franken-Wheat”: Why American Bread Is Making Us Sick

It’s not gluten — it’s what we’ve done to wheat.

Across the U.S., more and more people report gluten sensitivity. Yet in many other countries, bread is still a daily staple without causing the same health issues. So what changed in American wheat?

According to homesteader and whole-grain advocate Michelle Visser, the real problem isn’t bread itself — it’s America’s modern milling, farming, and processing practices.

“Other countries didn’t ‘enrich’ their flour the way we did,” Visser explains in an interview with BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey. “In Italy, when they faced nutrient deficiencies like pellagra, they responded by supporting whole-grain bread — encouraging communities to use traditional grains and even building communal ovens so everyone could access healthier bread.”

That simple shift — using nutrient-rich, unaltered wheat — virtually eliminated pellagra in those regions, disproving the idea that wheat was the problem.

What Went Wrong in the U.S.?

Visser points to the “Green Revolution” and industrial wheat modification led by agronomist Norman Borlaug. His innovations boosted wheat yields dramatically — but at a nutritional cost.

“Any time we genetically change or aggressively breed crops for one trait — like higher yield — we lose nutrients,” Visser says.

Then came the shift to steel-roller milling. Instead of slow-ground flour that preserves the bran and germ (where nutrients live), processors stripped it out to make soft, white flour that lasts longer — and sells faster.

Production soared from 20 barrels of flour a day to 500, without extra labor or cost. Profit, not nutrition, became the focus.

To “fix” the emptiness of white flour, we now rely on synthetic vitamins and enrichment — but our bodies don’t treat those additives the same as nutrients found naturally in grains.

Add Chemicals, Lose Gut Health

Today’s wheat isn’t just nutritionally impoverished — it’s chemically burdened.

“If you’re not buying organic flour, glyphosate is almost certainly there,” Visser warns. “Even trace amounts damage the gut by wiping out good bacteria.”

This chemical exposure — along with increased protein and altered gluten structure in modern wheat — has given rise to what Visser calls “franken-wheat.”

And it may be the hidden driver of America’s digestive crisis.

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The Bottom Line

Bread isn’t the enemy — modern wheat is.

Highly processed flour, nutrient loss from aggressive crop breeding, synthetic enrichment, and chemicals like glyphosate are fueling the rise in gut and immune issues. Meanwhile, countries that still bake with traditional grains continue to enjoy bread the way it was meant to be: nourishing, not harmful.

Maybe it’s time America looked back — to move forward — with the bread we eat.