A serendipitous discovery led Brian Bull, MD, to an important discovery about the human gastrointestinal system.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaureen and I ran across a functioning grain mill on a vacation to the Lake District of England in the late 1990s,\u201d noted Bull, who recently retired as chair and professor of pathology and human anatomy at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine.<\/p>\n
Although the couple intended to stay only 45 minutes touring the picturesque town of Boot with its 700-year-old stone mill, the tour ended up lasting several hours when something the miller said caught Bull\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe miller had a very large library,\u201d Bull recalls. \u201cHe was not only keeping the large millstones in good running order, he was also a scholar and very knowledgeable about the grain-milling process. One of the things he stressed was that the large millstones in a working mill have to be taken apart every few months for dressing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The miller explained that dressing the stones involved removing a varnish-like coating that blurs their sharp right-angle edges.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe millstones never touch,\u201d Bull points out, \u201cbut they have grooves cut into the grinding surfaces. As the grooves of one stone go over the grooves of the other, they \u2018scissor\u2019 the grain. But when varnish\u2014which is the residue of volatile oils in the grains\u2014builds up between them, that can\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The miller said that all grain was stoneground until steel milling technology was introduced in the late 1890s. \u201cBy the early 20th century, steel mills had completely taken over,\u201d Bull reports.<\/p>\n
Although the new technology produced a popular, very white flour, it came at an unforeseen cost.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe miller explained that steel mills, with their very fine tolerances, could pop the wheat germ out of the grain before milling actually began,\u201d Bull adds. \u201cThey could also remove all of the wheat bran.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because all the volatile, wheat-germ oils that used to coat the millstones were now missing, the result was bran-free flour. Unlike stoneground flour, white flour can be stored at room temperature without going rancid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis flour is the foundation on which the fast food enterprise is built,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
As a result, a major source of fiber, wheat germ, and wheat-germ oils in the Western diet disappeared almost overnight.<\/p>\n
Bull said, \u201cThat meant a very significant source of nutrition for the gut bacteria in the large intestine was gone. Now flour, minus the bran and germ, was just pure carbohydrate (starch) and protein (gluten). We absorb both of these nutrients in the small intestine. There is nothing left for the gut bacteria to live on.”<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the large intestine,\u201d he continued, \u201cthere are many species of bacteria that break down bran and other types of fiber. These are the bacteria that make Vitamin B12, Vitamin K, and a whole lot of other compounds\u2014such as short-chain fatty acids\u2014that act in beneficial ways throughout the body, including the brain. But all of this gets disrupted because of the change in milling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bull says science knows very little about the bacteria in the human digestive tract.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of what gut bacteria do is good,\u201d he noted, \u201cbut that isn\u2019t true when it comes to their role in processing red meat. Red meat, after the gut bacteria get through with it, turns into a toxin that inhibits the metabolism of spent cholesterol, thereby allowing it to build up in the body.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the toxic potential of red meat was discovered and reported about 18 months ago, Bull says most journalists love hamburgers, so they didn\u2019t cover the story.<\/p>\n
\u201cLack of fiber in the diet\u2014wheat bran used to be a major source\u2014can lead to medical complications such as diverticulosis and diverticulitis,\u201d he observed.<\/p>\n
The first term describes a condition in which small, unwanted pockets balloon out from the gut wall. It causes gassiness, bloating, and abdominal swelling. If it progresses far enough, however, it can lead to diverticulitis, a deadly disease from which 300,000 people suffer each year in the U.S. Bull says many of those afflicted will die.<\/p>\n
\u201cModifying your diet to include more whole-grain flour and so more fiber,\u201d he asserted, \u201ccan make an enormous difference in your gastrointestinal health.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Bull and his wife, who is also a physician, returned to the United States, he set out to develop a breakfast cereal to replenish the missing bran, wheat germ, volatile oils, and fiber that the human digestive tract needs. View his\u00a0oat bran cereal recipe online<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Bull said he and Maureen have been eating his mill-inspired cereal for breakfast every day since the late 1990s. The fit, slender Bull, who is also free of gastrointestinal bloating, is a walking endorsement for the product. He added that readers interested in eating well should add whole-grain bread to their diet along with fruits such as raspberries, blackberries, and apples, all of which are high in soluble fiber.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t buy bran cereal that lists microcrystalline cellulose among its ingredients,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s basically high quality sawdust.\u201d<\/p>\n
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