by Brian Shilhavy
Editor, Health Impact News

There has been a resurgence in interest in ancient grains in recent years, as more and more people begin to realize just how toxic modern wheat products are, with many “gluten intolerance” diseases increasing in modern times.

Unfortunately, ancient grains grown in the United States, along with all other grains such as wheat, oats, and barley, are almost all contaminated by modern pesticides and herbicides, even if they are certified organic.

We published a report on an investigation I conducted in 2014 by testing both organic and conventional products made from American (both the U.S. and Canada) grains, and we found very little difference between organic and conventional grains in terms of being contaminated with glyphosate, the active ingredient in the world’s most popular herbicide, RoundUp, which has been linked to cancer and other diseases. See:

ALERT: Certified Organic Food Grown in U.S. Found Contaminated with Glyphosate Herbicide

Also:

Almost all American Grains Are Contaminated with Glyphosate Herbicide

How Glyphosate Herbicide Has Destroyed America’s Wheat

New Tests Confirm Children’s Foods Made from Oats are ALL Contaminated with Cancer-Causing Glyphosate

Herbicide Glyphosate Found in Organic Eggs and Dairy

Contamination of U.S. Food Supply Worsens as 50% of Foods Tested Contained Cancer-Causing Glyphosate Herbicide

Most Beers and Wines Tested are Contaminated with Glyphosate

Study: 99% of Canadian Honey Analyzed Contaminated with Herbicide Glyphosate

We started testing ALL of the food we sell in our online store, Healthy Traditions, at that time, and stopped selling the organic grains we had in stock that tested positive for glyphosate.

So today, we do not even purchase, let alone sell, any foods that have not first been tested for the harmful herbicide glyphosate.

When we began to search for sources for ancient grains, all the ones we found at the time tested positive for glyphosate, which forced us to begin searching for glyphosate-free grains outside the U.S. We found that Italy had the cleanest ancient grains which consistently tested negative for glyphosate, and we found some organic, heirloom corn that tested clean in Central Mexico, where glyphosate was banned.

What shocked us the most is that farmers in America who were growing these organic grains were most certainly NOT spraying them with glyphosate, even though it is a common practice in conventional farms, where they want to use glyphosate to kill the wheat so that they could harvest it before the first snow fall, ensuring that they could harvest their entire crop first.

So even through the organic farms were not spraying their crops with glyphosate, it was obviously “drifting” to nearby farms. We have never been able to test any grains free from glyphosate in the northern states of Montana and the Dakotas, nor in Canada.

We eventually found a source of Khorasan Wheat from a single farm in Italy, and sold that for a few years.

But their harvest in 2023 was not successful, leaving us with very little left in stock from the year before.

But we recently just found a farm in Washington State that grew Khorasan in 2023, and samples from their field tested clean for any glyphosate. I proceeded to purchase many tons of this product, and we now have it in stock as a whole grain which you can purchase in bulk, as well as a whole grain flour.

There are other Khorasan products sold in the U.S., most of them under the trademarked name “Kamut”, but they make no claim to having tested their grains for the presence of glyphosate, and most of it seems to be grown in Montana where we have never tested any grain to be free from glyphosate.

The Health Benefits of Khorasan Wheat

Khorasan Wheat is an ancient grain that hasn’t been hybridized in modern history. The source of this grain is traced back to the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East, and the Khorasan regions of Iran and Afghanistan.

Khorasan is thought to be a close relative of durum wheat. It is a tetraploid, which means it is a cross of two ancient diploid grasses and has 4 chromosome sets.

The berry of Khorasan Wheat is roughly twice the size of modern wheat varieties and the flavor is described as rich and nutty.

Khorasan Wheat is an excellent source of protein, fiber, zinc, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamin B1 (thiamin), and vitamin B3 (niacin).  It is also high in many minerals such as selenium, copper, manganese, and molybdenum.

Khorasan Wheat contains several polyphenols that have strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.  It is particularly high in carotenoids, which likely gives the Khorasan grain and flour its rich golden color.

Here are some studies published in the peer-reviewed literature on the health benefits of Khorasan Wheat, conducted mainly by researchers in Italy.

Effect of ancient Khorasan wheat on gut microbiota, inflammation, and short-chain fatty acid production in patients with fibromyalgia

Abstract

Background: Fibromyalgia (FM) syndrome is mainly characterized by widespread pain, sleeping disorders, fatigue, and cognitive dysfunction. In many cases, gastrointestinal distress is also reported, suggesting the potential pathogenic role of the gut microbiota (GM). The GM is deeply influenced by several environmental factors, especially the diet, and recent findings highlighted significant symptom improvement in FM patients following various nutritional interventions such as vegetarian diet, low-fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols based diets, gluten-free diet, and especially an ancient grain supplementation. In particular, a recent study reported that a replacement diet with ancient Khorasan wheat led to an overall improvement in symptom severity of FM patients.

Aim: To examine the effects of ancient Khorasan wheat on the GM, inflammation, and short-chain fatty acid production in FM patients.

Methods: After a 2-wk run-in period, 20 FM patients were enrolled in this randomized, double-blind crossover trial. In detail, they were assigned to consume either Khorasan or control wheat products for 8 wk and then, following an 8-wk washout period, crossed. Before and after treatments, GM characterization was performed by 16S rRNA sequencing while the fecal molecular inflammatory response and the short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were respectively determined with the Luminex MAGPIX detection system and a mass chromatography-mass spectrometry method.

Results: The Khorasan wheat replacement diet, in comparison with the control wheat diet, had more positive effects on intestinal microbiota composition and on both the fecal immune and SCFAs profiles such as the significant increase of butyric acid levels (P = 0.054), candidatus Saccharibacteria (P = 9.95e-06) and Actinobacteria, and the reduction of Enterococcaceae (P = 4.97e-04). Moreover, the improvement of various FM symptoms along with the variation of some gut bacteria after the Khorasan wheat diet have been documented; in fact we reported positive correlations between Actinobacteria and both Tiredness Symptoms Scale (P < 0.001) and Functional Outcome of Sleep Questionnaire (P < 0.05) scores, between Verrucomicrobiae and both Widespread Pain Index (WPI) + Symptom Severity scale (SS) (P < 0.05) and WPI (P < 0.05) scores, between candidatus Saccharibacteria and SS score (P < 0.05), and between Bacteroidales and Sleep-Related and Safety Behaviour Questionnaire score (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: The replacement diet based on ancient Khorasan wheat results in beneficial GM compositional and functional modifications that positively correlate with an improvement of FM symptomatology.

Full Study.

A khorasan wheat-based replacement diet improves risk profile of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM): a randomized crossover trial

Abstract

Purposes: The aim of the present study was to examine whether a replacement diet with products made with organic ancient khorasan wheat could provide additive protective effects in reducing glucose, insulin, lipid and inflammatory risk factors, and in restoring blood redox balance in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients compared to diet with product made with modern organic wheat.

Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blinded crossover trial with two intervention phases on 21 T2DM patients (14 females, 7 males). The participants were assigned to consume products (bread, pasta, crackers and biscuits) made using semi-whole flour from organic wheat that was either from ancient khorasan wheat or modern control wheat for 8 weeks in a random order. An 8-week washout period was implemented between the interventions. Laboratory analyses were performed both at the beginning and at the end of each intervention phase.

Results: The metabolic risk profile improved only after the khorasan intervention period, as measured by a reduction in total and LDL cholesterol (mean reduction: -3.7 and -3.4 %, respectively), insulin (-16.3 %) and blood glucose (-9.1 %). Similarly, there was a significant reduction in circulating levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and interleukin-1ra, and a significant increase of total antioxidant capacity (+6.3 %). No significant differences from baseline were noted after the modern control wheat intervention phase. The change (from pre- to post-intervention) between the two intervention arms was significantly different (p < 0.05) for total and LDL-c, insulin and HOMA index.

Conclusions: A replacement diet with ancient khorasan wheat consumption provided additive protection in reducing total and LDL cholesterol, insulin, blood glucose, ROS production, and some inflammatory risk factors, which are all key factors warranting of control in secondary prevention of T2DM compared to a diet with products made with modern wheat.

Full Study

An organic khorasan wheat-based replacement diet improves risk profile of patients with acute coronary syndrome: a randomized crossover trial

Abstract