A claim you hear on longevity podcasts

Does modern wheat have more gluten than older wheat?

The claim checked: Modern dwarf wheat has much more gluten and gliadin than older wheat Hear it at 21:07

What do the studies say?

Strong consensus against

Seven of eight studies disagree. Old landraces and modern varieties had the same total gluten. The semi-dwarfing genes behind modern dwarf wheat tended to lower gluten, not raise it. A review of US wheat data found no clear rise in gluten during the 20th century. The study that partly agrees found more of a main celiac trigger in modern varieties.

Computed from 8 studies that test this point, each judged by two readers, in full. This point is about what a food or product contains. Studies that measure it count toward the badge. 10 more studies are waiting for a full read and do not count yet.

What was said on the podcast?

“And the industrial farming of wheat has led to the development of a dwarf wheat. It's not a GMO food, but it's it actually has much higher levels of gluten in it and gliadin proteins, much higher starch content.”
Mark Hyman, The Doctor's Farmacy · If I Could Only Do ONE Thing to Treat Chronic Disease, This Would Be It · 21:07 on YouTube
Episode check Modern wheat has much more gluten, the episode says. Seven of eight studies disagree. 5 claims checked against 36 studies · 10 chapters not checked yet See the whole episode →
The point checked Strong consensus against

Modern (semi-dwarf) wheat has much more gluten and gliadin than older wheat varieties

Agree 0

None.

Partly agree 1

other primary study · 2010

“Considering the epitope impact on CD patients of the major immunodominant Glia-α9 epitope, it is concluded from these data that in general the toxicity of modern wheat varieties has increased.”

Presence of celiac disease epitopes in modern and old hexaploid wheat varieties: wheat breeding may have contributed to increased prevalence of celiac disease. Theor Appl Genet
Who: 36 modern European hexaploid bread wheat varieties and 50 hexaploid wheat landraces (genebank accessions), grain gluten extracts immunoblotted with mAbs for Glia-α9 and Glia-α20 celiac epitopes
PMID 20664999

Disagree 7

other primary study · 2013

“In summary, I have not found clear evidence of an increase in the gluten content of wheat in the United States during the 20th century, and if there has indeed been an increase in celiac disease during the latter half of the century, wheat breeding for higher gluten content does not seem to be the basis.”

Can an increase in celiac disease be attributed to an increase in the gluten content of wheat as a consequence of wheat breeding? J Agric Food Chem
Who: Historical protein-content records of US hard winter and hard spring wheat crops (e.g. Kansas crops 1949-2011; Minneapolis spring wheat 1925-1938) and cited comparisons of early-20th-century vs recent varieties grown under comparable conditions
PMID 23311690

other primary study · 2024

“In our study, there was no difference in the total gluten content (sum of gliadins and glutenins) of landraces (81.4%) and modern varieties (79.6%).”

Protein composition and bread volume of German common wheat landraces grown under organic conditions. Curr Res Food Sci
Who: 14 German common wheat landraces and 6 modern common wheat varieties grown organically without fertilization at one site in Bavaria, flours analyzed by Osborne fractionation and RP-HPLC
PMID 39435451

other primary study · 2025

“These findings indicate that while semi‐dwarfing alleles tend to reduce total gluten content, the extreme dwarf Rht2 + 3 may enhance gluten accumulation.”

Semi-Dwarfing Reduced Height Genes Hardly Influenced Gluten Protein Composition While Extreme Dwarfing Genes Decreased Glutenins in Wheat. Food Sci Nutr
Who: Near isogenic lines of four winter wheat cultivars (April Bearded, Bersee, Maris Huntsman, Maris Widgeon) carrying tall rht, semi-dwarf Rht1/Rht2, dwarf Rht1+2 and extreme dwarf Rht3/Rht2+3 alleles, grown unfertilized at IPK Gatersleben
PMID 40741095

Show 4 more Show fewer

other primary study · 2019

“Furthermore, common wheat had the lowest protein, gluten and GLIA contents, which is actually contrary to consumer expectations who typically think that ancient wheats have lower gluten contents.”

Comparative Study on Gluten Protein Composition of Ancient (Einkorn, Emmer and Spelt) and Modern Wheat Species (Durum and Common Wheat). Foods
Who: 15 cultivars each of common wheat, spelt, durum wheat, emmer and einkorn grown at four locations in Germany, wholemeal flours assayed for gliadin and glutenin by Bradford assay
PMID 31547385

other primary study · 2017

“No significant differences were found between old and modern durum wheat genotypes in relation to α-type and γ-type gliadins, the former being considered one of the major fractions determining coeliac disease toxicity.”

Differences in gluten protein composition between old and modern durum wheat genotypes in relation to 20th century breeding in Italy. Eur J Agron
Who: 7 old (1900-1949) and 8 modern (1985-2005, carrying Rht genes) Italian durum wheat genotypes grown in a field trial at Foggia, Italy, storage proteins analyzed by SDS-PAGE
PMID 28769550

other primary study · 2017

“A certain trend, e.g., that modern wheat cultivars generally contain higher amounts of 33-mer than old cultivars could not be derived from the data.”

Quantitation of the immunodominant 33-mer peptide from α-gliadin in wheat flours by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Sci Rep
Who: 23 modern and 15 old (first registered before 1950) common wheat cultivars, 2 spelt, 2 durum, 2 emmer and 2 einkorn cultivars; flours assayed for the alpha-gliadin 33-mer celiac peptide by stable isotope dilution LC-MS/MS
PMID 28327674

other primary study · 2009

“As shown in Figure 1 , Kamut® (41.40 g/Kg) and Graziella Ra® (40.43 g/Kg) kernels had the greater amounts of gliadin, followed by Senatore Cappelli (30.32 g/Kg), Flaminio (26.80 g/Kg), Svevo (23.46 g/Kg) and Grazia (23.04 g/Kg).”

Immunogenicity characterization of two ancient wheat α-gliadin peptides related to coeliac disease. Nutrients
Who: Two ancient wheats (Graziella Ra, Kamut), one traditional durum (Senatore Cappelli) and three modern durum varieties (Flaminio, Grazia, Svevo); kernels assayed for gliadin and alpha-gliadin celiac peptides by ELISA and Western blot
PMID 22253984

What else was said but not tested?

  • Modern wheat has much more starch than older wheat

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