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In reply to the discussion: Modern wheat a "perfect, chronic poison," doctor says [View all]yellowcanine
(35,694 posts)It is a change in a couple of genes which has an effect on how tall the plant gets. As a result the heads get a little bigger also. There is almost no effect to the chemistry of the wheat itself. The writer of the original article knows almost nothing about plant breeding and even less about plant physiology. Hexaploid wheat has been around for thousands of years, including hexaploid wheat with semi-dwarf genes. The reason taller varieties were grown for years and years were because farmers wanted the straw in addition to the grain. It was great for animal bedding, particularly for horses. Then some scientists came along and said - look, we can get a better yield if we have shorter plants. Since by the time of the 60s farmers had less need for straw and they wanted better yields, they planted the new semidwarf varieties. The biggest differences in gluten in wheat is the type of wheat grown. Bread wheat, which is hard wheat, has more gluten - for good reason. It makes better bread. Soft wheat, which is used for cookies and cakes, etc, has less gluten, again, because less gluten is more desirable for cookies and cakes.