
The War on Wheat
Cardiologist William Davis built a publishing empire on one claim: modern wheat is an addictive, genetically altered threat behind obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. His book Wheat Belly turned that argument into a movement dramatic enough to dent Kellogg's sales and push food companies to unload their bread divisions. CBC's fifth estate correspondent Mark Kelley tracks the money and the science behind the panic, interviewing patients who credit wheat elimination with turning their health around alongside researchers who push back hard. McGill's Joe Schwarcz calls Davis's cited evidence cherry-picked, obesity expert Yoni Freedhoff compares him to an evangelical preacher selling promise without substance, and the film notes that no health organization, including the Canadian Celiac Association, recommends cutting wheat for anyone without celiac disease. Health law professor Timothy Caulfield weighs in on how celebrity endorsement, more than data, has driven the diet's popularity. The film lays out both cases without settling the argument, leaving the viewer to weigh a bestselling doctor's claims against the researchers who say the numbers don't support them.