As I eat my daily oatmeal a smugness overtakes me. This food is bringing me better health and longer life. Nice thought, even if it may be only a belief on my part. Nutritionists have long told us that whole grains are better for us than the product of the grain after the brans have been removed. That makes sense because we evolved while feeding on natural foods, grains included.

Too bad that the whole grains we get now are not really natural. Genetically-altered is a term that scares us, at least in context of animal genes, including that of homo sapiens - us human beings. But grains have been altered since our forebearers settled down and seriously began to harvest the largest seeds that grew on grasses around their settlements. The hunter-gatherers knew nothing of the double helix and gene identification nor could they pick out and transfer a specific gene but they did genetically alter the grain. After patient cross-breeding they chose which seeds to use and produced grains with larger seeds for more food for winter use.

Only when grain growing became a lucrative economic venture did the genetic altering begin in earnest. To be more easily harvested, grains needed stronger stems and larger seeds. Straw became a valuable side product with many uses. With each economic reward fields were enlarged and harvesting was done with machinery.

More cross-breeding made the grain stocks sturdy and immune to fungus at the soil surface which flattened large patches of mature grain stocks during hard winds and rain. Such grain could not be harvested by mechanical reapers. On non-dairy farms straw lost its value and more genetic altering brought shorter stems, and the need for shorter growing time. Could large farms in warmer areas grow two crops each summer? Not grain, but vegetables were added, those also altered for better production and more shelf life.

There is no going back. We will never eat natural grains again and I don't think that's a bad thing.