I'm FAR from an expert, so take what I say with skepticism: One expert (MD, I don't remember his name at the moment) I read a few years ago suggested that the western 'high grain' diet is causing a baseline gut inflammation in the bulk of the population. (I.e. All grains are bad.) That some people experience it more severely (gluten allergies, etc.) and others with just weight gain, etc. I'm 75% convinced my mild arthritis is caused by my grain consumption, but it isn't bad enough (yet) for me to go cut out all of the grains in my diet. This guy commented that we (Europeans) have only really begun to consume grains heavily / daily for the last ~500 years. Before that, the bulk of the population was more rural and there was more consumption of wild greens, fruits, fish, animals, etc. The growth of industry resulted in the growth of cities. And cities are hard to feed without grains. BUT ... it really wasn't until the sugar levels in our food went up and the heavy GMO work in the last ~75 years have we started seeing a major shift in the health of the population. (W.r.t. a broad view of obesity and related health problems.)