Wheat - addictive properties

[spring]

I read somewhere - on panix (paleo eating) - that wheat has opioids as some sort of survival advantage.

Is this true and how would it work?

- that people get addicted to it and will farm it? a bit farfetched?
- people who eat will die more quickly so the plant kills its consumers? - but why would that confer survival advantage - the process of developing takes a long time and in the meantime. what stocks could be exhausted


or is it just a coincidence that humans started eating wheat which wasn't supposed to be human's natural food?

Why then would wheat have opioids? what is the survival advantage in that?

[benzapp]

I read somewhere - on panix (paleo eating) - that wheat has opioids as some sort of survival advantage.

Is this true and how would it work?

- that people get addicted to it and will farm it? a bit farfetched?
- people who eat will die more quickly so the plant kills its consumers? - but why would that confer survival advantage - the process of developing takes a long time and in the meantime. what stocks could be exhausted


or is it just a coincidence that humans started eating wheat which wasn't supposed to be human's natural food?

Why then would wheat have opioids? what is the survival advantage in that?

The accepted reason is that opioids are found in plants as a sort of insecticide. Opioid receptors are the most primitive receptors in animals - it is the only kind insects have. It is also for this reason opioids control the most basic functions in a mammal, like respiration. They are fairly mild for us, but for a tiny insect they work great.

Your theory may be correct in that wheat has spread throughout the world because of this particular drug, but I believe the evidence indicates the plant evolved long before the advent of agriculture.

[spring]

That would explain it. It wasn't my theory BTW - something that I read and didn't quite understand.