The BIG gluten problem

Gluten-free diets are a major fad at the moment, but is it just that... a fad, or is there some truth to it all?

What is Gluten?

Gluten is a mixture of proteins found in wheat and other grains including; barley, rye, oat, spelt, kamut and triticale.  Gluten gives elasticity to dough, helping it to rise and maintain its shape and sometimes gives the final product a chewy texture.

Let's start with celiac disease.  This is a very serious illness where the immune system reacts to gluten, damaging the gut and preventing vital nutrients such as calcium being absorbed.  People who suffer from celiac disease have to follow a gluten-free diet for life in order to prevent long-term health problems such as osteoporosis and a small increased risk of gastrointestinal cancers.  Symptoms can include; bloating, pain, diarrhea, constipation, brain fog, frequent mouth ulcers, feeling sluggish after eating gluten, and even a rash called dermatitis herpetiformis.  Now, this does not mean that you will suffer all of these symptoms if you are celiac, you may just suffer from a few.

In celiac disease, gluten stimulates the production of T-cells in the immune system, which in turn, stimulates attack cells which damage the villi, the finger-like projections that line the small bowel, this causes them to flatten.  The immune cells also create antibodies that remember how to attack gluten in the future, and this is how our bodies defend themselves against diseases.  Patients with gluten intolerance do not have this response to eating gluten; instead they have a different reaction through a different part of the immune system called the innate immune system.  Unlike the memory causing T-cell process, there is no memory created after the event.  However, it does cause inflammation, which explains the symptoms that gluten sensitive people suffer.

Your brain under attack:

It has also been shown that undiagnosed celiac disease can lead to neurological problems such as headaches and "brain fog", this has generally been thought of as a side effect of nutritional deficiencies caused by damage to the gut.

However, a seminal paper by Professor Marios Hadjivassiliou in 1996, showed that up to 54% of neurology patients had antibodies to gluten in their blood compared to just 12% of the healthy population.  Biopsies of the gut later revealed that 16% of neurology patients had celiac disease.  A lot of these patients had unexplained problems with balance, walking and coordination of the arms and legs (ataxia).  This happens when part of the brain called the cerebellum is damaged.  The connection between celiac disease and ataxia led Professor Hadjivassiliou to create the term "gluten ataxia", and has since been able to show that a gluten-free diet in celiac and non-celiac patients improves ataxia.

My specialty is Food Intolerances, many in the medical and scientific professions refuse to recognize food intolerances saying that there is no scientific base for them.  However, I see on a daily basis the improvements my patients make when they remove foods that they are intolerant too.

Only last year, 2015, gluten intolerance or gluten sensitivity with out being celiac, was recognized as real by the medical profession - they still refuse to recognize any other intolerances.  But the truth is, many people have a problem with gluten.

Lots of people who are diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) improve drastically when they remove gluten from their diets.

Investigators at the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, carried out a study where they recruited 36 patients with IBS and who had suspected food intolerances.  The investigators administered diluted samples of problem foods directly on to the bowel lining.  Within just 5 minutes of contact, they saw a significant increase in immune system attack cells.  This happened in 61% of the people in the study and the food that gave the most common response was wheat.  Which means that gluten seems to have a direct part in attacking the small bowel - and not just in people with celiac disease.

People being diagnosed with celiac disease has grown considerably.  Celiac disease affects about 1 in every 100 people in the United Kingdom, but in 1950 it was just one in every 8,000.  A study from Finland in 2000 found that the percentage of people with celiac disease had grown from 1% to 2% in just two decades.

We are now more exposed than ever to foods containing gluten.  Even cultures like China and India which usually have a rice based diet and didn't have a problem with celiac disease are now reporting that celiac disease is a significant problem.

The Western diet is expanding, people are eating more pizza, pasta and bread all over the world than

before.  There is also concern that wheat nowadays has more gluten than before and new industrial processes may mean a higher gluten content in bread and other products.  Gluten is now in a whole host of foods, not just the obvious ones such as bread and pasta.  It is also in instant soups, breakfast cereals, stock cubes, gravy granules, soya sauce, ready meals, meat substitutes, energy drinks and even Mars bars!  Even some medication has gluten in it.

If you think you have a problem with gluten, then you should go and see your doctor about it.  But even if you don't think you have a problem, you should try and keep your gluten intake to a minimum, we really don't need to be eating as much pasta, bread and pizza as we do.

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com