an explosion of gluten allergies & intolerance?
April 29, 2010
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re already leading a gluten-free life. Have you noticed that you’re hearing about more and more people who also have allergies or intolerance to gluten-containing grains? In fact, Dr. Tom O’Bryan, expert on gluten sensitivity and Celiac disease, found that 77% of patients who walked into his Chicago clinic had elevated anti-bodies to gluten! Fortunately, both food companies and restaurants are responding: every month, there are new gluten-free products in grocery stores and on menus.
The question is: why the increase in gluten allergies?
There are many factors involved here, but one of the main issues is that our digestive tracts and immune systems are overexposed to gluten. We all know people who eat wheat at every meal (think bagel for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, and pasta for dinner). When our gut is overexposed to a particular food – especially a hard-to-digest protein like gluten – our body can start mounting an immune response to this food. Compounding this problem is that we are only eating a very few varieties of wheat today, due to big “agribusiness,” versus the many varieties of wheat our ancestors used to grow and eat.
Another reason for the increase in gluten sensitivities and allergies is poor digestion. Many of us are deficient in hydrochloric acid – which our body needs in order to digest protein – and/or digestive enzymes, and therefore we’re not able to completely break down proteins like gluten. The poorly digested protein molecules then make their way down into the intestines. If the intestinal lining is unhealthy and inflamed, these large molecules pass through the gut lining to the bloodstream, where they’re seen as “invaders” and the immune system reacts, causing a wide range of unpleasant symptoms.
It doesn’t help that food scientists have genetically altered wheat to increase the gluten content (that’s why bagels are so yummy and chewy). More gluten = harder to digest. Yikes.
Besides the undesirable symptoms, the problem with gluten allergy/intolerance is that it can lead to Celiac disease. Celiac disease can eventually lead to auto-immune conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia, painful nerve conditions such as carpal tunnel and sciatica, & more.
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Guest blogging by Julie Halpin, Certified Nutrition Consultant. Julie works with individuals and groups in the areas of weight management, digestive health, and cleansing/detoxification. She and her husband are both happily GF.
Filed under: resources,the science of it
