Gluten free . Is it a fad?
Saturday 18th August 2018
Is gluten bad for everyone?
It seems as if nearly everyone you speak to is gluten free.
An important fact is that sufferers of celiac cannot and should not eat gluten. This is a serious auto immune condition. It can make them very sick.
For those of us who are gluten sensitive, there is much confusion. This is different from celiac and is often self diagnosed.. But for the rest of us, confusion exists around what some doctors refer to as a gluten intolerance. Some say it is a fad,and not to be taken seriously.
Gluten is a protein found in wheat,Rye and barley.
It can be difficult to digest for those who have chronic inflammation in the body.
Celiac is a specific immune reaction to gluten. Your body makes antibodies in response to gluten that damages tissue in the gut lining.
"There is no doubt gluten intolerance is real—Alessio Fasano’s work at Harvard has made that clear. It is called non-celiac gluten intolerance.
However,Dr A viva Rome a women's health expert and New York Times best seller has suggested that not everyone who thinks they are gluten intolerant is, and it can be a function of gut health, microbiome, and other factors rather than inherent sensitivity to the gluten itself.
Dr. Frank Lipman, leading integrative health doctor, further defines the spectrum and its complications. "When I think about why the gluten-free trend became so huge, I find it interesting to consider all possible root causes of what people could be reacting to. Sure, some people are sensitive to the actual gluten protein, but could other people be reacting to glyphosate, the pesticide (and antibiotic) that all wheat is sprayed with? Or could the sensitivity be caused by a microbial imbalance in the gut? Or are people reacting to the FODMAPS in foods?These are fructooligosaccharides in gluten that may feed the bad bacteria in the gut and trigger symptoms. There is definitely more research to be done around this, and as I have seen, it can vary from person to person," said Dr. Lipman.
A leading study proving gluten sensitivity in 2011 was recently redesigned using a more rigorous testing method and found that many self-diagnosed "gluten-sensitive" people actually had no gluten sensitivity and may have been reacting to another acute food allergy. It was found that, only one in four self-diagnosed individuals following a gluten-free diet actually met the criteria for clinical non-celiac gluten sensitivity.
A leading expert on Gluten sensitivity and celiac disease Dr. Tom O'Bryan said in a recent interview.
"There are over 19,000 articles in the medical literature on gluten sensitivity and it’s impact throughout the body. 19,000 different research teams have looked at this and said, “hey this is a problem with juvenile idiopathic arthritis. This may be a problem with Alzheimers. This may be a problem with Parkinsons. This may be a problem with intestinal permeability. This may be a problem with liver cancer.
And the articles go on and on and on that not everyone has this, but what the articles are starting to say is somewhere between 3 and 6 out of 10 people who go to a doctor for any reason, when they’re checked, if they’re checked properly, they have elevated antibodies to one of the properties of gluten, meaning that their immune system is saying “this is a problem.” So it doesn’t matter if you have headaches or seizures or attention deficit. It doesn’t matter what the symptoms are. If the protocols you’re currently doing are not getting the ideal results you want, you just wanna think about maybe a gluten sensitivity’s contributing to this."
I have studied with Dr Tom O'bryan and I am a certified gluten practitioner.