Gluten Allergy and Sensitivity: Is Gluten Giving You Health Problems?
Stomach ache, bloating and diarrhea are some of the symptoms experienced after eating bread, pasta or crackers.
We jump to the conclusion, not unreasonably that we have a wheat allergy, and to go on a wheat free diet,but the truth may be more complex; we may indeed have a sensitivity or an allergy to gluten, one of the proteins present in many grains.
What is gluten? Gluten is a kind of complex protein found in wheat and rye and to a lesser extent barley and oats.
In susceptible people gluten causes damage to the inner lining of the gut.
The damage to the gut will inhibit normal digestion and absorption of nutrients compromising health and even leading to a condition known as "leaky gut syndrome" in which food fragments and peptide molecules may be transported in the bloodstream and produce allergy symptoms.
In addition the mild damage caused by Aspirin to the gut lining may trigger allergy symptoms by allowing the absorption of peptides into the bloodstream.
Where do we find it? We find gluten everywhere we find wheat, rye and barley.
In the case of oats because oats look similar to wheat grains there is frequent cross contamination of oats with other grains.
There does seem to less of a gluten issue from oats but still all by them selves they can cause some damage to the gut in susceptible people.
As well as the obvious foods like breads, pasta and pastries wheat is also used in sauces, salad dressings, egg substitutes and even in some herbal teas and in beer.
How much one would have to exclude all such items from their diet would depend on the severity of their allergy symptoms.
It may be enough simply to exclude bread, past and pizza in all cases professional medical advice should be sought.
The whole issue of gluten sensitivity and gluten allergy is complex and under much research at the moment.
Until recently Celiac disease was thought to be a rare autoimmune disease caused by exposure to gluten.
Recent studies have shown 3 million Americans with Celiac disease most of whom do not know it and suffer a multitude of symptoms which are treated as isolated problems.
If eating gluten containing food brings on symptoms it makes sense to reduce your exposure by simple changes in diet.
However you can still be exposed to gluten when consuming food labeled "Gluten free" because there is no well recognise definition of the phrase gluten free and a very sensitive individual may be a risk consuming such foods.
This is clearly an unsatisfactory situation and gluten sensitive individuals may want to simplify their diets to reduce exposure to gluten.
A possible result of such changes may be to reduce the variety of foods consumed.
The problem with this may be that it could compromise their nutrition.
Gluten sensitive people are best advised to make such dietary changes with advice from an experienced dietitian or similar professional to achieve a symptom free healthy lifestyle.
We jump to the conclusion, not unreasonably that we have a wheat allergy, and to go on a wheat free diet,but the truth may be more complex; we may indeed have a sensitivity or an allergy to gluten, one of the proteins present in many grains.
What is gluten? Gluten is a kind of complex protein found in wheat and rye and to a lesser extent barley and oats.
In susceptible people gluten causes damage to the inner lining of the gut.
The damage to the gut will inhibit normal digestion and absorption of nutrients compromising health and even leading to a condition known as "leaky gut syndrome" in which food fragments and peptide molecules may be transported in the bloodstream and produce allergy symptoms.
In addition the mild damage caused by Aspirin to the gut lining may trigger allergy symptoms by allowing the absorption of peptides into the bloodstream.
Where do we find it? We find gluten everywhere we find wheat, rye and barley.
In the case of oats because oats look similar to wheat grains there is frequent cross contamination of oats with other grains.
There does seem to less of a gluten issue from oats but still all by them selves they can cause some damage to the gut in susceptible people.
As well as the obvious foods like breads, pasta and pastries wheat is also used in sauces, salad dressings, egg substitutes and even in some herbal teas and in beer.
How much one would have to exclude all such items from their diet would depend on the severity of their allergy symptoms.
It may be enough simply to exclude bread, past and pizza in all cases professional medical advice should be sought.
The whole issue of gluten sensitivity and gluten allergy is complex and under much research at the moment.
Until recently Celiac disease was thought to be a rare autoimmune disease caused by exposure to gluten.
Recent studies have shown 3 million Americans with Celiac disease most of whom do not know it and suffer a multitude of symptoms which are treated as isolated problems.
If eating gluten containing food brings on symptoms it makes sense to reduce your exposure by simple changes in diet.
However you can still be exposed to gluten when consuming food labeled "Gluten free" because there is no well recognise definition of the phrase gluten free and a very sensitive individual may be a risk consuming such foods.
This is clearly an unsatisfactory situation and gluten sensitive individuals may want to simplify their diets to reduce exposure to gluten.
A possible result of such changes may be to reduce the variety of foods consumed.
The problem with this may be that it could compromise their nutrition.
Gluten sensitive people are best advised to make such dietary changes with advice from an experienced dietitian or similar professional to achieve a symptom free healthy lifestyle.
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