Gluten free – just a fad?
Products labeled gluten free are popping up in natural food stores. Is this the latest in the nutritional good food, bad food marketing wars? Or might there be something to this?
A lot of people – many of whom aren’t aware of the problem – are gluten sensitive or gluten intolerant to some degree. This means that they could benefit from a diet that is low in gluten or gluten-free. The benefits of eliminating gluten, at least short term, are such that the detox diet promoted at CAM doesn’t allow any gluten-containing foods.
What is gluten?
But first, what is gluten? Gluten is a combination of proteins found in many grains. Gluey in texture – hence the name – It holds wheat flour together in bread.
Problems gluten can cause
The problem with gluten lies in the fact that it’s a common trigger to the immune system, potentially causing or contributing to a wide range of health problems.
In its most severe form, gluten can cause celiac disease, in which gluten causes the immune system to produce certain antibodies. These antibodies can wear down the villi in the intestines; villi are fingerlike projections on the intestinal wall that greatly increase the surface area of the intestines. Over time, the intestine is unable to absorb and process nutrients from food, and nutritional deficiencies can result regardless of the quality of diet. This intestinal damage can lead to leaky gut syndrome, in which partially digested particles of any food can enter the bloodstream, triggering the immune system and leading to other food allergies. In addition, inflammation of the intestinal wall can greatly stress the entire body, resulting in health problems. Celiac disease is most accurately identified by an intestinal biopsy, a minor surgical procedure.
Even if you don’t have full-blown and diagnosable celiac disease, you might well be gluten intolerant. For many people, sensitivity to gluten can cause, when gluten is eaten, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), gas, bloating, abdominal pain, food allergies, and diarrhea, as well as non-gastrointestinal symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, joint pain, or a general unwell feeling.
Sensitivity can differ
Sensitivity to gluten can vary considerably among individuals, and even within the same person at different times depending on what other toxic burdens the body is coping with at the time. Some people, such as those with full-blown celiac disease, can’t tolerate even a molecule of gluten without reacting. For them, even gluten-free products made in a facility that also makes products with gluten can contain enough gluten to be problematic. Other people can tolerate it once in a while, or can handle small amounts but not a sandwich or bowl of spaghetti.
People differ not only in how sensitive to it they are, but gluten is actually several different proteins, to which people have differing sensitivities. For example, oats – which contain gluten, accounting for its gluiness when made as oatmeal – have a different kind of gluten protein than wheat. People who can’t tolerate the gluten in wheat or other grains may, or may not, be able to handle oats.
Where gluten is found
Gluten is found in some grains, but not in vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs, or dairy. The grains that have the most gluten are wheat, barley, oats, spelt, and kamut. Breads, pastas, and granola have gluten unless they are specifically labeled as being gluten-free.
Gluten can be found not only in some grains but in processed food ingredients such as dextrin, flavorings, extracts, modified food starch, and hydrolyzed vegetable protein. It is, in fact, found in almost all processed food, including many from the natural food store, unless the product is specifically labeled as gluten-free. Some prescription drugs contain gluten, which is not required to be listed on the label, and many vitamins and supplements contain gluten as a binder or filler. Supplements formulated for sale at CAM do not contain gluten in recognition of the widespread problem of gluten intolerance.
Wheat allergy
Allergy to the protein in wheat is often confused with gluten intolerance. If you have problems with wheat but not the other high-gluten grains, the problem is more likely a wheat allergy, a very common allergy, rather than gluten intolerance.
If you give up wheat products and feel better, does this mean that you are gluten sensitive? Not necessarily. Your problem might well be a wheat allergy. More accurately, your body might be having serious objections to the hybridized, genetically modified grain that passes for wheat in much of the industrialized world. A gluten-free diet eliminates this wheat, and so it might be a good idea even if you’re not truly gluten intolerant.
Organic whole wheat has many advantages over its conventionally grown cousin, but it’s still wheat, and still has gluten as an inherent part of the grain, so it can trigger both gluten intolerance and wheat allergy symptoms. Spelt and kamut are forms of wheat that are much less hybridized and less likely to cause wheat allergy symptoms, but they still contain gluten. If you do better on these two than on regular wheat, your problem is more likely to be a wheat allergy.
Going gluten free
Grains that contain little or no gluten include quinoa, buckwheat (not related to wheat despite the name), amaranth, millet, teff, brown rice, and wild rice. The eight-day detox diet at CAM is gluten-free. Once your system is cleared of gluten and you have a baseline of how you feel without it, you might try introducing gluten grains slowly, one at a time, to see how you do. Keep in mind, though, that symptoms might not show up right away but rather come on gradually as gluten is consumed over a period of time.
Especially if your problem is wheat allergy rather than gluten intolerance, you might do just fine on other gluten grains, but it takes some experimenting. Or, given the widespread problems caused by gluten intolerance, not all of which are clearly traced back to gluten intake, you might well consider going as gluten-free as possible long term. It certainly couldn’t hurt other than minor inconvenience, and will likely be of benefit.
