"Gluten-Free Diets: Separating the Wheat from the Chat"
Until only a few years ago, almost the whole of the scientific world
maintained that the wheat protein gluten would provoke negative effects
only in people with rare conditions such as celiac disease or wheat allergies,
but by the early part of 2013, it was largely becoming accepted
that some nonceliac patients could suffer from gluten or wheat sensitivity.
And indeed a consensus panel of experts now officially recognizes
three gluten-related conditions, wheat allergy, celiac disease, and gluten sensitivity.
So what percent of the population should avoid wheat?
Although 1 in a thousand may have a wheat allergy, nearly 1 in a 100 may have celiac disease,
and it appears to be on the rise, though there’s still less than about 1 in 10,000 chance
Americans will get diagnosed with celiac in a given year.
How common is wheat sensitivity?
Our best estimate at this point is in that same kind of general range, slightly higher than 1%,
but still that’s potentially millions of people who may have been suffering for years
who could have been cured by simple dietary means,
yet went unrecognized and unhelped by the medical profession.
Although gluten sensitivity continues to gain medical credibility,
we still don’t know how it works, or how much gluten can be tolerated,
if it’s reversible or not and what the long-term complications
might be of not sticking to the diet.
Considering the lack of knowledge, maybe people with gluten sensitivity
should be trying to reintroduce gluten back into their diet every year
to see if it’s still causing problems.
The reason health professionals don’t want to see people on gluten-free diets
unless absolutely necessary is that for the 98% of people
people that don’t have gluten issues, whole grains—
including the gluten grains - wheat, barley and rye—
are health promoting, linked to the reduced risk of
coronary heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity and other chronic diseases.
Just like, because some people have a peanut allergy,
doesn’t mean that everyone should avoid peanuts.
There is no evidence to suggest that following a gluten-free diet
has any significant benefits in the general population.
Indeed, there is some evidence to suggest that a gluten-free diet may adversely affect
gut health in those without celiac disease or gluten sensitivity or allergy.
They’re talking about this study that found that a month on a gluten-free diet
may hurt our gut flora and immune function,
potentially setting those on gluten-free diets up for an overgrowth
of harmful bacteria in their intestines. Why?
Because, ironically, of the beneficial effects of the very components
wheat sensitive people have problems with—like the FODMAP fructans
that act as prebiotics and feed our good bacteria,
or the gluten itself, which may boost immune function.
Less than a week of added gluten protein significantly increases natural killer cell activity,
which could be expected to improve our body’s ability to fight cancer and viral infections.
High gluten bread improves triglyceride levels better
than regular gluten bread, as another example.
Ironically, one of the greatest threats of gluten-free diets may be the gluten itself.
Self-prescription of a gluten-free diet may undermine our ability to pick up celiac disease,
the much more serious form of gluten intolerance.
The way we diagnose celiac is by looking for the inflammation
caused by gluten in celiac sufferers,
but if they haven’t been eating a lot of gluten, we might miss the disease.
Hence, rather than being on a gluten-free diet,
we want celiac suspects to be on a gluten-loaded diet.
We’re talkin’ 4-6 slices of gluten packed bread a day, every day for at least a month,
so we can definitively diagnose the disease.
Why does it matter so much to get a formal diagnosis if you’re already on a gluten-free diet?
Well, it’s a genetic disease so you’ll know to test the family,
but most importantly many people on gluten-free diets are not actually on gluten-free diets.
Even 20 parts per million can be toxic to someone with celiac.
Many on so-called gluten-free diets inadvertently still eat gluten.
Sometimes there’s contamination of gluten-free products,
so even foods labeled "gluten-free" may still not be safe for celiac sufferers.
That’s why we need to know.
The irony, editorialized in a prominent medical journal,
of many celiac patients not knowing their diagnosis,
while millions of non-sufferers banish gluten from their lives,
can be considered a public health farce.