The Problem with Gluten

Gluten is a mixture of proteins found in Barley, Rye, Oats and Wheat.

You may be of the opinion that ‘gluten free’ is just another fad? After all, we have been eating gluten for thousands of years, so why the current fuss?

Modern day gluten is in no way similar to the gluten that our ancestors consumed. It has been hybridised to increase yield, reduce growing time and make it easier to harvest. That all sounds great…so what’s the problem with that? Well, the hybridisation has created a huge number of previously unknown proteins in gluten (chromosome content has gone from 14 to 42), which puts a significant extra burden on our digestive systems as we try to break these unknown proteins down. Essentially our digestive systems do not have the digestive toolkit to optimally break down this gluten into its component parts. This may or may not be a problem depending on your genetic profile and gut health.

Gluten related disorders, (the umbrella term for conditions such as wheat allergy, coeliac disease and non coeliac gluten sensitivity) are fundamentally caused by the inability of the body to breakdown the gluten proteins into their component parts. Combined with the dramatic rise in poor digestive capability, driven by factors such as stress, poor dietary choices, modern day lifestyles, toxic load and imbalances in our micro flora (the bacteria in our guts), you have the foundations for systemic inflammation and any number of potential health problems.

Coeliac disease (an autoimmune condition that destroys the gut lining) is the most common lifelong disorder in North America and Europe. Only 1 in 8 coeliacs are ever diagnosed and the typical length of time it takes for those that are diagnosed to be diagnosed is 13 years! The classical symptoms of abdominal pain and diarrhoea are not the only symptoms to look out for. What goes on in the gut does not necessarily have to stay in the gut and can present as virtually any symptom/condition that you can imagine including (but not limited to): migraines, skin problems, depression, fatigue, joint pain, liver and cardio vascular disease, autoimmune conditions and neurological problems. In children you typically see ‘failure to thrive’. Time and time again, I see clients with chronic conditions presenting with undiagnosed coeliac disease or non coeliac gluten sensitivity.

If you have a chronic condition or symptom or are just really struggling with your health, why wouldn’t you want to find out if modern day gluten is making you sick? You can ask your GP to test you for coeliac disease (please note that the NHS test can produce up to 70% false negative results, if you are not presenting with full blown coeliac disease) or you can access privately, via practitioners such as myself, a test from Cyrex Laboratories which provides you with the most sensitive test (Array 3) currently available for gluten related disorders:http://entirewellbeing.com/…/11/Cyrex-Testing-Overview.….

You could also just eliminate gluten from your diet for 4 weeks (has to be zero tolerance by the way to be effective). Contrary to popular belief, removing gluten from your diet is not a dangerous thing to do. You may be surprised what happens….