another round of gluten sensitivity

Although no one knows the exact reason(s) we have such a growing problem metabolizing wheat here in America, there are a host of theories floating around.  My guess is that all of these are working in tandem to collectively contribute to the explosion in Gluten Sensitivity.  Here are a few of them (BTW, this applies to MOST GRAINS).

• GMO / INTENSIVE HYBRIDIZATION:  Although you will often hear that wheat has been “Genetically Modified” (GMO), this is not accurate —- yet.  No surprises here, but Monsanto is CURRENTLY WORKING ON THIS.  However, because the food industry has an infatuation with gluten (they use it as thickening agents, food starches, malt extract, emulsifiers, stabilizers, and a whole host of common food additives), industry has been hybridizing wheat for increased gluten content for decades.  Although it is difficult to know exactly how much more gluten there is in today’s wheat than there used to be, suffice it to say that the difference is significant — particularly in the grade of wheat used for baking.

• THE PROCESS OF DEAMIDATION:  Gliadin is not water soluble (it is alcohol soluble).  The process of making it water soluble so that it can be used by the food industry is called, deamidation.  A 2003 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology showed that although most people did not react to heirloom varieties of wheat, many had severe reactions to to deamidated wheat.  A shocking study from a 2008 issue of the European Journal of Inflammation confirmed this by touting deamidated wheat as possibly being the number one source of hidden food allergies and sensitivities.  This could be due to the fact that the part of the Immune System that actually attacks invaders (T-CELLS) is strongly activated by deamidated gliadin.  Add this to the fact that gluten happens to be the most common benign substances the body recognizes as foreign, and you can start to see why wheat protein is so heavily associated with autoimmunity (HERE).

• CROSS CONTAMINATION:   This is simply referring to the fact that when various grains are harvested, hauled, dumped, stored, milled, etc, they will cross-contaminate.  For instance, neither corn nor oats contain gluten.  However, unless you are purchasing these from a company that is certified “Gluten Free”, there will be massive cross-contamination from every step of the process.  Bottom line: For a grain to be considered “Gluten Free”, it can never come in contact with grains that have Gluten in them. Think about it another way; you only hear about Gluten Free Diets; never “Low Gluten” or “Reduced Gluten” diets (HERE).  This is because once your body ramps up its immune system to make antibodies against the gluten protein, it takes less than 20 parts per million to trigger a reaction.  I treat a school teacher who is so Gluten Sensitive that she has more trouble during the school year, despite being on a strict gluten free diet.  This is because if she simply has physical contact with children who eat wheat, she reacts.  Fortunately her husband is gluten free as well. 

• LONG TERM WHEAT STORAGE & ACCOMPANYING PROCESSES:  When wheat is stored in grain bins, all sorts of really nasty chemicals are mixed with it to keep it from spoiling, as well as keeping bugs from infesting and devouring it.  These include antifungals, pesticides, and a slew of other things that you hope to never be exposed to.  Then there is the issue of enterotoxins being produced by bacteria in the stored wheat.  Enterotoxins are produced by many different bacteria, and are often cytotoxic (they kill cells), acting by altering the infected person’s mucosal cell membrane permeability.  This sounds like so much medical gibberish until you realize that this process is actually describing something called……..

• LEAKY GUT SYNDROME / INCREASED INTESTINAL PERMEABILITY:  Due to INFLAMMATORY processes that occur within the body due to SUBCLINICAL INFECTIONS & DYSBIOSIS, poor diet, STRESS, lack of exercise, CERTAIN MEDICATIONS, Gluten Intolerance / Gluten Sensitivity, etc, etc, etc, the “tight junctions” between the mucosal cells of the Small Intestine become loose.  This allows food particles, PARASITES, toxins, virus, bacteria, MOLDS, FUNGUS, undigested food particles, and who-knows-what-else, to be absorbed into the blood stream.  Once there, the body recognizes these as foreign and the Immune System begins to mount responses to attack them (HERE).   In some cases, this is normal and good.  However, the reactions often end up out of control.  For more information on LEAKY GUT SYNDROME and it’s intimate relationship to wheat, just click the link (you’ll see LGS go by at least two dozen different names in the peer-reviewed literature). 

• INCREASED STRESS, HYPERACTIVE IMMUNE SYSTEMS, & THE SUBSEQUENT IMMUNE SYSTEM INTOLERANCE:  Once the process of Leaky Gut is underway, the results can be devastating.  Inflammation causes Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Leaky Gut Syndrome causes Inflammation. The whole thing spins in a vicious cycle, resulting in an almost unlimited number of potential health problems (HERE is a list of a few of them).  For the record, this scenario usually winds up causing some sort of AUTOIMMUNE REACTION, where your body starts attacking its own tissues, cells, and enzymes (for reasons no one really understands, once the body starts attacking gluten, it often starts attacking self.  This is why anyone who is chronically ill needs to be off gluten. Period.

• INFLAMMATION:  Although everyone thinks they know what inflammation is, few people actually do.  For more information, see the posts that are HERE. A failure to halt inflammation means that you will never get to the source of your problem.

• S.A.D:  The Standard American Diet for most Americans is far worse than anyone could have even dreamed of 25 years ago.  We should be eating vegetation, and animals that ate vegetation (HERE).  Just remember that grain is not vegetation.  I also need to remind many of you that corn is not a vegetable, but a grain.  When you eat a grain-based diet (particularly when those grains are heavily processed), you will eventually end up looking like a corn-fed beef.  And never forget that OBESITY itself causes inflammation — a huge causal component of Leaky Gut Syndrome.  Overeating any particular food —- especially if that food is a heavily processed grain (wheat) —- leaves one particularly susceptible to creating antibodies against that food.

• LACK OF THE PROPER ENZYMES TO BREAK DOWN GLUTEN:  Guess where DIGESTIVE ENZYMES come from?  They mostly come from naturally raised and ripened vegetables.  Without fresh or frozen vegetables, your digestion will be poor.  Without a wide variety of vegetables in your diet, you will have low levels of enzymes, including the enzymes used by the body to break down wheat protein.  How big a problem is this?  Back when James Dobson was still hosting Focus on the Family, I remember him reporting a medical study saying that 1/3 of all American children under the age of 18 got zero servings of vegetables a week —- unless you count ketchup and fries as a vegetable —- like our Public Schools do (HERE). 

• A STEADY BARRAGE OF VACCINES AND ANTIBIOTICS FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE:  Contrary to popular belief, ANTIBIOTICS do not strengthen the immune system.  In fact, one of Medicine’s dirty little secrets is the fact that antibiotics actually weaken the immune system —- severely (HERE).   What most people are unaware of is that vaccines do the same thing (HERE).  Sure, they might keep you from getting a certain disease (OR NOT), but the process leaves you with an immune system that does not work like God intended it to.  People end up trading things like Chicken Pox or Measles for life-long AUTOIMMUNITY.  The problem with vaccine reactions is that they tend to be neurological and immunological — particularly difficult to overcome.  It also means that they can cause just about any health problem you can imagine.  And people who have taken lots of antibiotics tend to be highly intolerant to lots of foods —- especially wheat.  This is because they destroy GUT HEALTH which makes up a whopping 80% OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM.

What was one of the major differences between WWII and Vietnam?  Although there were many; arguably the biggest was that in Vietnam our troops never knew exactly who their enemies were.  The people who were trying to kill our troops looked suspiciously similar to the people we called allies.  This is how it is with gluten.  Not being able to easily recognize sources of gluten can make going “Gluten Free” frustratingly difficult.  I could give you the lists of off-limits foods here, but it would take a book to cover them all.  If you are not sure if it is Gluten Free, it probably isn’t.  There are tons of websites that have extensive lists of what to avoid, and conversely, what you can safely eat (there are even phone apps that will do it for you). 

And by the way, It’s not just about what you eat or do not eat.  Gluten is commonly used as a thickening agent / stabilizer in soaps, shampoos, cosmetics, detergents, spices, prescription & OTC medications, toothpaste, mouthwash, stamps, envelopes, and even children’s stickers.  And we have not even gotten to food items yet!  Things like additives, soy sauce, dextrin, fillers, artificial colors, as well as all sorts of things you cannot even begin to imagine, contain gluten.  And as I said a moment ago; once you are sensitive, it only takes a microscopic amount to trigger a reaction.