Jul 30 2008
Gluten: Friend or Foe?
There’s been a lot of talk about gluten lately, and I know that reducing gluten intake is one of the goals in this book, but with all the talk, I still don’t understand what the big gluten deal is.
I know that those afflicted with celiac disease have gluten intolerance, but what does that mean exactly?
The short answer is that gluten is a protein contained in the grains wheat, barley, rye, and oats, and is often used in breads and other baked goods.
For people with gluten intolerance, a reaction occurs by the immune system of individuals in possession of certain genes that recognize gluten as foreign and toxic.
Typical symptoms of gluten intolerance include abdominal bloating or pain, diarrhea, constipation, gaseousness, or nausea with or without vomiting.
Typically, testing for gluten sensitivity and celiac sprue is done via blood tests. The defining difference between gluten sensitivity and celiac sprue is that while gluten sensitivity implies that a person’s immune system is intolerant of gluten in the diet and is forming antibodies or displaying some other evidence of an inflammatory reaction, only when these reactions cause small intestinal damage visible on a biopsy is the condition elevated to celiac sprue, celiac disease, or gluten sensitive enteropathy status.
I’m not a big gluten consumer to begin with, but I guess once I get through my cleanse I will know for sure if gluten is my friend or foe.
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