How Do You Know If You Are Gluten Sensitive?

Have you had a NEGATIVE gluten sensitivity test and been told you don’t have a sensitivity to gluten? Did you know that standard gluten sensitivity testing misses about 20% of positive cases? STANDARD GLUTEN SENSITIVITY TESTS ONLY TEST FOR ALPHA GLIADIN AND DO NOT INCLUDE THE ENTIRE GLUTEN PROTEOME! That’s right! So if you were told that gluten is not impacting your health because it didn’t show up on your food sensitivity test and that it is “safe” for your body, you may be actually hurting yourself by ingesting it. A food sensitivity test that can show if you truly have gluten sensitivity, is the Cyrex Array 3 as well as the Wheat Zoomer. If we are working together 1:1, I can give you access to these tests.

So what is gluten?

Gluten is a protein found in many foods. Studies show that consuming gluten damages the gut lining in ALL of us, leading us to have a “leaky gut”. A leaky gut happens when the gastrointestinal tract develops microscopic holes, allowing fragments of food or bacteria into the bloodstream. This will trigger inflammation because we are not supposed to have food or bacteria in the bloodstream. The immune system will then try to protect us and recognizes these fragments of food, thinking they are foreign invaders. It attacks, increasing the risk for autoimmune disease and cognitive decline.

When you look for gluten-free alternatives, just be careful not to choose any with corn, rice flour or oat flour, or other high-glycemic-index ingredients. Not only will these spike your blood sugar but these, like most grains these days, are sprayed with glyphosate (the same thing as Round Up), which is an herbicide that is proven to cause cancer and be deadly to all living things. So Grains = Double Whammy (sugar spike + glyphosate)!

On his website, http://www.drperlmutter.com/eat/foods-that-contain-gluten/, David Perlmutter, M.D., shares these two lists regarding gluten:

FOODS CONTAINING GLUTEN:

• Wheat

• Wheat germ

• Rye

• Barley

• Bulgur

• Farina

• Graham flour

• Kamut matzo

• Semolina

• Spelt

• *Triticale

FOODS THAT OFTEN CONTAIN GLUTEN:

• Malt/malt flavoring

• Breaded Foods

• Soups

• Fruit fillings and puddings

• Commercial bouillon and broths

• Hot dogs

• Cold cuts

• Ice Cream

• French fries (often dusted with flour before freezing)

• Root beer

• Processed cheese (e.g., Velveeta)

• Energy bars

• Mayonnaise

• Trail mix

• Ketchup

• Syrups

• Malt vinegar

• Seitan

• Soy sauce and teriyaki sauces

• Wheatgrass

• Salad dressings

• Imitation crab meat, bacon, etc.

• Flavored coffees and teas

• Egg substitute

• Blue cheeses

• Tabbouleh

• Vodka

• Sausage

• Wine coolers

• Non-dairy creamer

• Meatballs/meatloaf

• Fried vegetables/tempura

• Communion wafers

• Gravy

• Veggie burgers

• Marinades

• Roasted nuts

• Canned baked beans

• Beer

• Cereals

• Oats (unless certified gluten-free)

• Instant hot drinks

I often see people try to address their health issues by going gluten-free for a week or two, and when they don’t feel any different, they decide that gluten probably wasn’t their issue. The problem I see with this is twofold. First, people need to stay off of gluten for at least 3 to 6 months to actually notice a difference. Second, people don’t realize it, but as they are attempting to go gluten-free, they are actually unintentionally still ingesting gluten because of all the cross-contamination they get from the foods they THINK are gluten-free. Take french fries, for example. One would think, there are two ingredients: potatoes and oil. There is no gluten there. Ah, but there might be. Maybe chicken nuggets were also fried in the same oil the fries were fried in. The coating on the nuggets is in the oil which gets into the potatoes which have now been cross-contaminated with gluten. So going gluten-free for real, takes conscious effort, awareness, and a coach, like me, to help guide you, if needed. In addition, a note worth mentioning: You can be gluten-free and have a “squeaky clean” diet yet STILL feel symptomatic because you may have some underlying hidden stressors causing issues. This would require digging deeper via functional lab testing to figure it out!

Wheat is not the same compound it was 50 years ago due to hybridization and heavy glyphosate use, which research suggests accounts for the increase in gluten sensitivity in the population. Wheat is now broken down into softer forms of wheat (like pretzels, bagels, cookies, etc.). The proteins in these have been altered so much, that pesticides and herbicides have been bound to the protein in gluten, changing the protein completely, making these wheat compounds very immune reactive.

How is celiac disease related to all this? So while both gluten sensitivity and celiac disease have immune reactions to gluten and can cross-react with the thyroid gland, in celiac disease, there is an autoimmune reaction that directly attacks the intestinal lining with aggressive T-cell responses which causes systemic and severe inflammation, malabsorption, and malnutrition. Like gluten sensitivity, celiac disease also triggers Hashimoto’s and other autoimmune diseases, but having celiac disease is much worse than having gluten sensitivity. Celiac disease is much more aggressive and can be devastating if a 100% gluten-free diet is not adhered to, and that means even going further and getting off grains, dairy, and potato because these are all similar enough in their protein structure to mount an autoimmune response in the body. (This similarity in proteins is called molecular mimicry or cross-reactivity.) To find out if you have celiac disease, you would need to have an elevated marker in your blood that is called transglutaminase 2. When elevated and combined with certain genetic markers, this can help determine if you have the genetic, severe form of reactions to gluten. I have access to these tests as well.

Here is the big picture. Gluten is a protein, and this protein has different branches of gluten: alpha, gamma, omega, gliadin, glutenin, deamidated gliadin, and wheat germ agglutinin (the LECTIN portion of the gluten protein). Any of these branches can trigger an immune response, cross-react, even attach to the thyroid gland, and cause reactivity. Gluten sensitivity testing will not test for the entire proteome of the gluten protein unless you use the Cyrex Array 3 or the Wheat Zoomer.

So at the end of the day, know that testing can be flawed if you haven't checked the entire gluten proteome. If you have symptoms of any kind (headaches, joint pain, brain fog, depression, acne, etc.) and have not done proper testing, you can always try going gluten-free. Keep in mind that to be truly gluten-free, all the cross-reactivity and cross-contamination issues would need to be addressed as well, in order to give yourself a real chance at building or rebuilding a healthy thyroid, a healthy brain, and a healthy microbiome.

And final thoughts: Don’t guess! I’m here for you!

Love,

Paulina

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