Going gluten-free might be the major health trend of the last decade. However, there is confusion if gluten is problematic for everyone or those who have certain medical conditions.
Some people will avoid it for health concerns like those who suffer from intolerance or have celiac disease. Many people in the health and wellness world suggest that everyone needs to take a gluten-free diet. This advice holds true regardless of whether or not they are intolerant.
What you should know about gluten
Gluten, although typically a single compound, is a collective term. It refers to different kinds of proteins present in barley, rye, wheat, and triticale.
You will find several prolamins though all of them have similar properties and structures. The main prolamins present in wheat are gliadin and glutenin though the primary one in barley is hordein.
Gluten proteins such as glutenin and gliadin are highly elastic. This characteristic makes gluten-containing grains the optimal option for producing bread and other baked goods.
The additional gluten is there in powdered product form and is called vital wheat gluten. You can add it with baked goods for increasing the strength and shelf life of the finished product.
Gluten-containing foods and grains will make up a huge portion of your daily diets, with an estimation intake of almost 5–20 grams per day. Gluten proteins are extremely resistant to protease enzymes that can break down proteins into the digestive tract.
The incomplete digestion of proteins will enable for peptides and large units of amino acids to build protein blocks. This might trigger the immune responses that have been indicated in different gluten-related conditions such as celiac disease.
Gluten intolerance
This refers to three types of conditions such as:
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Celiac disease
Celiac disease is an inflammatory autoimmune ailment that occurs from both environmental and genetic factors. It can impact near about 1% of the population in the world. This severe condition is related to eating gluten-containing grains for susceptible people. Though celiac disease comprises of different body systems, it is still an inflammatory disorder of the small intestine.
The ingestion of these grains in people having celiac disease may lead to some damage to enterocytes which are lining of the cells to the small intestine. This causes damage to the intestine, malabsorption of nutrient and symptoms such as diarrhea and loss of weight.
Other symptoms of celiac disease are anemia, neurological disorders, osteoporosis and skin diseases like dermatitis. Yet many people who suffer from celiac disease do not show any symptoms at all.
It is possible to diagnose this condition through intestinal biopsy or gold standard for diagnosing celiac disease or blood testing for specific antibodies or genotypes. The only treatment for this disease is avoiding gluten completely.
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Wheat allergy
Wheat allergy is very common in kids though it can impact adults too. Those who have wheat allergy suffer from abnormal immune response to specific proteins such as wheat and wheat products.
The symptoms may vary from mild nausea to severe and can be life-threatening anaphylaxis. This is an allergic reaction which leads to difficulty breathing after you ingest wheat or inhale wheat flour.
Wheat allergy is somewhat different from celiac disease and it is quite possible to suffer from both the conditions.
The allergists diagnose wheat allergies with either skin-prick or blood testing.
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Non-celiac gluten sensitivity
Many people have reported the symptoms after they eat gluten even when they do not suffer from allergy to wheat or celiac disease.
Non-celiac gluten sensitivity can be diagnosed when a person does not have either of these conditions. Yet they may suffer from intestinal symptoms and other symptoms such as fatigue, headache and joint pain at the time of consuming gluten.
Celiac disease and wheat allergy should be ruled out in order to diagnose NCGS as the symptoms might overlap in all of these conditions.
Like people who suffer from celiac disease or have allergy to wheat, people with NCGS have reported improvement of symptoms by eating a gluten-free diet.
Why everyone should avoid gluten
Many people who have celiac disease, autoimmune disease and NCGS may get benefit by taking a gluten-free diet. Yet it is unclear whether everyone despite of their health condition needs to change their eating habits.
There are several theories about why human bodies cannot handle gluten. Some research suggests that the human digestive system have not evolved to digest the amount of grain proteins which are common in diets.
Further, some studies have shown possible role in other wheat proteins such as FODMAPs, wheat germ agglutinins and amylase trypsin inhibitors for contributing to the symptoms associated with NCGS.
The number of people who avoid gluten has increased. Though there is a noticeable push in the health and wellness world to avoid gluten for your overall health which impacts popularity of gluten-free diets, there is also increasing evidence that the prevalence of NCGS has been on the rise.
The only way to know whether you will get benefit from gluten-free diet after ruling out celiac disease and wheat allergy is to avoid gluten and check your symptoms carefully.
It is advisable that you stick to a gluten-free diet which is necessity for some and a great choice for others. The relationship between gluten and your overall health seem to be complicated, and research yet, gluten has been linked to autoimmune, digestive, and other health conditions. Though people having such disorders should avoid gluten, it is still not clear if a gluten-free diet will be beneficial for the ones without intolerance. Cutting out wheat and other gluten-containing grains will not lead to adverse health effects till it is possible to replace these products with nutritious foods.
You may visit a private GP in London to book a blood test for gluten and know about your present health condition. As there is no accurate testing for intolerance and avoidance of gluten does not have any health concerns, you may try it to find out whether it will make you feel better.
