Thanks to Integrated Health Consultant, Dr. Hennie Palm for this insightful piece on gluten intolerance.
Sever sensitivity to gluten based products is become more and more common. Why are humans so sensitive to gluten? And why is gluten sensitivity increasing? One reason is that our immune systems are pretty much the same as those of ancient humans who ate just a few wild grains. So our bodies treat gluten as a foreign substance and attack it. Another reason is that the wheat, rye, and barley grains eaten in Western cultures are now hybrid varieties bred mostly to increase yield, disease resistance, and perhaps taste. These have been altered beyond any food consumed by our ancients and are even vastly different from the grains used 10,000 years ago at the beginning of agriculture. Some think it may take tens of thousands of years before our genes will change enough to accept modern gluten as safe food.
It seems almost any neurological or mental health condition can be linked to gluten including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, autism, headaches, brain fog, and depression.
Gluten is a protein in wheat that holds flour together to make bread and other baked goods. It also makes cheese spreads and makeup easier to apply. People can become allergic or sensitive to gluten, both different reactions of the body’s immune system. The current debate over gluten has been triggered by research that clearly ties it to a number of diseases and health dysfunctions.
Celiac disease is the first disease directly linked to a severe hypersensitivity to gluten; it damages the wall of the small intestine. Abdominal symptoms include pain, persistent diarrhea and/ or constipation. Thickened walls of the intestine prevent absorption of essential nutrients. A patient’s symptoms may be limited to the gut or range throughout the body – the result of other organs’ sensitivity to gluten, a reaction to shortage of nutrients, or both. Gluten sensitivity always affects the brain, affects at least 30% of the Western population and that brain involvement can occur with or without celiac disease.
Another common modern disease that occurs mainly in women is Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. Symptoms are mostly detected in an under- or over active thyroid. The cause is that our own immune system starts to attack the thyroid gland and this over activity is associated with gluten sensitivity. If you are diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, stay off the grains for life.
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