What is the much-discussed gluten? Gluten is a protein found in cereals. Thanks to gluten, cereals can be used to bake bread and other goodies that many of us can't imagine life without. Gluten makes everything fluffy, glued together.
Ancient peoples described the disorder we call celiac disease 2,000 years ago! During a period of war, a Dutch paediatrician caring for children with celiac disease noticed that if they were not given bread, then their symptoms would disappear. After it was reintroduced into the diet, they started having trouble again. So gluten was linked to the disease we call celiac disease. Gluten was studied in wheat, barley and rye, the cereals that were most accessible to people. Scientists logically concluded that people suffering from the intestinal disease celiac disease were intolerant of wheat, barley and rye, and later oats were added.
But today we know that gluten is not the only protein, it is a whole group of proteins found in different cereals - rice and corn included. Gluten is present in a certain percentage in each crop. In one study, as many as 400 types of gluten were found, of which about 60 were more toxic to the body than the gliadin from wheat.
The gluten in rye is called secalin, in barley hordein, in oats avenin, in barley panicin, in maize zein, in rice oryzenin. Gluten is also found in quinoa, sorghum and other cereals and grasses. Not all have the same toxicity. Because they were not previously available to our population, tests for gluten are not adapted to other species. That there are other types of gluten has been established by further research, which has led to the discovery that there are people who, even after eliminating conventional gluten foods, do not get the desired improvement and have the same problems.
Celiacs is just one of the diseases caused by gluten. It's genetically determined. It's triggered by exposure to gluten. Then there is gluten allergy as such. This is manifested by an increase in IgE class antibodies. And as a third disease, now recognized, is gluten intolerance - the clinical diagnosis is precisely called non-celiac non-allergic gluten sensitivity. Sensitivity- Gluten sensitivity is only a genetic predisposition; when it is triggered, a cascade of damaging inflammation is activated in the body.
Research shows that gluten sensitivity is linked to a range of symptoms and is associated with a number of diseases, not least autoimmune diseases. Common ailments tied to gluten sensitivity include headaches, migraines, muscle, nerve and joint pain, decreased thyroid function, intestinal diseases such as Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel, emotional distress, depression, multiple sclerosis, withdrawal pains, psoriasis, eczema and all autoimmune diseases directly defined as autoimmune. Gluten is the cause of weight gain, metabolic disorders. And as it turns out, it's not just wheat, rye, oat and barley gluten. Because people who follow a gluten-free diet - that is, excluding these 4 grains thinking it's okay, start gaining weight when they eat so-called healthy gluten-free foods. Unfortunately, they are made from corn, rice, soy, amaranth, buckwheat, and eggs, grains that also contain gluten. In addition, these products are over-sweetened and contain many leavening agents, as these and sugar keep baked goods fluffy. And as more and more people realize something is wrong and skip gluten, switch to a gluten-free diet, then making gluten-free foods becomes big business. Until recently, even I didn't know this and recommended rice, buckwheat, buckwheat and corn to myself and my patients, thinking they were gluten-free. But everything is different.
Corn, rice, soy, amaranth, buckwheat and buckwheat also contain gluten.
Why is gluten so bad for us? Gluten causes the production of a substance in the gut called zonulin, which loosens the connections between intestinal cells. This allows molecules into the bloodstream that would not normally enter. Whether it's gluten, casein - milk protein, legumes, or other food components - such as chemical additives - preservatives, dyes, thickeners, stabilisers, flavour enhancers and other substances. Thus, we speak of increased permeability of the intestine. Foreign substances that have entered the bloodstream through this route trigger an immune system response. This starts a series of cascades in which pro-inflammatory mediators are released in an attempt to destroy the foreign substance - the antigen. Initially, the reaction is not great. However, as the reaction increases over time, the immune system begins to destroy its own cells in the body in addition to the foreign substance. This is how autoimmunity is triggered. It is not limited to one organ, but affects all organs of the body through the bloodstream, some more, some less. Gluten causes chronic inflammation in the body, which further triggers autoimmunity and keeps it active, worsening the course of disease. Chronic inflammation puts a strain on the immune system, which then starts attacking the body's own system.
For years I have been examining patients in my office who come to me with their chronic problems that cannot be solved by conventional medicine. They either have straight autoimmune diseases (more than 130 of them are described) directly diagnosed by classical medicine, or they usually have musculoskeletal pain, reduced thyroid function, Crohn's disease, psoriasis, immune disorders, chronic fatigue, eczema, asthma, migraines, depression and other diseases. They take medications that conventional medicine can provide, mainly to control pain or inflammation such as analgesics, corticosteroids, immunosuppressants. However, these drugs do not significantly improve the problems, and they also burden the body with other side effects.
When such a patient comes to me, I automatically start measuring the microorganism loads. I can say that in 90 % patients with chronic problematic disease I test the organism for the presence of borrelia, chlamydia, mycoplasmas, viruses - especially EBV, CMV, sometimes parasites. If I have found these loads, most of the time the patients tell me that they have been tested, but the presence of these microbes has not been proven by the tests. I began to look into this problem and found that these people had serum antibody levels to the microbes in question (e.g., Borrelia) in the range that our medicine considers negative. (That is, values of 0.0 - 0.9. The range of 0.9 - 1.1 are borderline values, above 1.1 is considered a positive finding.) But most of my patients come in with values of 0.3, 0.5; i.e. negative, yet with problems. Even the test manufacturers know that even values within a given interval marked as negative do not rule out Lyme disease.
The fact that this is a correct reasoning has been confirmed by years of experience when patients with "negative" findings after removal of borrelia by information technology have been relieved and their health condition improved.
In connection with the presence of these microbes, I always additionally test for autoimmunity, i.e. the tendency of the immune system to destroy itself, to react with self-damaging inflammation. Some microbes have been scientifically proven to do this. For example, Borrelia or EB virus and others are the initiators of autoimmunity. But I have found that I can remove microbes from the body, but I cannot remove the autoimmunity started by them. And that was the problem. So I kept looking.
Autoimmunity - the tendency of the immune system to destroy itself - is conditioned by the consumption of gluten and its effect on the body and the presence of certain microorganisms in the body.
After years of testing, I have concluded that the presence of these microorganisms + autoimmunity is associated with gluten and milk protein intolerance. I measure this automatically. So we have two ways of autoimmunity, one comes directly from the consumption of gluten and its effect on the body, the other is due to the presence of certain microorganisms in the body and the immune system's reaction to them. The question I cannot answer is whether the autoimmunity in people who have these microbes in their bodies has already been triggered first by gluten. It is confirmed by research that if the body reacts negatively to gluten, then it is always associated with a reaction to milk protein. Added to this are other substances, other foods that provoke the immune system. Gluten damage can also start when a breastfeeding mother who has a sensitivity to gluten eats gluten. This then passes into the breast milk. On more than one occasion, I have encountered infants with extensive eczema all over their bodies with classically proven allergies to at least ten or more foods, including rice, corn, soy, eggs, and this was when they had not tried this diet - infants of two months, four months. There I wondered how this was possible. In studying this issue, I can already see the rationale.
I also found that not every person has developed all the difficulties and multiple health problems. Some only suffer from mild inflammation because their body can deal with it better. These are individual symptoms they don't give as much weight to - reflux, constipation, acne, fatigue, depression, overweight, irritable bowel, for example. For others, autoimmune inflammation is developed in a significant range of problems - suddenly they suffer from painful arthritis, reduced thyroid function, depression, irritable bowel, allergies, obesity, autoimmune skin problems. Autoimmune disease runs in families without people realizing it. I have recommended corn, buckwheat, soy, buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth as gluten-free foods to all my patients. Some of them didn't get better. I now test for intolerance to these foods as well, including dairy, legumes and some vegetables - eggplant.
The topic of gluten and dietary restrictions is extensive. One thing I know for sure, the doctors whose work I have studied are not wrong. They have had many patients pass through their hands and with dietary restrictions without allergenic and inflammation-causing foods, they have eliminated problems for many of their patients. I can say that for my autoimmune problems, I took this route as well and the results started to come after a week and continue to come gradually.
Finally, a little quiz. If you can find the symptoms you suffer from, and the more you have, the greater the degree of your autoimmunity. Head - headaches, migraines, fainting, difficulty sleeping. Mind - clouded thinking, poor memory, impaired coordination, difficulty making decisions, slurred speech, stuttering, learning difficulties, inattention. Ears - itchy ears, ear pain, infections, ear discharge, ringing in the ears, hearing loss. Mouth and throat - chronic cough, frequent expectoration, sore throat, swollen lips, aphthae. Heart - irregular heartbeat, chest pain. Eyes - swollen, red eyelids, dark circles, swollen eyes, poor vision, watery itchy eyes. Nose - stuffy nose, excessive mucus production, stuffed nose, runny nose, sinus problems, frequent sneezing. Body weight - inability to lose weight, cravings, overweight, underweight, urge to eat, water retention, swelling. Digestion - nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, constipation, bloating, belching, gas, heartburn, indigestion, pain or cramps in the bowel and stomach. Lungs - chest tightness, asthma, bronchitis, shortness of breath, breathing difficulties. Skin - acne, hives, eczema, dry skin, hair loss, hot flushes, excessive sweating. Joints, muscles - joint pain, arthritis, muscle stiffness, muscle pain, weakness, fatigue. Emotions - anxiety, depression, mood swings, nervousness, irritability. Energy, activity - fatigue, lethargy, hyperactivity, restlessness. Other - frequent illnesses or infections, frequent urges to urinate, genital itching, discharge, itching in the anus. The more symptoms you have, the higher you stand.
Article published with the kind permission of the magazine Sphere
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