(29-04-12) Eating Gluten: An Evolutionary Mistake

Carl Lowe

Did you wake up with a gluten difficulty this morning that you didn?t have
yesterday? It?s possible. More and more older people are developing celiac
disease (an autoimmune response to gluten) who didn?t seem to have this issue
when they were younger. Nobody knows for sure why this is happening, but
research shows that the scope of the gluten problem is growing rapidly. You may
be among the millions of people who already have developed a sensitivity to
gluten and don?t even know about it yet.

Gluten Confusion

If you feel like you don?t really understand why there?s such a big fuss over
gluten and why this troublesome protein is causing so much controversy, you?re
not alone. Researchers who specialize in studying the topic have been
confounded by the different types of sensitivity to gluten they have found, the
growing numbers of people who react to gluten and the wide range of physical
illness it causes.

According to scientists, there seem to be at least three main forms of
reactions related to gluten. The first, an immune response to wheat, is an
outright allergy. In that instance, the body?s immune system attacks the
allergen as though it were a life-threatening pathogen.

The second type of reaction is what is called an autoimmune response. In this
case, eating foods like bread, cookies and cakes made from wheat, rye and
barley causes your immune system to attack the body. This can cause celiac, a
condition that destroys the digestive tract. It may also lead to gluten ataxia
(autoimmune damage to the motor neurons that coordinate movement) and
dermatitis herpetiformis (rashes and other skin problems).

In my case, gluten caused an autoimmune attack on my brain and nerve cells. My
mental condition deteriorated to the point that I suffered what seemed to be
Alzheimer?s disease. But I was lucky and caught the problem in time. When I
took gluten out of my diet, my descent into dementia stopped and I recovered my
memory.

Sensitivity

In some people, gluten causes sensitivities that cannot be classified as
either allergies or autoimmune responses. Despite the uncertainty of what
causes these sensitivities, they are still making people miserable. Gluten
sensitivity can lead to bone and joint pain, weight loss, chronic fatigue,
eczema, headaches, depression, anemia, numbness, diarrhea and brain fog.

Research into how gluten affects us shows that ?you?re never too old to
develop celiac disease,? says Alessio Fasano, M.D., director of the University
of Maryland?s Mucosal Biology Research Center. Fasano?s research shows that in
the United States, since 1974, the number of people with celiac has been
doubling every 15 years.

?You?re not necessarily born with celiac disease,? says Carlo Catassi, M.D., a
researcher with the Universita Politecnica delle Marche in Italy. ?Our findings
show that some people develop celiac disease quite late in life.?

Fact is, nobody can digest gluten. In those without an apparent reaction to
gluten, the substance merely passes through the digestive tract and is
eventually excreted. Because of gluten?s indigestibility and toxicity, our use
of wheat as a food has been called an ?evolutionary mistake.?

Researchers writing in BMC Medicine note that during the 10,000 years humans
have raised wheat, the types of wheat we use have been bred to contain more and
more gluten. They note that ?Apparently the human organism is still largely
vulnerable to the toxic effects of this (gluten) protein complex??

Serious Dilemma

If you have puzzling health problems that don?t respond to treatment, going
gluten free can be worth a try. Consider that at least 3 million Americans
right now have life-threatening issues with gluten but don?t know about it. And
if you have celiac and keep eating gluten, your risk of death is quadrupled. It
is also estimated that more than 36,000 women in the United States are
infertile because of celiac and don?t know it.

While not everyone needs to be on a gluten-free diet, make sure that you are
not a victim of an evolutionary mistake.


Source: easyhealthoptions.com

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