An explanation of Gluten-Free eating.

A fellow acupuncturist mentioned something about "gluten-free" foods, and I wanted to share my understanding with my friends: Gluten is a "glue-like" protein found in many different grains (namely Wheat, Barley, Spelt & Rye) that gives food its chewiness. 

Approximately 10% of the population has a sensitivity to one of the components of gluten (which is formed when digested), and we call that "gluten-intolerance" or "gluten-sensitivity"

0.5%~1.0% of the population have celiac disease, which is one of the causes of gluten-sensitivity.  People who have celiac disease have much harsher responses to gluten.

From Wikipedia: Symptoms of gluten sensitivity include bloating, abdominal discomfort, pain or diarrhea, or it may present with a variety of extraintestinal symptoms including headaches and migraines, lethargy and tiredness, attention-deficit disorder and hyperactivity, schizophrenia, muscular disturbances as well as bone and joint pain.

Now here's the important part - for every 10 people that have the symptoms listed above, there is 1 person who has those symptoms because of gluten in their diet.  Or to phrase it differently, for every 1 person who is having symptoms because they are gluten-sensitive, there are 9 people who are having symptoms for a different reason.

Is there anything wrong with "gluten-free" foods?  No, not inherently - but, many gluten-free foods need to use additives so that the food texture seems right.  Do we know all the consequences and dangers of these additives?  Probably not.  They could just as easily cause other health problems.

If you DO choose to eat gluten-free, it is much simpler to focus on eating more fruits and vegetables, or grains which don't have gluten, like rice (brown, or white) and corn.  Even though some rice is called "glutenous" rice (sweet rice), there is no gluten in rice.  "Wild Rice" is a blend of grains, so you have to check the ingredients to make sure there are no gluten containing grains.

The other place gluten is often found is in processed foods where it's "gluey" texture is used as a stabilizer.  Examples include ketchup and ice cream, and many frozen processed foods.


Aside from gluten-intolerance and celiac disease, there are other conditions such as wheat allergies, which, like other allergies is a hyper-active auto-immune response which will cause a variety of "self-defense" symptoms.  This includes inflammation of the skin, the nasal mucous, nausea & vomiting (to purge the perceived toxin), and most dangerously anaphylaxsis (throat swells shut from inflammation). 

Studies have narrowed down the possible cause of wheat allergies to a little less than 30 different proteins, so it is NOT the same as a gluten sensitivity.


If you wonder if you have gluten-intolerance, try eating foods with gluten (wheat, barley, spelt & rye) for a week and journal your symptoms. 
 Follow this up with a week of "gluten-free" eating and journal the changes in your symptoms.

Note both positive & negative changes between the 2 weeks. 


If you think you have wheat-allergies, consult an allergy specialist (aka allergist or immunologist) - you don't want to experiment with analphylaxsis (throat swelling shut) do you?