The Dangers of Gluten
Written with Ann Arbor Holistic Health Practitioner, Alma Moya, FDN-P
After losing her thyroid at 19, Alma turned her personal challenges into a lifelong mission to help others. She is a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner with over 13 years of experience, a Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach, and holds additional certifications in fitness and lifestyle coaching. Now settled on 22 acres, Alma combines her global experience with hands-on living, cultivating an organic farm.
Gluten may trigger gut inflammation even without celiac disease, affecting energy, mood, and digestion. Learn the hidden risks.
Gluten has become one of the most debated topics in nutrition. While many people know it as the protein that gives bread its chewy texture, fewer understand how it may impact the gut, even in people who don’t have celiac disease. “It may be less to a degree, but nonetheless, it can happen and can contribute over time… it can create a lot of inflammation even without autoimmune celiac disease,” explains Alma Moya, an Ann Arbor Holistic Health practitioner. Inflammation in the gut doesn’t stay contained. It can affect energy, mood, joint comfort, and the ability to absorb nutrients.
To help visualize the impact, Moya paints a vivid picture: “I think of it like your microbiome being this beautiful, diverse, tropical forest. And what happens if there’s a fire in the tropical forest? Not much can happen, and no growth is going to happen.”
With gluten showing up in everything from pizza crust to sandwich bread, it’s worth exploring why this common protein might be playing a bigger role in your health than you realize. For more on the potential risks of gluten and what the science is showing, continue reading below.
Excerpted from HuffPost Healthy Living, 01/02/10
Author: Mark Hyman, MD
If you eat cheeseburgers or French fries all the time or drink six sodas a day, you likely know it’s not good for you. But eating a nice dark, crunchy slice of whole wheat bread–how could that be bad? Well, bread contains gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, spelt, kamut, and oats. It is hidden in pizza, pasta, bread, wraps, rolls, and most processed foods. Clearly, gluten is a staple of the American diet. What most people don’t know is that gluten can cause serious health complications. You may be at risk even if you don’t have full blown celiac disease. To protect your health it’s important to know the truth about gluten, understand the dangers, and use a simple system that will help determine whether or not gluten is a problem for you.
What is Gluten Sensitivity?
Gluten sensitivity creates inflammation throughout the body, with wide-ranging effects across all organ systems including your brain, heart, joints, digestive tract, and more. It can be the single cause behind many different diseases. To correct these diseases, you need to treat the cause–which is often gluten sensitivity–not just the symptoms.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that ALL cases of depression or autoimmune disease or any of these other problems are caused by gluten in everyone–but it is important to look for it if you have any chronic illness.
5 Dangers of Gluten
1. People with Gluten Sensitivity have a Higher Risk of Death
A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that people with diagnosed, undiagnosed, and “latent” celiac disease or gluten sensitivity had a higher risk of death, mostly from heart disease and cancer. This study looked at almost 30,000 patients from 1969 to 2008. The findings were dramatic. There was a 39% increased risk of death in those with celiac disease, 72% increased risk in those with gut inflammation related to gluten, and 35% increased risk in those with gluten sensitivity but no celiac disease. This ground-breaking research proves any sensitivity whatsoever to gluten is detrimental to our health.
2. Over 50 Diseases Caused by Eating Gluten
A review paper in The New England Journal of Medicine listed 55 diseases caused by eating gluten. These include osteoporosis, irritable bowel disease, inflammatory bowel disease, anemia, cancer, fatigue, canker sores, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and almost all other autoimmune diseases. Gluten is also linked to many psychiatric and neurological diseases, including anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, dementia, migraines, epilepsy, and neuropathy (nerve damage). It has also been linked to autism.
3. Hidden Danger: 99% of People with Gluten Sensitivity Do Not Know they Have It
Most ascribe their ill health or symptoms to something else. Unfortunately, the problem goes untreated while the risks continue to mount.
4. Secret Epidemic: Celiac Disease Increased by 400% in 50 Years
Another study in Gastroenterology (2009) compared the blood of 10,000 people from 50 years ago to 10,000 people today and found that the incidences of full-blown celiac disease increased by 400 %. It now affects 1 in 100 people. Gluten sensitivity now affects 1/3 Americans.
5. Economic Burden: Celiac Disease Costs the American Healthcare System
Dr. Peter Green, Professor of Clinical Medicine for the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University studied all 10 million subscribers to CIGNA, a health insurance company, and found those who were correctly diagnosed with celiac disease used fewer medical services and reduced their healthcare costs by more than 30 %. The problem is that only 1% of those with celiac disease are actually diagnosed. That means 99 % suffer without knowing it, costing the healthcare system millions of dollars.
Why Are we Sensitive to Gluten?
One reason is our lack of genetic adaptation to grasses, and particularly gluten, in our diet. Wheat was introduced into Europe during the Middle Ages, and 30 % of people of European descent carry the gene for celiac disease, which increases susceptibility to health problems from eating gluten.
American strains of wheat have a much higher gluten content (which is needed to make light, fluffy Wonder Bread and giant bagels) than those traditionally found in Europe. This super-gluten was recently introduced into our agricultural food supply and now invades nearly all wheat strains in America.
How to Check for Gluten Sensitivity
By failing to identify gluten sensitivity and celiac disease, we create needless suffering for millions of Americans. Health problems caused by gluten sensitivity cannot be treated with better medication. They can only be resolved by eliminating gluten from your diet.
Excerpted from HuffPost Healthy Living, 01/02/10
Author: Mark Hyman, MD
“You are what you eat. Or, even more accurately, you are what you absorb,” says Dr. John Wycoff, an osteopath based out of East Lansing who believes hormonal balance, allergies and diet are integral to health. As reactionary medicine and over-usage of prescribed chemicals fail to alleviate our pain and discomfort, more and more physicians embrace holistic approaches to healing. Through a deeper understanding of what our bodies do and do not absorb, and how these physiological responses affect us, we can take charge of our wellness and move towards a brighter, more fulfilling future.
Please contact us to schedule a free consultation and evaluation. At Ann Arbor Holistic Health, we are known for providing professional and compassionate care. We strive to guide people towards a comprehensive and holistic healing strategy. Restoring your body to health will restore the quality of your life.
