Gluten Part 1
Holy cow! Everywhere you look in the stores these days you see claims of “gluten free”. This may lead some of you to scratch your heads and wonder “what is gluten” and “who cares?”. The answer is that a lot of people care. The World Health Organization estimates that 1 in 100 people worldwide have celiac disease. Again you’re asking…. “and….???”.
Celiac disease is an auto-immune disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food due to the inability to properly digest the protein gluten (combination of the proteins gliadin and glutenin) which is found in wheat, rye and barley and related food products. You may be surprised to learn that there is also gluten in products such as medicine’s, vitamins and lip balms. When people with celiac disease eat foods or use products containing gluten, their immune system responds by damaging or destroying villi—the tiny, fingerlike protrusions lining the small intestine. Villi normally allow nutrients from food to be absorbed through the walls of the small intestine into the bloodstream. Without healthy villi, a person becomes malnourished, no matter how much food one eats. So what that means is that Celiac disease is both a disease of malabsorption—meaning nutrients are not absorbed properly—and an abnormal immune reaction to gluten. Celiac disease is also known as celiac sprue, nontropical sprue, and gluten-sensitive enteropathy. It is genetic but sometimes the disease is triggered—or becomes active for the first time—after surgery, pregnancy, childbirth, viral infection, or severe emotional stress.
Sometimes people may be tested for Celiac disease and have the results come back negative. The test may include blood tests or multiple samples that are taken from the small intestine using an endoscopic procedure. However, to my knowledge, there is no 100% accurate testing. So, for people who go through the testing and are not found to have Celiac disease, they may still be deemed as non-celiac gluten sensitive. A gluten free diet helps these people feel better.
Often, you hear of people who suffer from Celiac disease complaining of bloating and diarrhea if they consume something with gluten in it. However, there are symptoms such as: anemia, behavioral changes, osteopenia/osteoporosis, bone or joint pain, bruising, chronic fatigue, delayed growth in children, discolored teeth and enamel problems, depression or irritability, canker sores, dry eyes and edema, dermatitis and the list goes on. Granted, many of us have had these symptoms and are not gluten sensitive. I just wanted to show how you may have a few of these symptoms and attribute it to aging or another health issue and never have anyone realize that you are actually gluten sensitive.
I’m sure at this point your wondering what kind of medication these people can take to help alleviate the symptoms from Celiac disease. The answer is none. The ONLY treatment for celiac disease, gluten sensitivities and gluten intolerances is 100% removal of gluten from your diet. Hence, the flood of gluten free items in the stores.
Some foods that contain gluten are: barley (malt), beer, breads, muffins, cakes, cookies, Brewer’s yeast, bulgur, couscous, farina, graham crackers, malt vinegar, matzo, pasta, rye, soy sauce, wheat, wheat germ, wheat bran, wheat starch and Worcestershire sauce. This is not a complete list, but you can see from the items such as soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce that gluten may be used as fillers. READ LABELS!!!!! Some hidden sources of gluten may be: some toothpastes, mouthwash and flavoring agents, broths, bouillon cubes, seasoning agents, salad dressings, BBQ sauces, meat tenderizers, coated and marinated foods, self-basting meats, meal replacement shakes and thickening agents. Again, READ LABELS.
By now you must be wondering what foods you CAN have?!?! Some gluten free foods (without fillers and/or gluten containing products added to them) are: beef, pork, poultry, fish, tofu and most soy products, eggs, dairy products, fruits and juices, vegetables, all legumes, beans, nuts, amaranth, buckwheat, corn, millet, gluten-free oats, quinoa, sorghum, teff, tapioca, potatoes, rice, homemade stocks/broths, butter, margarine and vegetable oils, pure spices and herbs, distilled vinegars that do not contain malt and wheat free soy sauce.
OK, that’s probably enough information to digest (no pun intended) for today. For more information, check out www.celiac.org, www.americanceliac.org, www.gluten.net, and www.celiaccentral.org.
Next week I’ll go over menu planning and cross-contamination of gluten vs. non-gluten containing foods.
Side note: March is National Nutrition Month. More will be written about that later in the month. Even more important is that March 9th is National Registered Dietitian Day!!!!! And no, candy is NOT an appropriate gift for National RD Day….lol…
