Gluten intolerance really does exist

[Suzanne]

http://huntgatherlove.com/content/disease-civilization-or-disease-only-properly-diagnosed-civilization

This story shows gluten-intolerance turning up in refugee Arab children; a problem given that aid packages tend to be high in wheat.

I'm with the author, Melissa McEwen, on this: in poor cultures, even those where wheat is a staple, gluten intolerance still crops up in every generation; can't breed out the gene without major efforts probably involving science, forced sterilization of carriers, and arranged marriages! Gluten-intolerant children simply die soon after weaning, or drag out miserable short lives.

I was surprised to see that Finland tests all babies for gluten-intolerance at birth - what a good idea! If you're already taking blood to establish blood type, why not do a test for gluten intolerance while you're at it? Scandinavian countries have a very high incidence of caeliac disease and gluten intolerance.

[Selah]

Gluten intolerance can also come on with age as a result of a lifetime of heavy wheat consumption...I made it into adulthood with no problems, but when I hit my mid-thirties, I became very ill and out-of-sorts. I went from doctor to doctor, and no one could find anything wrong. Finally, at age 40, I read an article in Women's World that fit my symptoms (and my then-boyfriend, now DH's) exactly. We decided to cut out wheat for two weeks and see what would happen.

The difference in us was so immediate and powerful, we've never looked back after five years of being gluten-free. Gluten reactions may or may not show up on tests, depending on the individual, but you can still have a sensitivity to it that can make your life pretty miserable. I often get challenged by doctors who say I shouldn't have given up wheat because "the tests don't prove you have a problem." But I know my body better than they do, and I'm not willing to go back to the bad old days of migraines, bloating, IBS, allergies, sinus problems and muscle aches! Nor is my DH willing to go back to his days of terrible GI symptoms, mouth sores, and nasty joint pain and arthritis flare-ups.

[ApatheticNoMore]

The thing about intolerances is that some people recommend they are best managed by rotation etc.. (for instance I am not having as much trouble with small amounts of dairy anymore, so there may be some truth to that, and lets face it dairy is hard hard hard to avoid completely in this culture. Plus my avoiding certain foods and concentrating on others exclusively seemed to be leading me to develop new intolerances to those foods I was eating all the time now!). Whereas with things like true celiac total abstinence is best as any wheat actually damages the body for celiacs. I don't know how rotation would fare against a tested wheat intolerance though (I don't think dairy intolerances can be tested for?). Wheat is the most common allergen on the planet, dairy is second, things like corn and stuff are not even comparable, far less people are affected.

[loosechickens]

I've begun to believe that the increasing numbers of gluten intolerant people has to do with the HUGE increase in the gluten content of wheat flour. Because the market likes light bread that rises well, even non-genetically modified wheat has been bred for higher and higher gluten content.

I've made all my own bread for about 40 years now, and mostly use only organic whole wheat flour (except when I'm somewhere where it just isn't possible to get it). It used to, many years ago, to take me ten minutes or more of vigorous kneading to have my bread ready to rise. In recent years, just a few minutes of kneading and the bread is elastic, and appears well kneaded. It's been a huge difference over the years.

As the wheat has been selectively bred to produce flour that rises better, rises higher and with less effort, along has come a LOT of wheat intolerance, something that doesn't seem to have been a problem for nearly so many people in the past.

If I had to guess, I'd bet that this high gluten content has made people more and more sensitive to it, to the point where now, we are seeing large numbers of folks with this problem.

Just my non-scientific, subjective, experience based guess, but..........

[Kestrel]

I am not celiac, but I am "sensitive" or "intolerant" to gluten -- however you define the terms. I have no overt reactions, but it shows up on a blood test. I eat very little wheat, but on occasion I do. DH, on the other hand, for about 20+ years, had extremely elevated liver enzyme tests. Over the years doctors took all kinds of tests, liver biopsies, etc. and found nothing. One day, after I was diagnosed gluten sensitive (as well as eggs and dairy), I was reading a book on either eggs or dairy sensitivities (or both), and ONE sentence in the whole book said "elevated liver enzymes of unknown cause can be gluten sensitivity (or intolerance; whatever)". SO -- he went off gluten, and his liver enzymes are normal. However, I guess there's no way to know if there was any long-term damage to his liver because of this. Anyway -- the downside to this :D is that he has about 3000 times more energy than he had before, and he was darn high energy then! Egad, you can't hold him down! I've told him I'm going to secretly add gluten back into his foods so he'll be "normal" again! Hasn't affected me that way, tho -- more's the pity. :(

ETA: A really good side effect of going off gluten and eggs and dairy (and sugar) is that I've lost about 60# without really trying. My allergist said the most important thing to cut was the gluten, even tho I'm more "highly sensitive" to the eggs and dairy (but still no overt reactions).

[CathyA]

My niece found out a few months ago that she has Celiac disease. The lining of her GI tract was starting to look funky. But what is interesting is that she had mono when she was about 18 (she's about 33 now). I've been reading that its not uncommon to develop Celiac after having had mono. I wonder if it has something to do with the destruction Epstein-Barr can cause? Now, she's been having constant sinus infections and fatigue. Sure hope she hasn't developed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Who knows which affliction comes first though.
I think people with type O blood are even less able to deal with wheat than other blood types.