Gluten sensitivity or gluten poisoning?
In our practice, we refer most of our patients with skin problems for allergy screening. It is our interesting experience that the underlying problem for most of them is the digestion of gluten and wheat flour and the resulting cross-allergies.
In the 1920s, the US government found in a study that animals fed white flour developed severe neurological diseases and died. Gluten is a mixture of two proteins, gliadin and glutenin. It is found in the endosperm of wheat, rye and barley seeds along with starch.
Instead of banning it, the FDA has announced that most white flour products will now be "fortified" with iron and some vitamins to "correct" the problem. Unfortunately, this decision has helped create an even more insidious situation that is leading to diabetes, heart disease and cancer for millions of people.
Gluten sensitivity
Proven gluten intolerance affects a small percentage of the population, with statistics showing that 0.1% of people lack the enzyme that helps digest gluten. Yet more and more people are feeling that eating wheat products in particular is causing bloating in their digestive tract. This is because the strong gluten in the resistant wheat varieties developed over the last 50 years can no longer be digested, so it rots in the intestinal tract, causing inflammation and intestinal wall damage. With all the negative consequences of course.
The resulting gluten poisoning is slowly reaching epidemic proportions in civilised areas. Most notably where the food industry and cereal processing are flourishing. It is good to know that gluten poisoning is not a disease. It is triggered by the consumption of products containing structurally engineered gluten-containing grains.
There are currently 35 known diseases that can be caused by gluten consumption, according to a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine. Some of these include: arthritis, ADHD, depression, anxiety, IBS, colitis, Crohn's disease, lupus, frequent headaches, fatigue, eczema, loss of muscle coordination, osteoporosis, weakened immune system, proliferation of fungal infections, organ inflammation, weight loss/weight gain and malnutrition, dandruff seborrhea, rosacea, hair loss.
Gluten intoxication increases the risk of type 1 diabetes, obesity, gastrointestinal cancers, brain disorders, autism, thyroid disease and can be clearly recognised by structural changes in the skin.
Why is gluten poisoning on the rise?
Nowadays, the food industry deliberately adds gluten to some products because it increases hunger, so people eat more of it. It is worth looking at the ingredients of food products to see if they contain flour in foods that have no place for it, such as cold cuts, sausages, meat products, puddings, dairy products, soup cubes, condiments, frozen vegetable purees, etc.
Gluten increases the amount of ghrelin in the digestive tract and also interferes with the production of leptin. The amount of leptin tells the brain that the stomach is full and it's time to break down fat. Leptin also normalises the sensation of pain in the spinal cord.
This is the hormone responsible for preventing fasting: as calorie intake decreases and fat cells shrink, leptin production falls. The lower the fat stores, the less leptin circulates in the blood. The less leptin, the greater the appetite. The body thus tries to restore "healthy" fat stores. Serum leptin levels are an indicator of the body's energy status, which means that leptin provides the appetite and satiety centre with information about fat stores, the body's energy reserves. Leptin deficiency reduces the body's energy expenditure by certain mechanisms.
Scientists believe that leptin is responsible for what foods we find desirable. The less leptin we have in our bodies, the more different foods we find tasty.
Recent theories suggest that there is a condition known as leptin resistance, which means that certain people's bodies do not "pick up" the signals of leptin in their blood. Experts believe that leptin resistance may also be responsible for obesity. Recent research suggests that alpha-gliadin may be one of the causes of leptin resistance.
Gluten poisoning causes inflammation, which damages the autoimmune response in the body's tissues, resulting in the immune system eventually attacking the body's own cells. This is most quickly visible on our skin in the form of increased hairiness, rough skin, increased sebum production or even abnormal pigmentation.
The amount of C-reactive protein rises in response to inflammation, cholesterol levels rise and calcium begins to build up in the artery walls, causing blood pressure to rise. Gluten and an amino acid called glutamine also play a critical role in the process of cancer development.
Research shows that chicory is an excitotoxin that irritates, damages and can kill brain cells. In a 2006 study, chicory was removed from the diets of 131 children with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and all 131 children showed significant improvements.
Researchers at the University of California put gluten-sensitive people on a gluten, sugar and dairy-free diet for 10 days. As a result of the diet, their blood pressure went down along with their blood insulin levels, their good cholesterol levels went up and their bad cholesterol levels went down - in just 10 days!
Researchers have linked gluten consumption to bone density problems (osteoporosis), fibromyalgia, autism and depression.
The solution: simply cut out industrial gluten from your diet to be healthier and more beautiful. Choose foods made from certified organic wheat or gluten-free bakery products.
Sources:
http://www.celiac.com/
Lawrence Wilson, MD. sl: The Center for Development, 2011.
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/celiac/
