What Is Gluten and What Is Gluten Intolerance? By Sarah Patrick
Before you can understand gluten intolerance, you need to understand gluten itself. Gluten is neither a grain nor a protein, despite what many people assume. Until the last 5 to ten years, many people had never heard of gluten, but now an entire industry has arisen around the need for gluten-free foods and many consumers must now scrutinize labels to determine whether a particular food contains gluten.
What Is Gluten? Gluten is actually a composite of several peptides from the prolamin family of proteins. Thus an intolerance to gluten is more complex than an allergy to a single grain or even to a single protein.
You will find gluten peptides in grassy grains such as rye, barley, spelt and wheat. Gluten itself is both high fiber and high protein. Because of this it is often used to increase either the protein or fiber content of many foods, including meat replacement foods. It is also used in sauces, flavor enhancers and as a filler and binder in supplements. Thus avoiding gluten means much more than just avoiding baked goods.
However, the most common sources of gluten are common western foods such as baked goods like bread, bagels, muffins and cakes as well as in most common pastas. Gluten's dense yet flexible nature makes it great for enhancing the texture and density of foods. That chewy texture in most baked goods derives from their gluten content.
What Is Gluten Intolerance? A significant number of people who consume gluten experience either a histamine response (an allergy) or an autoimmune response (an intolerance). It has recently been estimated that nearly one in ten individuals in the United States experience some degree of a sensitivity to gluten.
The most severe form of gluten intolerance is celiac disease. Currently, researchers believe that one in 133 people in the United States suffer from celiac disease. Unfortunately, many people may not yet realize that they are suffering from celiac disease.
When someone suffers from gluten intolerance, antibodies attack the lining of his or her small intestine, causing inflammation and slowly killing off the microvilli along the intestinal wall. This makes it so that toxins can more easily enter the bloodstream through the intestinal wall and makes it more difficult for the individual to properly digest their food to obtain vital nutrients.
What Are Gluten Intolerance Symptoms? The most common gluten intolerance symptoms are gastrointestinal in nature. These symptoms include flatulence, cramping, bloating and alternating cases of diarrhea and constipation. However, the malnutrition that results from wearing down the microvilli and inflaming the small intestine's lining may create a range of symptoms related to malnutrition that can be difficult to enumerate. This is one reason gluten intolerance is so often misdiagnosed or missed altogether.
You should now better understand what is gluten and what is gluten intolerance. If you believe you may be suffering from any kind of sensitivity to gluten, I encourage you to discuss this matter with your doctor right away. Most gluten intolerant people respond well to a gluten-free diet, but you want to make sure this really is your ailment before you try to remove such a common staple in the American diet.
Everything you must know about the dangers of gluten : Gluten Demystified