What Health Issues Does Gluten Cause
There are two types of health issues that gluten may cause for people who are affected with the sensitivity to the protein. These are gluten intolerance and a less severe gluten sensitivity.
Gluten intolerance is an autoimmune digestive genetic disease, also referred to as celiac disease.
With celiac disease, gluten causes ones body to have an autoimmune response that inflames and damages the small intestines lining, which can cause pain and make it difficult for your body to absorb necessary vitamins and nutrients from food. People who suffer from celiac disease need to always avoid gluten.
This disease is becoming increasingly common. A study in the Gastroenterology Journal reports that in the past 50 years, celiac disease has gone from affecting 0.15% of people to 0.83% of people in 2009, and now that number has risen to 1% of the population.
Celiac disease is a serious disorder that can cause other health problems such as malnutrition, infertility, and bowel cancer. Here are 13 early signs of gluten intolerance in adults.
Can You Suddenly Become Intolerant To Gluten
Genetics plays a major role in gluten intolerance. If you have family members with the condition, youre more prone to developing it. Some will experience symptoms as soon as they begin eating gluten as children, while others may suddenly develop symptoms in adulthood.
Seven symptoms of a gluten intolerance
- Diarrhea and constipation. Symptoms of gluten intolerance may include constipation, fatigue, headaches, and nausea.
- Bloating. Another very common symptom that people report in cases of gluten intolerance is bloating.
- Abdominal pain.
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Gluten Intolerance Vs Wheat Allergy
When a person has a wheat allergy, their body reacts to a protein in wheat, and this protein is not necessarily gluten.
A wheat allergy can cause life-threatening symptoms. Anyone with this allergy who ingests wheat requires immediate medical attention.
A person with a wheat allergy may develop:
- breathing difficulties, including wheezing
In severe cases, anaphylaxis may develop. This serious reaction causes the bodys blood pressure to fall, and the person may lose consciousness and stop breathing.
While an allergic reaction requires urgent care, an intolerance is not immediately dangerous. However, it can cause discomfort and may affect a persons overall health.
Anyone who believes that they may have either an intolerance or an allergy should consult a doctor.
Learn more about a wheat allergy here.
- some oat products
A person looking to avoid gluten should be sure to check food labels carefully. It may also be a good idea to make soups, sauces, and salad dressings at home.
Products with gluten-free on their labels do not contain enough gluten to trigger symptoms of celiac disease or gluten intolerance. Manufacturers may remove the gluten from wheat flour or use a substitute, such as oat or chickpea flour.
Here, learn more about what a gluten free diet includes.
Find out more about alternatives to wheat bread in this article.
Many fast foods contain gluten, but some major chains are now offering gluten-free options. Learn more about gluten-free fast food here.
Read Also: Eating Gluten With Celiac Disease
What Are The Symptoms Of A Carbohydrate Intolerance Diet
Carbohydrate intolerance is when a person doesnt tolerate carbs very well, usually gluten containing products or simple sugars. They typically crave sugar but it may give them a headache, feeling of weakness, or make them irritable, edgy, unfocused, or angry.
What can you do if you have gluten intolerance?
A gluten sensitivity can only be diagnosed by following an elimination diet in which gluten is totally avoided and by monitoring symptoms for improvement. In all cases, the only treatment is a completely gluten-free diet. National Foundation for Celiac Awareness: What Is Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity?
How Is Gluten Intolerance Diagnosed
Your healthcare provider carefully reviews your symptoms and medical history. If they suspect you have a gluten intolerance, these are the next steps to confirm the diagnosis:
- Step 1: You eat a diet containing gluten for about six weeks. During this time, your healthcare provider performs blood tests and skin tests to rule out a wheat allergy or celiac disease. There isnt a gluten intolerance test.
- Step 2: If you dont have a wheat allergy or celiac disease, your healthcare provider will ask you to exclude gluten from your diet for at least six weeks. Keep a thorough record of your symptoms during this time, noting which symptoms improve.
- Step 3: If your symptoms do improve while youre on a gluten-free diet, you gradually reintroduce gluten back into your diet. If symptoms return, you likely have a gluten intolerance.
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Natural Treatment For Symptoms
1. Try an Elimination Diet
Doctors are sometimes hesitant to attribute a patients symptoms to gluten intolerance when they can be caused by other disorders, so sometimes the patient needs to take matters into her own hands. Following an elimination diet is really the best way to test your own personal reaction to gluten. The results of an elimination diet help pinpoint which of your symptoms can be attributed to gluten and let you know whether or not its time to go gluten-free.
An elimination diet involves removing gluten from the diet completely for a period of at least 30 days and then adding it back in. If symptoms improve during the elimination period and then reappear once gluten is eaten again, thats a clear sign that gluten was contributing to the symptoms. However, its very important to test only one variable at a time and not several because this can cause you to falsely attribute symptoms.
Because FODMAPs may cause gluten intolerance-like symptoms, you may want to try an elimination diet that involves eliminating high-FODMAP foods from your diet. This may be particularly beneficial if a traditional elimination diet reveals you are not actually sensitive to wheat products.
In addition, you can consume digestive enzymes for gluten intolerance, such as those found in papaya. In fact, researchers from Japan administered a digestive enzyme mixture to patients with non-celiac gluten sensitivity. They concluded:
2. Follow a Gluten-Free Diet
The Signs And Symptoms Of Gluten Sensitivity
Chances are, you know someone on a gluten-free diet. Or maybe you know someone who cant eat gluten, a protein combination found in cereal grains like wheat, rye and barley.
There are a few reasons for this recent interest in going gluten-free: About 1 percent of the United States population has celiac disease. When these people eat foods with gluten, it triggers an autoimmune response that damages the small intestine and can lead to long-term problems, like lymphoma and other autoimmune diseases like thyroid dysfunction, osteoporosis or osteopenia. But as much as 6 percent of the population may have a non-celiac gluten sensitivity . These people tend to feel better when they avoid gluten, even though they test negative for celiac disease.
Wondering if your child could be sensitive to gluten or benefit from a gluten-free diet? We asked Ritu Verma, MBChB, a pediatric gastroenterologist, Lustgarten Endowed Chair for Clinical Care of GI Motility Disorders, and director of CHOPs Center for Celiac Disease, for help in recognizing the signs of a gluten sensitivity. She also offers advice for what you should do if you think your child has a gluten sensitivity.
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Can A Person Suddenly Get Gluten Intolerance
Celiac disease can start at any age. Talk to your doctor if you think you might have celiac disease. Whole grain wheat flour contains gluten. This amazing kale pesto is only 210 calories and anti-oxidant rich! Gluten intolerance is broadly described as a sensitivity to gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, barley and derivatives of these grains.
Can a gluten allergy cause a skin rash?
It generally does not occur in conjunction with gluten intolerance or sensitivity, though a wheat allergy can cause a hive-like skin rash that is very different from dermatitis herpetiformis. Gluten rash is caused by an abnormal immune system response to consuming gluten, a protein found in wheat.
Is there a link between gluten sensitivity and celiac disease?
Researchers studying these proteins speculate that they could play a role in celiac disease, in non-celiac gluten sensitivity, and possibly in other conditions that are driven by inflammation. The bottom line: Amylase trypsin inhibitors may contribute to or even cause what people call non-celiac gluten sensitivity.
Diagnosis Of Gluten Intolerance
As there are three different medical conditions of gluten intolerance, the diagnosis depends on the symptoms seen. You may try to stop the intake of gluten rich food to check if you feel better, but if you feel you may have developed intolerance to gluten, the intervention of a doctor is must. The doctors will suggest a series of blood tests and skin tests based on the symptoms to determine whether you are suffering from celiac disease, wheat allergy or non gluten allergy. Detailed information of your medical history may also be collected for a thorough diagnosis.
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Things You Might Not Know About Celiac Disease
When To See A Healthcare Provider
Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition that can present with a wide range of symptoms, so it can be challenging to identify. Symptoms may occur that don’t seem related to gluten intake.
If you are experiencing any changes in your digestion or troubling symptoms, consider speaking with your healthcare provider.
If you have a blood relative with celiac disease, it may also be a good idea to explore getting a blood test to confirm if you also test positive for celiac disease, or if you’re a gene carrier.
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What Is A Gluten Intolerance
Essentially, gluten intolerance could be three things: the onset of celiac disease, non-celiac gluten allergy, or a basic wheat allergy. Overall, these are all a response to eating gluten and your body not liking it. Gluten itself is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. People who are gluten intolerant have an abnormal immune response when the gluten is broken down through digestion.
When youre gluten intolerant, your body sees gluten as the enemy, and when its in your digestion, your body goes to war on it with a number of antibodies. In this process, the walls of your intestines cant absorb as many nutrients as normal. In cases of Celiac Disease, the walls of your intestines can then allow bad things to go through them, which cause more problems. When were talking about non-Celiac intolerance, this leakage allows antibodies to escape your intestines and they go onto attack things that they shouldn. This then causes the rest of the body to react as if its been infected, which causes the joint pain, fatigue, inability to concentrate and more.
What Causes Coeliac Disease
Coeliac disease is an autoimmune condition. This is where the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue.
In coeliac disease, the immune system mistakes substances found inside gluten as a threat to the body and attacks them.
This damages the surface of the small bowel , disrupting the body’s ability to take in nutrients from food.
It’s not entirely clear what causes the immune system to act this way, but a combination of genetics and the environment appear to play a part.
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When Should I Call My Doctor
Some symptoms of gluten exposure can be severe. Seek medical attention if you experience diarrhea or vomiting. Dehydration can lead to dangerous electrolyte imbalances.
A note from Cleveland Clinic
Gluten intolerance may make you feel sick after eating gluten. You might get bloated, nauseous or gassy. Gluten intolerance causes a lot of the same symptoms as celiac disease, but its not the same condition. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that leads to damage to the digestive tract. People with gluten intolerance usually find relief from their symptoms by following a gluten-free diet. Gluten-free diets do have some health risks. Its important to work with your healthcare provider and a dietitian to build the right treatment plan for your needs.
Preferred Method Of Treatment
No matter how inconvenient or severe, the preferred method of treating gluten sensitivity is an avoidance of anything containing gluten. Abstaining from gluten generally involves staying away from food items that contain wheat, barley and rye, such as baked breads, cakes, cookies, pastas and processed meats and other products, all of which can contain gluten. Because gluten is sometimes found in products that you might not expect to contain ingredients like wheat, you should always read ingredient labels carefully.
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Whats The Best Treatment For Gluten Sensitivity
The best treatment for gluten sensitivity is the gluten-free diet.
Gluten is the protein that is found in wheat, barley and rye and products that contain them. Therefore, a person on the gluten-free diet needs to avoid conventional breads, pizza, pasta, cakes, cookies and other baked goods, plus a host of other foods and beverages, including soy sauce, beer, malt flavorings and more.
There are many naturally occurring gluten-free foods, such as meat, dairy products, and fruits and vegetables. Learn more about the gluten-free diet.
Some people with symptoms of gluten sensitivity may also want to talk with their healthcare provider or dietitian about considering a low FODMAPs diet. FODMAPs are short chain carbohydrates that may be poorly absorbed in the small intestine. This can cause more water to be pulled into the colon and can also rapidly ferment, or be broken down, by bacteria in the bowel. This can cause symptoms like increased gas, bloating, constipation/diarrhea and pain. These symptoms are part of the diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome and also overlap with celiac disease symptoms. FODMAPs are in many foods, and wheat, barley and rye gluten-containing grains are all high in FODMAPs. Read more about FODMAPs.
Whats The Difference Between An Allergy & A Sensitivity
One develops allergic symptoms due to the immune system labeling something as a toxin or foreign invader.
In a classic allergic response, the reaction is often immediate and dramatic -those suffering from peanut allergies are a perfect example. The reaction is so intense as to be life-threatening for some. This reaction is created by a specific immunoglobulin named immunoglobulin E or IgE for short. This is the type of allergic reaction that a scratch test would identify.
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Can You Grow Out Of A Gluten Sensitivity
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While it’s possible to be intolerant to just about any food item imaginable, gluten sensitivity, which is an adverse reaction to foods containing gluten, happens to be fairly common. Gluten sensitivity affects approximately 6 percent of the population, according to information provided in 2014 by the Center for Celiac Research at Massachusetts General Hospital. People grow in and out of many food intolerances including an intolerance to the gluten protein. Children are more likely to grow out of such a sensitivity, as their bodies are still maturing, according to the U.K. National Health Service website. However, even if your sensitivity to gluten persists, you can learn to manage it with dietary modifications.
Question: Can You Become Gluten Intolerant Over Time
Can a person develop gluten intolerance later in life? âIf somebody tested negative for celiac disease at age 50, and then develops symptoms at age 65, test them again because you can develop gluten intolerance at any age.â Blood tests that look for the presence of certain antibodies are usually the first step in making a celiac disease diagnosis.
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How Is Gluten Intolerance Different
It is fairly common for the term gluten intolerance to be used interchangeably with gluten sensitivity. While neither of these terms are well defined within the medical community, many consider gluten sensitivity to be a milder form of gluten intolerance. For example, someone who experiences mild symptoms triggered by gluten consumption that resolve quickly may be diagnosed with gluten sensitivity. On the other hand, someone who develops serious symptoms that last for a longer period of time would likely be diagnosed with gluten intolerance.
Unlike celiac disease, both gluten sensitivity and gluten intolerance do not cause damage to the lining of the small intestine. The body does, however, identify gluten as a foreign invader which triggers the launch of an immune response. Inflammation is part of that response and can contribute to symptoms such as bloating, diarrhea, and abdominal discomfort but the symptoms and the inflammation typically resolve as soon as the gluten has been eliminated from the body via digestion. Frequent gluten consumption paired with gluten sensitivity or intolerance may contribute to other symptoms such as headaches, lethargy, hyperactivity, muscle weakness, and joint pain.
