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I am not a doctor or in any way professionally trained in the field of nutrition. I am simply trying to understand what causes this epidemic of gluten intolerance. Until 5 years ago, doctors have given me pills and potions to get relieve from bloating, gut pain etc but not one had made the connection to food intolerance. Not even after being diagnosed with an under-active Thyroid (Hashimoto).

I finally worked it out myself in 2013 and have been eating gluten free since then.  After 15 years of “unexplained” gut pain (called irritable bowel syndrome, IBS) I finally have my gut under control. More about my path to eating gluten free, dairy free, sugar free and exploring a plant based diet since July 2017 in the about tab.

 

If you are interested to understand the difference between gluten intolerance and celiac disease, read this article by Chris Kresser: 3-reasons-gluten-intolerance-may-be-more-serious-than-celiac-disease.

I have been reading and researching for a long time to find a reason why so many people are gluten intolerant and I may have come to an explanation that makes sense to me and may be it helps you too, to shed some light on this very big and confusing question:

 

 

 

To My Mind the Reason for the Rise in Gluten Intolerance

is a Combination of 3 Factors

 

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Factor 1

 

Changes of the structures of 2 proteins in wheat through hybridization in the 1960’s are the biggest contributing factor in the increase of gluten intolerance.  The first one is called “gliadin” and it was manipulated to stimulate appetite. The second one is called “wheat germ agglutinin”, a lectin that protects plants from moulds and insects. In its manipulated form it now acts like a toxin in our gut.

 

This is how Dr William Davies describes it in this excerpt:

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“…. Modern wheat is the product of 40 years of genetics research, intensive efforts aimed at increasing yield-per-acre. The result: a genetically unique plant that stands 18-24 inches tall, a “semi-dwarf” strain, not the 4 1/2-foot tall “amber waves of grain” we all remember. Traditional wheat is long gone, a product that has not been on store shelves since around 1985. Today, virtually all products made with wheat flour, regardless of whether it is organic, sprouted, multigrain, etc., originates from this high-yield, semi-dwarf creation of genetics research…

So what changed with the transition to modern wheat? ……Gliadin is a protein in wheat. It is present in some form in all strains of wheat—naturally occurring and otherwise, ever since wheat first appeared on the scene many millions of years ago. But the genetics manipulations of the 1960s and 1970s also introduced changes into the gliadin protein…… Wheat germ agglutinin, now inadvertently changed by modern genetics manipulations, is a direct intestinal toxin…”

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You can read the entire article on his blog wheatbellyblog.com/chef-pete-evans-goes-wheat-free.

 

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Factor 2

 

Wheat flour has been added into almost all processed foods. I had to buy reading glasses to be able to read the tiny fine print on every single bottled sauce, chocolate, cereal, chips etc. as most food manufacturers ad flour to stimulate our appetite!?  Wow, I am shocked to hear this. I always thought it was needed to thicken sauces, but I am wrong! But what is flour doing in all these processed foods?

 

Dr Davies explains it in this way:

 

“…In 1960, wheat could be found in breads, rolls, and pancake mix. In the 21st century, wheat can be found in breads, rolls, pancake mix . . . and tomato soup, liquorice, granola bars, breakfast cereals, all frozen foods, taco seasoning, salad dressing—virtually all processed foods. Is this because wheat flour is necessary for taste and texture, or because clever food manufacturers understood the appetite stimulating properties of this altered form of gliadin protein from wheat . . . then put it in everything?...”

 

Read the whole article on his blog wheatbellyblog.com/is-gluten-on-the-increase.

 

 

Factor 3

 

We have become very lazy in the kitchen! Home-prepared meals are reduced to sandwiches, processed cereals, and quick pasta dishes. When we don’t have time for that we order pizza or eat in burger joints. In between we snack on processed cookies, chips or chocolate bars - all of them contain gluten. Wheat 3 to 5 times per day is quite common.

 

 

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Great Ideas in the 60's Leading to Global Gluten Problems

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This all started with the “Green Revolution” in the 60’s, led by Nobel Laureate Norman Borlaug. The plan was great: to increase the yield of wheat production and reduce starvation. However the hybridization of wheat (see dictionary entry below), let’s say, had a few side – effects.

 

Hybrid

noun

1.

the offspring of two animals or plants of different breeds, varieties, species, or genera, especially as produced through human manipulation for specific genetic characteristics.

 

verb (used with object), hybridized, hybridizing.

1.

… to produce hybrids; cross.

 

 

 

Not only have we got an epidemic of gluten intolerance, we also have an epidemic of obesity. Dr Axe gives a good explanation what hybridization did to a carbohydrate in wheat and why it could be the reason a lot of us are getting so fat. This starch in wheat is called amylopectin A and the manipulation of it causes the starch to be more dangerous than sugar. I won't go into more detail right now, but read the article 3-ways-wheat-is-giving-you-a-belly if you want to find out more.

 

In this article Dr Axe also states  “The amount of gluten has actually been doubled in hybridized wheat.”

 

And this is when I have stopped researching.

 

There seams to be a massive confusion as to who and what is to blame for our epidemics:

 

This article by a scientist of the US department of agriculture: Can an Increase in Celiac Disease Be Attributed to an Increase in the Gluten Content of Wheat as a Consequence of Wheat Breeding?

which I found on Dr Davies blog, clearly states that there is no evidence that gluten is to blame, as it has not been increased. Others however say gluten has been doubled.

 

I am so very confused.

 

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So, What Exactly Is Gluten?

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According to this medical news today article

 

“…Gluten is a family of proteins found in grains like wheat, rye, spelt and barley…the two main proteins in gluten are glutenin and gliadin. Gliadin is responsible for most of the negative health effects…”

 

So, we do not have an increase of gluten, but a manipulated part of the gluten protein that is making us sick?

 

This Is My Conclusion for Now:

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• Science did something to parts of the gluten protein during hybridization and our guts don’t like it.  May be it has not been increased, but it certainly has been manipulated.

 

• We “poisoned” most of our processed foods with it.

 

• We became addicted and eat too much of it.

 

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Symptoms of Gluten Intolerance

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An excerpt below from a healthline article about gluten-allergy-symptoms gives you a basic idea what symptoms you may have if you are gluten intolerant or suffer from non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS):

 

“…Symptoms of non-celiac gluten sensitivity: 

There is increasing evidence for a gluten-related condition that causes symptoms in people who don’t have celiac disease and are not allergic to wheat. Researchers are still trying to discover the exact biological cause of this condition, known as NCGS.

There’s no test that can diagnose you with NCGS. It’s diagnosed in people who experience symptoms after eating gluten but test negative for wheat allergy and celiac disease. As more and more people go to their doctor reporting unpleasant symptoms after eating gluten, researchers are trying to characterize these conditions so that NCGS can be better understood.

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The most common symptoms of NCGS are:

• mental fatigue, also known as “brain fog”

• fatigue

• gas, bloating, and abdominal pain

• headache

• …”

 

If you want more details regarding symptoms, I found the article

healthline/nutrition/signs-you-are-gluten-intolerant quite helpful:

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The details of the below symptoms are discussed in the above article:

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1. Bloating

2. Diarrhoea, Constipation and Smelly Faeces

3. Abdominal Pain

4. Headaches

5. Feeling Tired

6. Skin Problems, for example Psoriasis

7. Depression

8. Unexplained Weight Loss

9. Iron-Deficiency, Anaemia

10. Anxiety

11. Autoimmune Disorders

12. Joint and Muscle Pain

13. Leg or Arm Numbness, Tingling

14. Brain Fog

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Gluten Intolerance and Thyroid Issues

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This article on the hypothyroidmom website is also worth a read in regards to symptoms, especially if you are already diagnosed with a thyroid issue.

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In my case I was diagnosed with an under-active thyroid in 2010. This is an autoimmune disease called Hashimoto. When I asked my doctor at the time how that could have suddenly happened to me, she had no explanation that made sense to me. She just said, “you must have had a flue virus or an infection, and sometimes that can lead to Hashimoto”. How very odd! I surely would remember if I had been sick with a virus or the flue. But I could not remember having been sick at all.

(Well, other than the constant gut pain I had gotten used to) 

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If I knew then what I know now, I would have stopped eating gluten straight away. But I did not know anything about gluten intolerance yet, nor did I know I was intolerant. And doctors are not trained in the field of nutrition or in the field of looking for the “WHY” for a disease. They are trained to put “Band-Aids” on our diseases, with a pill or potion and that’s where it stops! With most doctors. I agree, there are some incredible exceptions out there in the world; they are just hard to find when you need them….

To me the link between gluten intolerance and Hashimoto is very clear now: I have been unwell for 15 years, I accepted my constant pain, and made myself believe that this pain must be normal. I am sure now, that I was gluten intolerant all that time but I did not know, so I kept eating bread, and lots of it!

Being German, I even baked my own bread and cakes and ate lots of it. So my thyroid after all these years being fed with lots of gluten had enough one-day and “packed it in”. Almost like a punishment for not seeing the alarm bells in my gut. My body gave me 15 years of gut pain and I ignored it.

Pretty stupid in hindsight.

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Dr Chris Kresser explains the link of gluten intolerance and autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD)

in the article the-gluten-thyroid-connection

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Here is an excerpt of the main point:

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“…What explains the connection? It’s a case of mistaken identity. The molecular structure of gliadin, the protein portion of gluten, closely resembles that of the thyroid gland. When gliadin breaches the protective barrier of the gut, and enters the bloodstream, the immune system tags it for destruction. These antibodies to gliadin also cause the body to attack thyroid tissue. This means if you have AITD (autoimmune thyroid disease) and you eat foods containing gluten, your immune system will attack your thyroid….”

 

 

I also found an excellent article on the hypothyroidmom website by Dr. Nikolas Hedberg:

Read the whole article hypothyroidmom/searching-for-the-causes-of-hashimotos-disease

This is an excerpt of the main point:

“…And then talking about the gut, some of you are probably aware of what’s known as leaky gut. And gluten, celiac disease, and a lot of food sensitivities can lead to leaky gut syndrome. And since about 70 per cent of your immune system is in the gut, whenever someone has Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, we always want to look at the gut and food sensitivities and if there’s gluten sensitivity, or if the patient has celiac disease, these are all things that we need to be aware of. So if that is a connection, of course, we’ll want to do a gluten-free diet and avoid food sensitivities that we find on blood testing, and then do a leaky gut protocol to try and heal that up so the immune system can become more balanced…”

 

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How to Work out If You Are Gluten Intolerant

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In the about tab I explain how I worked out that I was gluten and dairy intolerant.

If you suspect you may be gluten intolerant, I suggest to get tested for celiac disease first, which I believe can be done with a blood test.

(Speak to your doctor and do not stop eating gluten before you had the test)

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If that is negative and you suspect you could be gluten intolerant, just eat 100% gluten free for 6 weeks, the longer the better of course. The trick will be to work out which products contain gluten. Most people are unaware of how many products in your home contain gluten, other than the obvious: bread, baked goods, pasta and beer. Just go to your fridge and read some fine prints on your soya sauce, or salad dressing, or vegemite (in Australia), in fact, I think most yeast extracts contain gluten, and check your cereal box and the fine print on your chocolate bars etc

It is gobsmacking to find out in how many products gluten is hiding!

By the way, if chocolates don’t state that they contain wheat but barley, they are a NO as well. Barley also contains gluten. And this is what will make it a little difficult for you to be 100% gluten free from one minute to the next. Try your very best. I suggest to write down how you feel, how you sleep, what your gut feels like etc before you stop eating gluten. Once you stop eating gluten you may not feel a lot better very quickly, but after 6 weeks you should feel an improvement. If you think you have been very strictly gluten free, but can't tell weather you feel better or not, just have a think how your gut and head feels right now, and how your metabolism was in the past 6 weeks. Compare it to your notes from 6 weeks ago. Then write down how you feel after being gluten free for a while.

 

And to prove to yourself that gluten may be the culprit, eat a whole day of gluten products: Cereal, bread, pasta, pizza, beer etc and take note how you feel after consuming those products. It may take a day or two until you get symptoms of bloating, diarrhoea, constipation, headaches etc

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I do admit that I always had hope in the beginning that the gluten intolerance would just go away.  I felt so good after months of gluten freeness that I decided a few times to introduce bread again. I even baked wheat-free spelt and rye loaves, but in my case it was very obvious that my gut said no to all of those flours.

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Gluten-Free Bread

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It was time to start baking gluten-free bread. I baked many loaves of gluten-free bread since 2013, which tasted either average or so disgusting, that they were frozen, for emergency hunger spouts and binned as soon as a more edible loaf was available. The ingredients for a GF (gluten-free) bread are often very expensive, that is why we pay so much for bread in the shops. Every time you come across another promising recipe, you think “ahhh, I see, this must be the reason my bread never tastes good, I have to try this “blah-blah” flour I have never heard of” and so I must have had 20 different flours in my pantry. It was so upsetting to spend another half day in the kitchen trying to master the GF loaf, to taste it and decide it was barely saveable from the bin.

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How hard could this be? 

I tried to not eat bread anymore for a while, but that is very hard for a German, possibly for everyone from a bread eating culture- I ended up buying bread in the supermarkets, since the isles are growing with gluten-free products, choices are getting better and I found one or 2 suppliers that make an OK bread. If you load it with tons of toppings you hardly taste the cardboard on the outside : )

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But there is NO GF bread in Saigon, where I have been living since January 2017.

Lucky I had brought copies of my 4-year long bread baking trials and decided to have one last go. The end result is amazing and I am laughing now: I had to be moved all the way to Vietnam (to be with my husband) to figure out that this particular flour was the best all along. My favourite loaf from a market stall in Sydney was made with this flour, but I always thought it had other, more amazing, exotic sounding and expensive flours added to it, so I never tried to bake a loaf from just this flour.

The flour is simply rice flour.

The bread is so good. And the cheapest I ever made. Yes, I know, I am in the land of rice of course-

A 400-gr bag of white rice flour cost 0.75 Euro or 0.90 USD in Saigon at the time of me writing this in March 2018. I am not sure exactly how much it costs anywhere else. However the good news is, that I only use rice flour, not several types of flours. I have tested breads with 5 different flours in one loaf, which can get expensive having to buy minimum amounts and then not liking it. (I always used them up as “cleaning” flours, more of that important step in the actual recipe)

It is silly how a recipe can bring me so much happiness. And it makes me even happier that I can finally share it with you on this blog. Giving back to all of you who need some inspiration on their path to gluten-freedom. I could not have done it without so many of you bloggers, who shared their wisdom when I needed it.

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