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Gluten Sensitivity: When Bread And Pasta Become A Problem

Whether it’s abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, flatulence, or headaches: the consumption of foods containing grain is causing health problems for more and more people. A gluten sensitivity could be behind it. The grain protein called gluten is to blame. It can cause various intolerances: allergies, celiac disease, or the aforementioned gluten sensitivity. Since pizza and pasta are not only favorite foods in Bella Italia, a research team from Milan has now examined these foods in detail and made an interesting discovery.

Gluten Sensitivity – It is not easy to diagnose

Gluten – a protein in many grains – is not tolerated by some people. If you have celiac disease, gluten leads to chronic inflammation in the small intestine, which damages the intestinal mucosa. The consequences range from osteoporosis to colon cancer.

In the case of gluten sensitivity, on the other hand, there is a hypersensitivity to gluten or other grain components without corresponding changes in the intestinal mucosa being recognizable.

It is precisely the difficulty of diagnosis that has ensured that the existence of gluten sensitivity has been discussed and repeatedly doubted since the late 1980s. In November 2012, however, gluten sensitivity was first described as an independent clinical picture in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

A research team led by Dr. Imran Aziz from the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield showed that not only celiac disease patients react negatively to gluten, but also people without celiac disease-typical intestinal mucosa changes.

Gluten sensitivity is not imaginary

After the study was published, 15 international experts at a “consensus meeting” concluded that there are three diseases that gluten can cause:

  • Celiac disease: A lifelong gluten-free diet is currently the only treatment option.
  • Gluten sensitivity: It is usually sufficient to limit gluten intake.
  • Wheat allergy: Wheat and related cereals (e.g. spelled) must be eliminated from the diet, otherwise allergic reactions will occur.

The diagnosis of gluten sensitivity is only carried out using a process of elimination because it has not yet been possible to detect it using markers or blood values, but like the other two wheat and gluten diseases, e.g. B. can be accompanied by abdominal pain, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, and headaches.

Now that more and more people seem to be suffering from gluten sensitivity – about 6 percent of the world’s population, according to the National Foundation of Celiac Awareness – research into this is in full swing.

Gluten sensitivity: bread and pasta under scrutiny

Scientists from the Università Degli Studi di Milano have now taken a closer look at bread and pasta and found that the digestion of foods containing gluten produces molecules that penetrate the intestinal mucosa into the bloodstream and can therefore have a negative effect on health.

What is new about this study, published in June 2015, is that the tests were not carried out with pure gluten as before, but – quite specifically – with two sliced ​​bread and four pasta products from the supermarket.

dr Milda Stuknytė and her team simulated the digestive process in the laboratory and found that bread and pasta can lead to gluten sensitivity. Among the molecules that were formed during digestion were exorphins (substances similar to morphine), which are suspected of triggering schizophrenia and autism and can noticeably cloud the senses in sensitive people.

However, not only gluten is the focus of science in relation to gluten sensitivity, but another protein. It’s called adenosine triphosphate amylase (ATI) and is also found in some grains.

Gluten sensitivity: high-performance grain under suspicion

ATI is an insect repellent that was specifically bred into modern high-performance varieties (especially wheat) to make the grain more resistant to pests and thus increase yield.

A research team led by Professor Detlef Schuppan from the University Medical Center at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz compared the reaction of the immune system to exotic and old types of grain (e.g. einkorn, emmer, or kamut) and modern high-performance grain and found that ATI is also the cause of could be gluten sensitivity.

Because many gluten-sensitive people tolerate einkorn, emmer & co very well (although they also contain gluten), but not wheat.

Added to this are the descriptions of emigrated patients who tolerated the traditional bread from their homeland (e.g. rural Mediterranean regions) well in contrast to the bread in central European cities.

City bread is almost always made from high-performance wheat or even from Chinese import dough pieces, which are also contaminated with all sorts of pollutants, while regional wheat varieties are apparently still relatively harmless.

So what can be done if the consumption of bread, pasta & co? repeatedly leads to symptoms? Read more about whether noodles (pasta) are healthy or unhealthy.

Avoid gluten in Parkinson’s disease

Gluten sensitivity may also be present in Parkinson’s disease. One case report found that a Parkinson’s patient had asymptomatic celiac disease. Once he switched his diet to a gluten-free diet, he felt significantly better.

Gluten sensitivity is treatable

If you suspect gluten intolerance, it is best to have this clarified medically. If it turns out that you do not suffer from celiac disease or an allergy, you can test yourself to see if you are gluten sensitive.

There is no general answer as to whether a gluten-free or low-gluten diet is preferable as a result – but a strict diet is usually not necessary. Since gluten sensitivity can be cured with a gluten-free diet, it can definitely be worth doing without (1-2 years).

Since there are also many grains without gluten, such. Gluten-free foods such as millet, corn, rice, and teff, as well as pseudo-cereals (e.g., amaranth, buckwheat, and quinoa) generally do not pose a problem.

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Written by John Myers

Professional Chef with 25 years of industry experience at the highest levels. Restaurant owner. Beverage Director with experience creating world-class nationally recognized cocktail programs. Food writer with a distinctive Chef-driven voice and point of view.

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