My son is extremely allergic to wheat and milk. We have to carry an epi-pen with us everywhere. He swells up, including his face and throat, when he comes in contact with these allergens. It's cost us thousands of dollars in hospital bills, missed work and is a constant worry. If people eat something, don't wash their hands and then touch him, he'll get a bad rash. Most gluten free food is free of wheat and some of that is free of dairy too. I'm thankful for the gluten free trend. Without it, my son wouldn't have much of a chance to eat many common foods. You wouldn't believe some of the things they put wheat in, sometimes for seemingly no reason at all. He can't even play with play dough. So I'll continue to pay 5x as much for a loaf of gluten-free bread because it gives my son a more normal life.
I'm gluten-free by medical necessity, though not nearly as bad as what is unfortunately afflicting your son. And gluten-free products are a) expensive, b) still pretty rare, and c) unlikely to be found outside of specialized sections in large supermarkets or online retailers.
If nothing else, gluten-free faddism creates market forces that increase the availability of gluten-free options while simultaneously reducing their (substantial!) cost. So in that sense, it has some positive externalities.
For example, you can actually get a gluten-free option on most airplane flights these days. That certainly wasn't the case 5 years ago (or at least it wasn't unless you went out of your way to arrange something).
Conversely, the one real danger is that a lot of products are coming to market very quickly, and not all of them are as gluten-free or wheat-safe as they claim. (For instance, a product not made with wheat, but processed in the same factory as wheat products, can get away with calling itself "gluten free," and you need to read the very, very fine print on the package to figure this out). The labeling standards need to catch up to the marketing.
>According to USA Today, up to one-quarter of all consumers now want gluten-free food, even though only one person in 100 has celiac disease
It's almost like people cook for the ones they love!
I've been eating gluten free for months now for exclusively medical reasons. I was having crippling stomach pains and nausea. Marijuana was a gift from the gods for the nausea but nothing stopped the stomach pain. My mother talked to a friend about my symptoms and that friend said it sounded similar to someone she knew. That lead to a recommendation to try going gluten free. After two weeks the pain and the nausea were gone, almost completely, and I'm still having some other GI issues that are being addressed. I don't think I am 'intolerant' to gluten, I think there is something wrong with my gut and avoiding gluten seems to be helping for now. Yes, it's becoming a fad, and it's sad that people just dismiss it simply because of that. Look at some of the comments here, it seems people get angry over it. However, it's been life changing for me, literally. I hope to eat wheat again when all my issues are sorted out, but it's really helped me for the time being.
The latest research on this front really doesn't do much "blaming the victim", which seems to be the default mindset when someone avoids a food or food ingredient. IMO, it's almost certainly not "something wrong with your gut", but rather your gut is ill due to long-term assault from poor external inputs. Eventually nearly everyone gets unlucky. The lucky ones just mistake a "disease of civilization" for a "geriatric condition".
Gluten, gliadins, and lectins, present in wheat and other grains, basically amount to plant defensive chemicals. For many people, consumption of these plays a strong role eventually has various deleterious effects which. The impacts are complex, to say the least, and a matter of ongoing research. However, the basis of treatment is straightforward: eliminate everything with grain. Gluten isn't enough, especially if you have severe GI damage. You may find it helpful to check out resources and books on the "paleo diet" as regards restructuring your eating this way.
Lookup "Nourishing Traditions" online. It's a fantastic research topic for hackers.
It's because of poorly processed foods that gut issues are so common nowadays. If grains (plus legumes and nuts) are prepared traditionally, the pythic acid is greatly minimized, letting your body tolerate wheat much better.
If you miss bread, try eating sourdough bread (wheat flour, salt, water -- no yeast). The fermentation process makes it so the wheat doesn't irritate your gut. My issues were disabling, but I can eat a huge loaf of sourdough in one hour without side effects, when eating just two slices of commercial bread gives me all sorts of trouble.
Might be worth eliminating all other grains, legumes, and nuts. I speak from experience. After you get better, then look into preparing these things traditionally if you want to add them back into your diet.
Anyway, after learning all this (read the book!), I occasionally eat traditionally prepared grain products, but the vast majority of the time I chose to just eat meat and vegetables. It makes meals a lot easier! Don't need to look up recipes at all, just cook your choice of protein (meat, fish/seafood, or eggs), then cook one or two vegetables on the side! You don't need all those fancy gluten-free products, which are generally not even traditionally prepared, meaning, that they keep irrittating your gut anyway!
Plus, a succulent beef shoulder pot roast with a side of spinach creamed with lots of parmesan and butter is so much tastier than anything made with grains :) We eat like royalty at our house -- everyday. And we do so on one modest paycheck.
Our cabinets are empty and our fridge is bursting at the seams. We don't really buy anything that comes in a box.
True, plants have a defense mechanisms from microorganisms, yeasts et cetera, but these defenses can be disarmed to some degree by properly preparing grains: i.e. the old way - soaking, leavening.
I'll repeat a quote from Nassim Taleb:
"The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary."
My wife spent years dealing with Gluten intolerance. Usually she would suffer sever stomach pain followed by diarrhea. But it was not a consistent problem. Sometimes she would accidentally get wheat and be ok. Additionally, she could eat other non-wheat whole grains which Celiacs and other Gluten intolerant people can't handle.
Finally, we seem to have found the problem. Additives to flour especially bromated flour. We have conducted our own tests and if she has even small amounts of bromated flour, she reacts. But if we grind our own wheat or use a brand such as King Arthur that has no additives, she never has a problem. (As a nurse, she finds medical research interesting)
We now make our own bread and other flour based foods, but when we eat out, she continues to order gluten free.
We have tried to find any formal medical studies on this. There is plenty of talk about bromated flour being carcinogenic and prohibited in much of Europe and Canada. But very little about people with immediate reactions too it. We wonder if this is the source of many people's gluten issues.
I should add, that we did do some blind tests. I would not claim anything close to a formal study, but enough for a science minded couple to feel it was good for our needs.
I have gotten really sick (to the point of being hospitalized) and I can basically tell it's related to bread in some way (very strong correlation suggests causation). No doctor has been able to help me at all (this is in the US). In one case, the doctor actually had to go look up "celiac diesase" (hadn't heard of it). Another told me it was just from drinking too much coffee and soda. But my symptoms go away completely and I feel fine when I totally avoid anything that might have bread (and still drink tons of coffee).
This article is probably the most helpful thing I've ever found - I have never been able to figure this out from Wikipedia. And I'll probably be bringing it with me if I ever try again to get help from the medical system.
Years ago my personal Wikipedia research lead me to conclude that there were no helpful tests to find out what I have. People have been telling me for years that I'm wrong. I actually started to believe it - maybe I misunderstood, or Wikipedia was wrong. Well, it looks like maybe I was right.
If anybody with medical experience can comment on the accuracy of this article, that would be great.
It has also been suggested to me that I may have a "yeast allergy" (by a traveller from Europe), so if anyone has any insight into that...
EDIT: To be clear, I pretty much ruled out celiac long ago, because my symptoms are not _that_ serious. I either have wheat allergy, gluten intolerance (most likely), or something simply not listed in this article. The great value of this article to me is that it lists several possible problems and clarifies what tests are and are not available. In other words, it does for me exactly what a physician should have done for me years ago.
I was referred to a gastroenterologist and had an upper endoscopy which was helpful. They can look at the cilia to see if they're damaged in a way consistent with celiac or something else.
It sounds like you already have done this, but there is a diet where you cut out everything that might be causing the issue, and then add things back one at a time. It can take weeks for celiac to feel better after removing wheat however, so the diet method can be a long, laborious route to take.
> To be clear, I pretty much ruled out celiac long ago, because my symptoms are not _that_ serious.
My symptoms were less than yours (constipation once in a while) but I am 100% confirmed celiac. I had positives on the anti-tissue transglutaminase IgG, IgA tests and endoscopy confirmed extensive damage consistent with years of celiac disease. You should rule out celiac disease with the IgG, IgA tests, followed by endoscopy if positive.
"Years ago my personal Wikipedia research lead me to conclude that there were no helpful tests to find out what I have"
My son has had celiac disease all his life, from a long time before it became trendy and it'll last till the end of his life a long time after its off the front page. He's one of the 1 in 100. This was before wikipedia. Perhaps a future dating system will number years as in BW before wiki and AW after wiki. Anyway needless to say I recall quite clearly, his pediatrician FINALLY did a blood test as a last resort (celiac is not a profitable disease to treat, therefore rule out everything more profitable first) which had wildly high results, then refer to gastroenterologist who knocked him out and did an endoscopy, "yup all inflamed and Fed up in there" then trial run gluten free diet and his blood antibody numbers started dropping and he nearly instantly had a normal digestive system. And like yourself he gets horrifically sick a couple hours after eating gluten containing foods and it lasts and closely resembles a very, very bad food poisoning incident (like to the point of dyhydration danger, and yes he has been poked with IVs in the ER for this). So I donno about all this "there's no tests" this is extremely heavily trodden ground. Your primary care doc might be pretty ignorant of this specific disease but I can't imagine a gastroenterologist being confused, this is after all kinda their bread -n- butter...
On the other hand I donno if you technically "need" a medical diagnosis. I'll spare you the details, but shellfish and plain ole chicken eggs don't seem to be terribly well tolerated by my digestive system... solution? I don't eat them. I don't need a trendy diet or diagnosis or a pill or celebrity endorsement, I just don't eat lobster or fried eggs.
Note that wheat provides approximately nothing valuable to your body other than empty calories, so feel free not to eat it. Also almost all junk/highly processed foods are stuffed with wheat as a filler so your health will most likely dramatically improve if you stop eating wheat. The reason trendy actresses feel better after stopping wheat is not the lack of wholegrain bread but the lack of twinkies, not the lack of soy sauce but the lack of an entire pan of lasagna in one sitting, etc. Its not at all like giving up citrus or giving up meat where you have to put at least a minimal amount of care into making sure you don't end up with a major nutritional problem.
BTW his whole digestive system got messed up and he's also allergic to soy and milk casein proteins. Supposedly if you "tough it out" for a couple decades you can get cancer from the constant inflamation. Also his growth was pretty stunted until he got a proper diet (at which point he started growing so fast I swear you could watch him get taller). So get this checked out. I may not be a medical doctor, but it doesn't take a PHD to figure out if it makes you sick, don't eat it.
Drop gluten for 3 weeks; do you feel better? Feel bad when you get back on it? Problem solved, really. Until science supports our observations, I don't need much more proof than that.
Your reply perfectly sums up why anti-gluten and other food crazes periodically sweep through our culture: science's job isn't to support peoples self-observation and that observation does not prove gluten intolerance.
The gluten-free + gluten/placebo experiment could show whether someone is gluten intolerant or not, until then the approach you mention is indistinguishable from superstition.
As pointed out elsewhere in this thread, when you drop gluten, you drop pizza, some ice creams, and a ton of processed foods, so 'not eating garbage' may be helping more than 'not eating gluten'.
> Drop gluten for 3 weeks; do you feel better? Feel bad when you get back on it? Problem solved, really. Until science supports our observations, I don't need much more proof than that.
Science does support it if you did the observations, recorded fastidiously and properly controlled your experiment. "big name" science does not exclude normal people from conducting scientific experiments. Oblig xkcd: http://xkcd.com/397/
I agree, elimination diets are great. And this is all anyone can really do as an individual to find what works best for them. I did the same thing with dairy. I just feel better without it.
"Why Do So Many People Think They Need Gluten-Free Foods?"
Because when I eat it I feel bloated and nauseous. When I don't, I feel fine. Q.E.D. I talked about this a little bit the last time it came up[1].
The problem occurs when I eat barley, rye, wheat, and other grains that contain it. So, it's definitely not a wheat allergy. My symptoms aren't as severe as those that celiacs suffer from, thankfully.
Last year, after I thought I knew what was causing the problem, I tried eating some bread after my symptoms had all gone away. They came back within a couple hours. Going back to a strict gluten free diet solved the problem again.
You can also test this by trying foods that you wouldn't assume contain wheat, but they certainly do.
How bout beer, (most) licorice, soy sauce, and (most) taco seasoned meat? That should make you sick too. It made my son sick... well, not the beer; he was just a toddler at diagnosis. But yeah, eat Chinese and throw up for 3 continuous days, even though "fried rice doesn't contain wheat, does it?", well, yeah, it does, in the soy sauce, that kind of thing.
Exactly. This is the case for me and it's the case for well over 1/100th of the people I know. Almost all of my immediate family have the same issues.
It's not a fad, it's a collective realization that this is a problem and what gets labeled as a "fad" consists of people, who feel they may have symptoms, experimenting or deciding to be perhaps a bit overly cautious.
Overall this is a very good thing and the "fad" should be encouraged.
Actually, independent of the whole low-carb craze, there's some evidence indicating that, as carbs go, wheat is a particularly bad one. Substantially worse than corn, rice, root vegetables, and other sources of starch.
People have definitely conflated the wheat gluten allergy issue (celiac disease and other forms) with low-carb dieting in general, which is misguided. As the article points out, the percentage of the population actually suffering from allergies to gluten is tiny. [1] But it may not be a bad idea to cut down on wheat, regardless. Especially products with highly processed wheat as a key ingredient.
[1] Although it may be growing, for reasons not currently understood. Alternatively, we may just be experiencing a boom in the diagnosis -- either a result of over-diagnosing, or rather, correct diagnoses after many decades of under-diagnosing.
This is a pretty poor article. It does not provide any counter points or reference anything in the other camp.
The article skirts any knowledge about who is evangelizing the wheat free movement (William Davis [1] wrote an excellent book, Wheat Belly [2] about this exact phenomenon) and why.
It's anecdotal, yes, as is most scientific research early on when there may be a lot of competing arguments. Dr. Davis clearly outlines why he feels that wheat is a problem in our current society (mainly due to the changes in amylopectin in modern wheat, as well as other protein changes that are not present in ancestors to modern wheat).
It's worth a read if you want to know more, it is anecdotal but there sure is a lot of anecdotes and empirical evidence, and it's fleshed out quite thoroughly in his book [2].
It seems that anything in our diets that is in over abundance seems to cause us problems, be it wheat or soy. Both of which are in almost everything we eat today, and both of which have undergone some serious changes in the last 40-80 years.
Counter point to what? The article mentions that a lot of people that don't have celiac disease avoid gluten and out of those 1/3 actually find some relief from a gluten-free diet.
"Wheat Belly" is probably not a shining example to use here. It (rightfully) attracted a lot of criticism over the author's cherry-picking of citations (even those of studies whose own abstracts contradict his claims) and failure to provide concrete evidence for many of his most damning conclusions.
I make my own "wheat meat" which is 99% wheat gluten. It's delicious, fun, and interesting. If you arent one of those people who care or cant handle it, I suggest trying it out. There are plenty of recipes online, you'll just need about an hour
Clearly it has nothing to do with people's evolving eating habits and new found rejection of processed carbohydrate-rich flour based foods.
Clearly.
I also understand in the article the author focused on Celiacs vs diagnosed but-not-really Celiacs, but the author should really expand his thesis. You might not even have a medical condition but would still choose to reject white bread, Twinkies, crackers, pizza, etc.
My son, who is deathly allergic (anaphylactically allergic) to peanut-butter, had a blood test to see if he might have grown out of it (he hasn't; poor kid).
The doctor also order the blood test to screen for specific allergy-causing antibodies to various common allergens, including wheat proteins.
It turns out that his blood had a reaction to albumin (or maybe it was globulin; I can't remember). The Doctor called it a 'wheat allergy' and went on about diarrhea. And Mom and I thought he was just trying to avoid doing the dishes when he'd bolt to the bathroom right after eating: Go figure...
We just look for gluten free because if there is no gluten there is none of the other 4 proteins found in wheat.
Went gluten-free for a month back in 2010, haven't looked back since. I didn't need to lose weight (although it's a nice side effect) but my psoriasis cleared up completely.
The tests for gluten intolerance are notoriously inaccurate. They test for antibodies for gluten in the bloodstream, and this only occurs when you have serious gut permeability.
Self experimentation is the way to go with this until the research catches up. Try it for a month, and see how you feel.
Also I don't see this the problem with a self-diagnosis being wrong. It's not as if by eating gluten-free you are directly harming your body.
For me at least, the health benefits of ditching gluten is quite apparent very quickly (3 weeks). You don't realise how bad you feel eating gluten until you stop. Everyone just starts taking daily stomach aches, bloating, heartburn, indigestion and 2pm food fatigue for granted. They think that's just the way it is. It's not.
That said, I still love bread, but now only eat it sparingly.
First time I learned about gluten or gluten-free diet was when I researched links between ADHD and food, and didn't give it much thought.
Then I read on HN about Taubes and then keto, which led me to /r/keto and I tried it for fun (for science !) for two months (I don't need to lose weight). I did feel A LOT better and lost 2 Kg (which isn't much but I'm 1m76 for 62 Kg).
Improvements were :
- no more sleepiness during the day. I had suffered about this since forever.
- less headaches (and nauseas).
- less belly bloating (I always thought it was normal)
- (slightly) better sleep.
Since then I eat an egg & bacon for breakfast, and eat a lot less bread and pasta (and carbs). I miss baguette (I'm French) but I feel great overall.
A lot of the anti-gluten sentiment semight be rooted in the need for a quick fix to dieting issues. The idea being 'if I just cut out this one thing, all of my belly fat will go away.' People (myself included) hate the idea that dieting is a change of lifestyle, that you can't just slash one thing for a few months and call it a day. I think the challenge should be: no processed foods for a month. None whatsoever. Then see how you feel. But because we've mostly decided that our budget should go to everything else besides good food, that's a difficult task indeed.
All I know is my energy is more level throughout the day and my thoughts are much clearer. I now know I never actually had 'ADD' in grade school - I had 'Captain Crunch' - thanks mom.
I don't care much for 'gluten free' replacement product hype. Just eat normal food - avoid the wheat.
Answer: because these people think that gluten will slowly change gut lining and immune response to the point that they will develop celiac disease or other illness if they eat gluten regularly.
[+] [-] lotides|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jonnathanson|13 years ago|reply
I'm gluten-free by medical necessity, though not nearly as bad as what is unfortunately afflicting your son. And gluten-free products are a) expensive, b) still pretty rare, and c) unlikely to be found outside of specialized sections in large supermarkets or online retailers.
If nothing else, gluten-free faddism creates market forces that increase the availability of gluten-free options while simultaneously reducing their (substantial!) cost. So in that sense, it has some positive externalities.
For example, you can actually get a gluten-free option on most airplane flights these days. That certainly wasn't the case 5 years ago (or at least it wasn't unless you went out of your way to arrange something).
Conversely, the one real danger is that a lot of products are coming to market very quickly, and not all of them are as gluten-free or wheat-safe as they claim. (For instance, a product not made with wheat, but processed in the same factory as wheat products, can get away with calling itself "gluten free," and you need to read the very, very fine print on the package to figure this out). The labeling standards need to catch up to the marketing.
[+] [-] chez17|13 years ago|reply
It's almost like people cook for the ones they love!
I've been eating gluten free for months now for exclusively medical reasons. I was having crippling stomach pains and nausea. Marijuana was a gift from the gods for the nausea but nothing stopped the stomach pain. My mother talked to a friend about my symptoms and that friend said it sounded similar to someone she knew. That lead to a recommendation to try going gluten free. After two weeks the pain and the nausea were gone, almost completely, and I'm still having some other GI issues that are being addressed. I don't think I am 'intolerant' to gluten, I think there is something wrong with my gut and avoiding gluten seems to be helping for now. Yes, it's becoming a fad, and it's sad that people just dismiss it simply because of that. Look at some of the comments here, it seems people get angry over it. However, it's been life changing for me, literally. I hope to eat wheat again when all my issues are sorted out, but it's really helped me for the time being.
[+] [-] saidajigumi|13 years ago|reply
Gluten, gliadins, and lectins, present in wheat and other grains, basically amount to plant defensive chemicals. For many people, consumption of these plays a strong role eventually has various deleterious effects which. The impacts are complex, to say the least, and a matter of ongoing research. However, the basis of treatment is straightforward: eliminate everything with grain. Gluten isn't enough, especially if you have severe GI damage. You may find it helpful to check out resources and books on the "paleo diet" as regards restructuring your eating this way.
[+] [-] Bjuukia|13 years ago|reply
It's because of poorly processed foods that gut issues are so common nowadays. If grains (plus legumes and nuts) are prepared traditionally, the pythic acid is greatly minimized, letting your body tolerate wheat much better.
If you miss bread, try eating sourdough bread (wheat flour, salt, water -- no yeast). The fermentation process makes it so the wheat doesn't irritate your gut. My issues were disabling, but I can eat a huge loaf of sourdough in one hour without side effects, when eating just two slices of commercial bread gives me all sorts of trouble.
Might be worth eliminating all other grains, legumes, and nuts. I speak from experience. After you get better, then look into preparing these things traditionally if you want to add them back into your diet.
Anyway, after learning all this (read the book!), I occasionally eat traditionally prepared grain products, but the vast majority of the time I chose to just eat meat and vegetables. It makes meals a lot easier! Don't need to look up recipes at all, just cook your choice of protein (meat, fish/seafood, or eggs), then cook one or two vegetables on the side! You don't need all those fancy gluten-free products, which are generally not even traditionally prepared, meaning, that they keep irrittating your gut anyway!
Plus, a succulent beef shoulder pot roast with a side of spinach creamed with lots of parmesan and butter is so much tastier than anything made with grains :) We eat like royalty at our house -- everyday. And we do so on one modest paycheck.
Our cabinets are empty and our fridge is bursting at the seams. We don't really buy anything that comes in a box.
[+] [-] solarbunny|13 years ago|reply
I'll repeat a quote from Nassim Taleb: "The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary."
[+] [-] leejoramo|13 years ago|reply
Finally, we seem to have found the problem. Additives to flour especially bromated flour. We have conducted our own tests and if she has even small amounts of bromated flour, she reacts. But if we grind our own wheat or use a brand such as King Arthur that has no additives, she never has a problem. (As a nurse, she finds medical research interesting)
We now make our own bread and other flour based foods, but when we eat out, she continues to order gluten free.
We have tried to find any formal medical studies on this. There is plenty of talk about bromated flour being carcinogenic and prohibited in much of Europe and Canada. But very little about people with immediate reactions too it. We wonder if this is the source of many people's gluten issues.
edit: grammar
[+] [-] leejoramo|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] javert|13 years ago|reply
This article is probably the most helpful thing I've ever found - I have never been able to figure this out from Wikipedia. And I'll probably be bringing it with me if I ever try again to get help from the medical system.
Years ago my personal Wikipedia research lead me to conclude that there were no helpful tests to find out what I have. People have been telling me for years that I'm wrong. I actually started to believe it - maybe I misunderstood, or Wikipedia was wrong. Well, it looks like maybe I was right.
If anybody with medical experience can comment on the accuracy of this article, that would be great.
It has also been suggested to me that I may have a "yeast allergy" (by a traveller from Europe), so if anyone has any insight into that...
EDIT: To be clear, I pretty much ruled out celiac long ago, because my symptoms are not _that_ serious. I either have wheat allergy, gluten intolerance (most likely), or something simply not listed in this article. The great value of this article to me is that it lists several possible problems and clarifies what tests are and are not available. In other words, it does for me exactly what a physician should have done for me years ago.
[+] [-] chrisa|13 years ago|reply
It sounds like you already have done this, but there is a diet where you cut out everything that might be causing the issue, and then add things back one at a time. It can take weeks for celiac to feel better after removing wheat however, so the diet method can be a long, laborious route to take.
[+] [-] msutherl|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jE22teTh|13 years ago|reply
My symptoms were less than yours (constipation once in a while) but I am 100% confirmed celiac. I had positives on the anti-tissue transglutaminase IgG, IgA tests and endoscopy confirmed extensive damage consistent with years of celiac disease. You should rule out celiac disease with the IgG, IgA tests, followed by endoscopy if positive.
[+] [-] VLM|13 years ago|reply
My son has had celiac disease all his life, from a long time before it became trendy and it'll last till the end of his life a long time after its off the front page. He's one of the 1 in 100. This was before wikipedia. Perhaps a future dating system will number years as in BW before wiki and AW after wiki. Anyway needless to say I recall quite clearly, his pediatrician FINALLY did a blood test as a last resort (celiac is not a profitable disease to treat, therefore rule out everything more profitable first) which had wildly high results, then refer to gastroenterologist who knocked him out and did an endoscopy, "yup all inflamed and Fed up in there" then trial run gluten free diet and his blood antibody numbers started dropping and he nearly instantly had a normal digestive system. And like yourself he gets horrifically sick a couple hours after eating gluten containing foods and it lasts and closely resembles a very, very bad food poisoning incident (like to the point of dyhydration danger, and yes he has been poked with IVs in the ER for this). So I donno about all this "there's no tests" this is extremely heavily trodden ground. Your primary care doc might be pretty ignorant of this specific disease but I can't imagine a gastroenterologist being confused, this is after all kinda their bread -n- butter...
On the other hand I donno if you technically "need" a medical diagnosis. I'll spare you the details, but shellfish and plain ole chicken eggs don't seem to be terribly well tolerated by my digestive system... solution? I don't eat them. I don't need a trendy diet or diagnosis or a pill or celebrity endorsement, I just don't eat lobster or fried eggs.
Note that wheat provides approximately nothing valuable to your body other than empty calories, so feel free not to eat it. Also almost all junk/highly processed foods are stuffed with wheat as a filler so your health will most likely dramatically improve if you stop eating wheat. The reason trendy actresses feel better after stopping wheat is not the lack of wholegrain bread but the lack of twinkies, not the lack of soy sauce but the lack of an entire pan of lasagna in one sitting, etc. Its not at all like giving up citrus or giving up meat where you have to put at least a minimal amount of care into making sure you don't end up with a major nutritional problem.
BTW his whole digestive system got messed up and he's also allergic to soy and milk casein proteins. Supposedly if you "tough it out" for a couple decades you can get cancer from the constant inflamation. Also his growth was pretty stunted until he got a proper diet (at which point he started growing so fast I swear you could watch him get taller). So get this checked out. I may not be a medical doctor, but it doesn't take a PHD to figure out if it makes you sick, don't eat it.
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] gnosis|13 years ago|reply
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergy_test
[+] [-] mipapage|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zwieback|13 years ago|reply
The gluten-free + gluten/placebo experiment could show whether someone is gluten intolerant or not, until then the approach you mention is indistinguishable from superstition.
[+] [-] michael_h|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] r00fus|13 years ago|reply
Science does support it if you did the observations, recorded fastidiously and properly controlled your experiment. "big name" science does not exclude normal people from conducting scientific experiments. Oblig xkcd: http://xkcd.com/397/
[+] [-] dbrian|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cooldeal|13 years ago|reply
The mind is a powerful thing.
[+] [-] aaronbrethorst|13 years ago|reply
Because when I eat it I feel bloated and nauseous. When I don't, I feel fine. Q.E.D. I talked about this a little bit the last time it came up[1].
The problem occurs when I eat barley, rye, wheat, and other grains that contain it. So, it's definitely not a wheat allergy. My symptoms aren't as severe as those that celiacs suffer from, thankfully.
Last year, after I thought I knew what was causing the problem, I tried eating some bread after my symptoms had all gone away. They came back within a couple hours. Going back to a strict gluten free diet solved the problem again.
[1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5277765
[+] [-] VLM|13 years ago|reply
How bout beer, (most) licorice, soy sauce, and (most) taco seasoned meat? That should make you sick too. It made my son sick... well, not the beer; he was just a toddler at diagnosis. But yeah, eat Chinese and throw up for 3 continuous days, even though "fried rice doesn't contain wheat, does it?", well, yeah, it does, in the soy sauce, that kind of thing.
[+] [-] ljf|13 years ago|reply
But for me I feel so much better when I avoid it, I don't get "sandwich sweats" I don't feel dopey, and most of all I don't get piles (hemorrhoids).
People try to make out I'm faddy, or that I'm being difficult, but the benefits are clear to me!
[+] [-] msutherl|13 years ago|reply
It's not a fad, it's a collective realization that this is a problem and what gets labeled as a "fad" consists of people, who feel they may have symptoms, experimenting or deciding to be perhaps a bit overly cautious.
Overall this is a very good thing and the "fad" should be encouraged.
[+] [-] nazgulnarsil|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jonnathanson|13 years ago|reply
People have definitely conflated the wheat gluten allergy issue (celiac disease and other forms) with low-carb dieting in general, which is misguided. As the article points out, the percentage of the population actually suffering from allergies to gluten is tiny. [1] But it may not be a bad idea to cut down on wheat, regardless. Especially products with highly processed wheat as a key ingredient.
[1] Although it may be growing, for reasons not currently understood. Alternatively, we may just be experiencing a boom in the diagnosis -- either a result of over-diagnosing, or rather, correct diagnoses after many decades of under-diagnosing.
[+] [-] xemoka|13 years ago|reply
It's anecdotal, yes, as is most scientific research early on when there may be a lot of competing arguments. Dr. Davis clearly outlines why he feels that wheat is a problem in our current society (mainly due to the changes in amylopectin in modern wheat, as well as other protein changes that are not present in ancestors to modern wheat). It's worth a read if you want to know more, it is anecdotal but there sure is a lot of anecdotes and empirical evidence, and it's fleshed out quite thoroughly in his book [2].
It seems that anything in our diets that is in over abundance seems to cause us problems, be it wheat or soy. Both of which are in almost everything we eat today, and both of which have undergone some serious changes in the last 40-80 years.
[1] http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/about-the-author/ [2] http://www.amazon.com/Wheat-Belly-William-Davis/dp/144341273...
[+] [-] zwieback|13 years ago|reply
I didn't feel the author was taking sides.
[+] [-] cheeseprocedure|13 years ago|reply
Some examples:
http://noglutennoproblem.blogspot.ca/2012/03/wheat-belly-bus...
http://huntgatherlove.com/content/wheat-belly
[+] [-] emehrkay|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xemoka|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ljf|13 years ago|reply
Tasted awesome though, give it a try, its one of the cheapest proteins and can be so tasty!
[+] [-] dmschulman|13 years ago|reply
Clearly.
I also understand in the article the author focused on Celiacs vs diagnosed but-not-really Celiacs, but the author should really expand his thesis. You might not even have a medical condition but would still choose to reject white bread, Twinkies, crackers, pizza, etc.
[+] [-] autarch|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] maqr|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] shawndumas|13 years ago|reply
The doctor also order the blood test to screen for specific allergy-causing antibodies to various common allergens, including wheat proteins.
It turns out that his blood had a reaction to albumin (or maybe it was globulin; I can't remember). The Doctor called it a 'wheat allergy' and went on about diarrhea. And Mom and I thought he was just trying to avoid doing the dishes when he'd bolt to the bathroom right after eating: Go figure...
We just look for gluten free because if there is no gluten there is none of the other 4 proteins found in wheat.
[+] [-] rmm|13 years ago|reply
The tests for gluten intolerance are notoriously inaccurate. They test for antibodies for gluten in the bloodstream, and this only occurs when you have serious gut permeability.
Self experimentation is the way to go with this until the research catches up. Try it for a month, and see how you feel.
Also I don't see this the problem with a self-diagnosis being wrong. It's not as if by eating gluten-free you are directly harming your body.
[+] [-] jinushaun|13 years ago|reply
That said, I still love bread, but now only eat it sparingly.
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] chris_mahan|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] conradfr|13 years ago|reply
Then I read on HN about Taubes and then keto, which led me to /r/keto and I tried it for fun (for science !) for two months (I don't need to lose weight). I did feel A LOT better and lost 2 Kg (which isn't much but I'm 1m76 for 62 Kg).
Improvements were : - no more sleepiness during the day. I had suffered about this since forever. - less headaches (and nauseas). - less belly bloating (I always thought it was normal) - (slightly) better sleep.
Since then I eat an egg & bacon for breakfast, and eat a lot less bread and pasta (and carbs). I miss baguette (I'm French) but I feel great overall.
I guess it's just +1 for anecdotal evidence ! :)
[+] [-] intopieces|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Bjuukia|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cpursley|13 years ago|reply
I don't care much for 'gluten free' replacement product hype. Just eat normal food - avoid the wheat.
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] Shorel|13 years ago|reply