Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Wall Street Journal Article

A fascinating Wall Street Journal Article on the difference between celiac disease and gluten intolerance, and how a non-celiac immune response to wheat might cause a variety of odd symptoms.
My own allergy developed in my mid-thirties, and is a full-on anaphylaxis response. Imagine my surprise the first time that happened! I also lost about forty pounds in the four months after I stopped eating wheat. I just throw that out there because I think that was part of my inflammation response to wheat, which I was eating every day (to calm down stomach problems! which were probably also caused by wheat!)
Anyway, responses to wheat can be varied and strange. I now encourage my family and friends to try stopping gluten for a couple of weeks, and see if they don't feel better overall. It doesn't help everyone, but you never know!

3 comments:

  1. Interesting article. I've also heard that blood tests for celiac disease aren't very accurate. I tested negative for celiac but my symptoms most closely match the ones for celiac disease. I don't know what I have, but I know that cutting gluten out helps immensely!

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  2. Yes, I think the article shows there are a variety of ways that gluten can impact the body negatively, and our medical science hasn't quite gotten to the point it needs to figure it out.
    Food allergy tests are notoriously unreliable, too, FYI - they're almost useless. The only one that the FDA really recomends is the challenge test: eat the food you think you're allergic to in a doctor's office with an epi-pen at the ready. Think how scary that must be for children!

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  3. The Challenge! Sounds like a reality show.

    I trust my own tests much more than a one-off blood test. And I agree, we clearly don't really understand what all is going on with wheat/gluten. I think we're all brainwashed into thinking "whole grains" are good for us, so how could wheat be bad?

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