What's the Deal With Gluten?

Gluten is what makes fresh San Francisco sourdough bread delicious, makes bagels doughy, and pastries flaky. Gluten is also the primary enemy to good health. Gluten is the storage protein of the wheat plant which stores carbon and nitrogen for the plant to use for germination. Gluten is made up of 2 main proteins: gliadins and glutenins. These gluten proteins have undergone significant genetic changes over the past 50 years due to genetic modification.

Modern Triticum aestivum (wheat) is unable to survive without human intervention, fertilization and pest control. Kind of reminds me of Jurassic Park when the scientists made the dinosaurs in the movie all lysine dependent (trying to keep them dependent on humans to live) then the dinosaurs mutated and we all know how that story ended...ooops! The point is don't screw with mother nature, she knows what she's doing.

Many scientists are finding that this genetic modification has lead to a greater amount of gluten proteins in wheat which trigger celiac disease and may be responsible for the doubling of this disease in the last 20 years, along with in increase in other autoimmune diseases such as Type 1 Diabetes, Crohn's disease, and food allergies.

Due to genetic modification, modern wheat is about 70% carbohydrate and is lower in protein than ancient wheat. The carbohydrate in wheat is 75% amylopectin and 25% amylose. Amylopectin is very efficiently digested and easily turned into sugar. The specific type of amlyopectin in wheat is amylopectin A which has been called a "super carbohydrate" as it is the most readily turned into blood sugar of all the types of amylopectin.

In a study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, participants were given a diet of 70% amylose or 70% amylopectin. Those on the amylopectin diet had higher glucose and insulin responses after a meal. Due to the high amylopectin content, white bread has a higher glycemic response than table sugar (according to the glycemic index). So why does this matter for health?

The reason it matters is because of insulin. High blood sugar (from amylopectin and other refined carbohydrates), leads to increased insulin, which leads to increased inflammation, and then to chronic diseases (diabetes, autoimmune diseases, heart disease, and even mental illnesses). Insulin is also a storage hormone and causes food to be stored...excess food leads to excess storage (ie FAT). 

The only way to get rid of fat is to allow insulin levels to decrease enough in the body so the fat can actually come OUT of the cells. So, due to its high amylopectin content, wheat elevates blood sugar leading to not only excess weight, but a whole myriad of other health problems. How is this a "safe" food again?

Gluten also has the ability to increase intestinal permeability or cause "leaky gut". Gliadin, triggers the release of zonulin, which regulates intestinal permeability. Zonulin causes holes in the intestinal wall, causing proteins to pass through undigested. The problem is that our body's immune system doesn't recognize these proteins and launches an immune response against them. 

The body's immune response to the entry of gluten proteins isn't always manifested as full-blown celiac disease, but can show up as thyroid disease, diabetes, joint pain, and allergies. It just depends where in the body the reaction will occur. There has been recent discussion in the medical community to call this type of immune disruption "Immune-mediated gluten intolerance".

So, to sum it up, if you are suffering from any "strange symptoms" (achy joints, digestive issues, acne mental fog, etc) or have full-blown autoimmune disease or diabetes it may benefit you to take a look at gluten and see how you feel eliminating it from your diet.

Ana Johnson, MS, RD, CDE
http://www.wholelifediets.com

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