Accused of causing skin problems, migraines, osteoporosis, allergies, and many other pathologies, many people suffer from gluten intolerance and gluten is currently controversial.
But what exactly is gluten? How can it affect health? And why is it important? These are the questions I would like to answer today.
What is gluten?
Gluten is a substance found in the grains of many cereals. Technically, it is composed of two proteins: prolamin and glutenin. Gluten is not a bacterium, a virus, or an artificial food additive. It is a natural component of the grains in which it is found.
Gluten occurs naturally in wheat, barley, and rye grains. Every time you eat a food made from these grains, you are consuming gluten. This includes flours made from these grains. The presence of gluten gives elasticity and volume to foods made from these flours. There can be no well-risen bread, brioche, or cake without gluten.
Gluten is also found in all other foods made from these grains. It is widely used in the food industry, where it serves to provide texture and act as a binder. This is why it is found in many prepared foods and dishes. Gluten can also be found in foods you might not expect. Fried foods often contain gluten because they are dipped in flour before frying. Soy sauce generally contains wheat.
Oats: gluten-free or not?
There is some confusion surrounding this, and unfortunately, the answer to this question cannot be definitive. Oats do contain a substance similar to gluten (avenin), but it is different from the gluten (prolamin and glutenin) found in wheat, barley, and rye. This substance found in oats does not cause the same health problems for most people.
The problem arises, however, due to cross-contamination. Oats are generally grown alongside wheat, barley, or rye, and their grains are loaded onto the same trucks and processed in the same factories as wheat, barley, or rye. As a result, traces of wheat, barley, or rye can be found in oats.
If you wish to consume gluten-free oats, make sure that the label clearly states “gluten-free”.
How can gluten affect health?
Gluten can cause health problems in some people because it damages the intestinal wall, increasing intestinal permeability and causing immune system dysfunction and antibody production.
This dysfunction triggers an inflammatory response that progressively destroys the intestinal villi responsible for food assimilation. Eventually, the intestine can no longer absorb nutrients, vitamins, and minerals, leading to a range of health problems: anemia, autoimmune diseases, nutritional deficiencies, and more. This condition is known as gluten intolerance.
The most severe form of gluten intolerance is celiac disease. It is a chronic illness that manifests primarily through digestive symptoms (diarrhea, abdominal pain, etc.). In some cases, especially in adults, the symptoms are not digestive, and other conditions may indicate this disease: osteoporosis, arthritis, and iron deficiency. The only solution is then to eliminate gluten from the diet.
Many people are not totally allergic to gluten but are hypersensitive and develop various symptoms: anemia, insomnia, nausea, skin problems: acne, eczema, sweating, cramps, intestinal pain, sneezing, blocked nose, watery eyes, and many other complications.
Given all these symptoms, it is often difficult to diagnose gluten sensitivity. This sensitivity is frequently diagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome and treated as such without truly investigating the underlying causes of the condition.
If you suspect you have a gluten intolerance or gluten sensitivity because you develop one of the symptoms mentioned above after consuming gluten, try a gluten-free diet for a few weeks. If your symptoms disappear, the role of gluten will be confirmed, and you can adjust your diet accordingly.
Are humans naturally intolerant to gluten?
Gluten-containing grains became an important part of our diet around 10,000 years ago, when early agricultural societies relied on grain cultivation for their subsistence. This dependence on grains, and especially gluten-containing grains, has become a global phenomenon.
It is interesting to note that the regions that have adopted gluten-containing grains for a very long time in their diet are also the regions that tend to have the lowest rates of people with gluten allergies and celiac disease (a severe form of gluten intolerance).
Humans would therefore become accustomed to ingesting gluten, even though their bodies were not originally designed for it. Researchers believe it will take many generations for our bodies to fully adapt to consuming gluten. The fact that many of our genomes are not entirely adapted to gluten consumption is one of the likely reasons why so many people are hypersensitive to gluten.
