My son and I are full blown celiacs and we are the kind with dramatic symptoms that remove any and all temptation to eat gluten, dairy or corn. Our illness can be proven with lab tests.
However, we are only about 1% of the population. A full 10% of the population is suspected of having non-celiac gluten sensitivity. It is also a serious condition, but under-diagnosed, not well understood, and frequently dismissed by doctors.
Today on Dr Oz they reran a show that talked about gluten sensitivity. The show made some really good points.
1) If you have non-celiac gluten sensitivity you will test negative for celiac disease. You will NOT have an IgG immune response. You may or may not have an IgA immune response. There is no lab test at this time because they don’t yet understand the autoimmune pathways that cause this trigger.
2) The best test as of right now for gluten sensitivity is a STRICT gluten free diet for between one and two months. As in if you cheat once you restart the test the next day. You need at least 30 consecutive days of no cheating (he didn’t say that…my nutritionist did) followed by loaf of fine bread or a pizza. One tip from me…do not make plans that involve leaving your home or doing something useful for the time after the pizza. If the test is positive you will know quickly and it will not be pretty.
3) The symptoms are similar to some celiac disease symptoms and include the following
Intermittent bloating or gas
Acid Reflux
IBS (alternating constipation and diarrhea)
Migraines
Joint Aches or Pains
Brain Fog
Depression
Anxiety
Sleep Problems
Eczema
A few things that he failed to mention include the following
1) You can have this with no digestive symptoms. You may simply have migraines, anxiety, depression and brain fog. You could just have migraines.
2) ADHD is also a potential symptom especially in children. This does not mean that all or even most ADHD is caused by gluten. There are a wide variety of food sensitivities that seem to trigger ADHD and some ADHD appears not to be food related at all. My son was reactive to corn as was the daughter of my nutritionist. That said, you may want to try g-free eating and see if it helps.
3) Gluten isn’t the only food sensitivity. In one human study they discovered that HALF of all celiacs reacted to corn and dairy with full autoimmune responses. It was a small study and has not been repeated but in my opinion it was good science. I have posted on that study before. You may need to remove more than gluten to get relief.
4) He recommends never eating processed gluten-free foods. As I hope this blog has demonstrated, we eat mostly unprocessed non-specialty food. With that said, Dr Oz has a housekeeper, adult children and a wife with time to cook. A working mom with kids is unlikely to make the time to prepare her own bread and gluten-free sandwich cookies. So my advice as someone who lives this way is to eat mostly fruits and veggies. Eat some meat, but make space in your budget for some GF prepared foods. Making your own sandwich cookies is a pain in the butt.
You can watch the episode and take the quiz by going to the link below
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/gluten-your-bodys-worst-enemy-pt-1
PLEASE NOTE: There is a woman on the show who cooks “gluten-free” and says oats are gluten free. Unless you get certified GF oats this is not true. One of her recipes will work out fine with the Bob’s Red Mill GF oats but others will not.
