Gluten: Friend or Foe? by Rahim Habib, ND “Eat your whole grains” is a common nutrition and dietary principle according to many renowned nutrition think tanks and public health departments the world over. However, ‘gluten-free’ products are getting very common in most marketplaces and even corner stores. Many grains contain ‘gluten’ - a real thorn in the gut for tens of thousands of people around the world, yes, including the Western world. Gluten is a protein fragment naturally found in most grains, such as wheat, rye and barley. You may be surprised that it might be affecting your health…but what about the generally accepted advice on the benefits of grains? First of all, about one percent of North Americans have the most severe form of gluten reactivity known as Celiac Disease (CD); however, most of these people do not even realize they have it. Symptoms of CD include abdominal pain, diarrhea, gas, bloating, headache or even migraines, trouble concentrating and fatigue. If you have some of these symptoms, gluten and the grains that contain it are definitely not your friend. See your primary care provider and get tested for this auto-immune disease. In CD, your immune system fights against your small intestine…which leads to many nutritional deficiencies and predisposes you to other problems such as osteoporosis, certain cancers and skin disorders. If you do not have Celiac Disease you’re not necessarily off the hook. It is estimated that six to seven times more people have a lesser-known problem called non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS). In these people, there is no blood test or biopsy that proves you have gluten sensitivity, unlike with CD. Your doctor, or you may have your own suspicions that you may be gluten sensitive. It could be that you have some of the symptoms of CD. Other NCGS symptoms include those that occur with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) where there is often an alternation between suffering from constipation,...
Posted on: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 05:31:20 +0000
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