You've probably been hearing and reading a lot about gluten recently. Gluten-free this and gluten-free that. So what the hell is gluten and why should we, according to so many in the healthfood field, avoid it like the proverbial plague?
Gluten is a protein composed of 2 proteins: gliaden and glutelin. It is found in grains such as wheat,rye and barley. One of its primary functions is to nourish plant embryos during germination.
The downside is that some people cannot tolerate gluten, particularly those afflicted with celiac disease. When these people consume products containing gluten, it triggers an immune response that can damage the intestines. However, and this is a big however, only about 1% of the population is gluten intolerant. Therefore, to call it harmful is certainly a gross exaggeration. If you do not suffer from a form of gluten intolerance, this protein is not harmful to you in any way, despite what the healthfood industry would have us believe. Gluten is the current nutritional bogeyman, and anti-gluten the current fad. Tomorrow it could be milk and dairy products because a small percentage of the population is lactose intolerant.
Consuming whole grains is an integral part of a healthy diet, providing much needed vitamins, minerals, starches and fiber, so think twice when you see all the anti-gluten propaganda, and all the food products labelled gluten-free. It is just one more marketing ploy. Unfortunately, it seems that common sense is not the current fad.
I can see that Gluten Free has become a current fad, but I made the change almost 2 years ago. I now know that I have an intolerance to gluten. I feel much better now, and have lost close to 60 pounds. Moderation and a healthy diet are very important and for me, I am not anti-gluten - I am just anti-wheat.
ReplyDeleteSounds like AMA, FDA, USGA, and Monsanto propaganda. Gluten intolerance is not about allergies to gluten. The traditional scratch test for allergies will not indicate the issue with the gluten protein. The issue is its strong adhesion to itself negating the stomach's acid breakdown of amino acids.
ReplyDeleteJust as Joan noticed a definite improvement in her health, so did I. My dear friend Conrad is plagued by the mental disorder know as "cognitive dissonance" making it impossible for those so afflicted to believe information contrary to long standing beliefs as, who was responsible for 9/11.
Proteins are made up of chains of amino acids which the stomach acid breaks up into individual amino acids for the small intestines to assimilate into the bloodstream. My holistic primary-care Naturopathic Physicians, Dr Joel Wallach and Dr Peter Glidden, believe that 80% of Americans cannot completely digest the gluten protein.
But that is not the primary concern. When the protein chain is not dissolved by our stomach acids it clogs up the receptors, villi, in the lower intestines thereby prohibiting the absorption of many other nutrients.
Remember that there are no diseases that are "pharmaceutical deficiencies", and all diseases are nutritional deficiencies. Any and all diseases are available to those who cannot assimilate what nutrition they do intake.
Hence the current and ongoing and increasing "fad" of gluten-free diets.