Are you gluten intolerant without even knowing it? I must say, reading Grain Brain by David Perlmutter had me wondering whether I and everyone around me suffered from Coeliac disease or was simply gluten intolerant without being aware of it. The author, a neurosurgeon and researcher brilliantly explains why he believes everyone should remove gluten from their diet, arguing we should significantly reduce our carbohydrate intake and increase our healthy fat consumption. According to the author, gluten is the number one common denominator between a number of neurologic diseases and disorders. He shows that gluten in particular and carbs in general lead to Alzheimer, neurodegenerative diseases, depression, anxiety, chronic stress, epilepsy, inflammatory diseases, intestinal and attention disorders, diabetes, mood swings, memory disorders and light cognitive deficit, obesity amongst others.
Gluten is one of the most used food additives in the world. The protein acts like a glue that gives cheese spreads their unctuous texture; meat sauces and juices their consistence, and is even used in the cosmetic industry, in hand creams, and mascaras for instance.
Gluten’s sticky particularity interferes with nutrients degradation and absorption upon ingestion. The nutrients that are poorly digested are transformed into a pasty residue, which pushes the immune system to react and leads to inflammation of the gut wall. People then complain about abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, constipation or other gut disorders. Whenever the organism reacts negatively to the ingestion of a nutrient, it tries to control the damages caused by this nutrient by liberating inflammatory messengers that identify the nutrient as an enemy to get rid of. The immune system continues to send inflammatory chemical substances, among which killing cells that will try to destroy the nutrient that has been labeled as an enemy. Oftentimes, the inflammatory reaction destroys tissues and leads to loss of gut wall sealing, thus leading to the syndrome of leaky gut.
The main cause of degenerative diseases is inflammation. Inflammation, as explained above, can be started by a reaction of the immune system in order to fight a specific substance in the organism. Whenever antibodies of the immune system enter in contact with a protein to which someone is allergic, the inflammatory reaction is immediate and countless chemical components called “cytokines” are secreted. Gluten intolerance in particular is due to a high level of antibodies that fight a component of gluten, a protein called gliadin. Whenever an antibody enters in contact with this protein, very specific genes are activated in a particular type of immune system cell. Once these genes are activated, cytokines gather and attack the brain. Cytokines are very harmful because they damage tissues, making the brain more vulnerable to dtysfunctioning and diseases. Gluten intolerance, with or without Coeliac disease, promotes cytokine production which, as we’ve seen, are inflammatory substances that play a major role in neurodegenartive diseases.
Researches have established that gluten intolerance was essentially a neurologic disease.
It is important to note that Coeliac disease and gluten intolerance affect two distinct organs. One affects the brain and the other one affects the gut. Researchers have noted that a number of patients suffering from neurologic diseases which causes are unknown actually suffer from gluten intolerance.
You may rightfully wonder, if gluten is so harmful, how have we been ingesting it for such a long time? The author explains that we have not always eaten the same type of gluten since our ancestors have learned to cultivate wheat and draw flour from it. The food industry now allows us to cultivate wheat that contains up to 40 times more gluten than just ten years ago.
Gluten is a powerful addictive that affects the brain’s pleasure center that produces endorphin. You now understand why the food industry uses so much of it in their products: the more you eat it, the more you want to eat it. It’s also clear now why so many people are addicted to gluten-rich foods.
We’ve seen how gluten is dangerous for the brain and gut, but its effects don’t stop there. Gluten provoques hyperglycemia (high blood sugar). Wheat makes your blood sugar skyrocket faster and more strongly than table sugar. High blood sugar can lead to type 2 diabetes. Too much sugar atrophies the brain and promotes weight gain. The bigger you are, the smaller the size of your brain. Molecules of sugar linked to proteins damage the brain and with it, cognitive capacities. The scientific community has called Alzheimer “Type 3 Diabetes” because both diseases have the same roots: high blood sugar and insulin resistance. Most brain diseases are due to high carbs and low fats. diets
People suffering from Coeliac disease increase their risk of suffering from depression by 80%. Research shows that the chances to detect Coeliac disease in depressive people have spiked to 230%. The link between depression and lesion of the gut walls lies in that once the gut wall is damaged, it can no longer absorb essential nutrients like zinc and vitamin B that protect the brain.
If you frequently suffer from the following symptoms, perhaps you could pay the Doctor a visit and make a blood test to detect whether you are gluten intolerant or not: alcoholism, anxiety, ataxy, growth retardation, sterility, autism, cancer, depression, bone pain, chest pain, sugar cravings, epilepsy, lactose intolerance, Parkinson, heart diseases, nauseas, irritable bowel syndrome, malabsorption syndrome, attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity, auto-immune disorders (diabetes), digestive disorders (gas, bloating, diarrheas, constipation, etc), neurologic disorders.
