During Coeliac Awareness Week 13th-20th March 2017
Gluten gets a pretty bad rap these days and with all the gluten free products available, many of us reach for the GF option thinking we are doing ourselves a favour. But are we?
This week is coeliac awareness week so I am taking the opportunity to set the record straight for my misunderstood friend, gluten.
Gluten refers to proteins found in wheat, barley, rye and in Australia oats and is therefore found in almost every aisle of the supermarket. Many people think Coeliac disease is an allergic reaction to gluten but in fact it is an autoimmune disease, that produces an autoimmune response to its enemy that is gluten. When a coeliac consumes gluten, the body produces antibodies to attack it, in turn these antibodies lead to damage of the small intestine lining which leads to malabsorption.
If you are suffering from coeliac disease, you would most likely have abdominal symptoms after eating gluten and sometimes skin conditions. To properly diagnose the condition, a blood test followed by an endoscopy is required and only then should you remove gluten from your diet. Doing so before the tests can produce a false negative blood result.
There are also wheat allergies that are different from coeliac disease and this can be diagnosed with a skin or blood test. The symptoms are similar but a severe wheat allergy can result in anaphylaxis.
So obviously in these two circumstances avoiding wheat and gluten is essential to your health. In all other cases, there is little evidence to support avoiding gluten, in fact, some research suggests gluten avoidance neglects the body of essential vitamins, nutrients and minerals.