Specializing in the adverse effects of modern wheat is Dr. Mark Hyman, a practicing physician and ten-time #1 New York times bestselling author. Dr Hyman estimates that 99% of people with wheat or gluten problems are not currently diagnosed. Also, that 98% of people with celiac disease have a genetic predisposition to it, which will express itself in 30% of the population.
Dramatic rise in celiac disease from wheat in last 50 years.
Our genes haven’t changed. The dramatic rise in celiac disease over 50 years is due to environmental triggers. A recent study compared blood work from 10,000 Air Force recruits. They compared blood samples taken 50 years ago to those today. The recent samples showed an increase in celiac disease by 400 percent.
And that is the full-blown disease, not including sensitivities, which affects 1 in 100 people or about 3 million Americans.
A wheat problem, not celiac – related.
Gluten can cause inflammation through a low-grade autoimmune reaction, which creates low-level antibodies to gluten, but doesn’t create celiac disease. In fact, 7% of the population (21 million or so) has what are known as these anti-gliadin antibodies.
In a major study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, hidden gluten sensitivity, meaning elevated antibodies without full-blown celiac disease, was shown to increase risk of death by 35-75%, mostly by causing heart disease and cancer. So, just by this mechanism alone, over 20 million Americans are at risk for heart attack, obesity, cancer and death.
How does gluten in wheat cause all this inflammation?
It starts by damaging the gut lining. Then all the bugs (viruses/bacteria/fungi) and partially digested food particles inside your intestine can get across the gut barrier, where they are then exposed to your immune system.
60% of that immune system lies right under the surface of one layer of cells lining your gut. Your immune system then starts attacking these foreign proteins. This causes systemic inflammation that then leads to heart disease, dementia, cancer, diabetes, etc.
Dr. Fasano, a celiac expert from the University of Maryland School of Medicine discovered a protein made in the intestine called “zonulin” that is increased by exposure to gluten. Zonulin regulates gut permeability. Increased zonulin ends up breaking up the tight junctions or cement that holds the intestinal cells tightly together. This allows larger molecules though. Your immune system is then able to come into contact with the bugs and foreign proteins. Because they can leak through the intestinal wall.
Why is there such an increase in disease from gluten in the last 50 years?
The dwarf wheat grown in this country has changed the quality and type of gluten proteins in wheat. This creates a higher gluten content and many more gluten proteins. All of this causes celiac and autoimmune antibodies.
Combine that with the damage our guts have suffered from our diets, lifestyles, medication use. Add in environment issues and you have the perfect storm for gluten intolerance. Super gluten crosses our leaky guts. It gets exposed to our immune system, which attacks the foreign invader. This sets off an entire cascade of inflammatory events to try and eliminate it.
Is wheat addictive?
When wheat is processed by your digestion, the protein in it is converted to shorter proteins called exorphins. Exorphins are kind of like the endorphins you get from a runner’s high. They bind to the opioid receptors in your brain, making you high and addicted. Just like what happens with heroin.
These wheat exorphins are known as gluteomorphines (after gluten and morphine). They are absorbed into the bloodstream and cross your blood/brain barrier. They become like a super drug, causing multiple problems. Issues like schizophrenia and autism. It can also cause addictive eating behavior, including cravings and binge eating. Bottom line, wheat is an addictive appetite stimulant!
Getting off wheat may not only make you feel better and help you lose weight; it could save your life by driving down serious inflammation.