Hello, everyone! Welcome to the Restorative Health Solutions blog.
This will be the first of three posts we will put out on gluten. This post is about how many symptoms and conditions have been linked with gluten sensitivity, the next will be about accurate gluten testing (provide link to article), and the last will be about gluten-free diets and what to do if gluten-free by itself hasn’t solved your problems (provide link to article).
Gluten sensitivity is a growing problem in the American population and it is only going to get bigger. With new books like Wheat Belly, this recent craze away from gluten is hitting the mainstream. However, science has been onto gluten and other grains as potential drivers of many different health problems for over two decades. For those of you who are a little new, let’s review the basics starting with the most famous of the gluten-related conditions – Celiac Disease.
The Mayo Clinic defines the disease like this: “People with Celiac disease who eat foods containing gluten experience an immune reaction in their small intestines, causing damage to the inner surface of the small intestine and an inability to absorb certain nutrients.” Gluten is a protein found primarily in wheat,but also in a few other grains. People with Celiac disease can get irritable bowel, ulcers, diarrhea, constipation or other related gastrointestinal symptoms when exposed to this food protein. While this is the most famous of all the problems with gluten, it is only the tip of the iceberg. Look at what the Mayo Clinic goes on to say:
“Sometimes people with Celiac disease may have no gastrointestinal symptoms at all and, in fact, there are no “typical” signs and symptoms of celiac disease.” This statement should make you go “What!? You mean gluten can cause problems other than just in the intestines!?” Here are the symptoms they list:
• Irritability or depression
• Anemia
• Joint Pain
• Muscle Cramps
• Skin Rash
• Mouth Sores
• Osteoporosis
• Tingling in the arms and legs (Neuropathy)
Do you have any of those symptoms? If you do, have you been tested for gluten sensitivity? Remember these symptoms may also be present with or without intestine-related symptoms like bloating, GERD, or irritable bowel. Just how far does gluten sensitivity go? If you go to Pubmed or googlescholar.com you can find peer reviewed scientific literature linking gluten sensitivity to the following diseases.
• Alopecia (Hair Loss)
• Hypothyroidism
• Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Sjogren’s
• Psoriasis
• Lupus
• Type 1 Diabetes
• ADHD
• Autism
• Cerebellar Ataxia
• Dementia
• Learning Difficulties
• And more….
Again, we ask the same question: are you struggling with any of those health problems? Did you know gluten can be a driving factor in making them worse? Have you been tested for gluten sensitivity?
This is the first of three posts about gluten and we really want you to walk away realizing how many different conditions gluten can be involved with. We have said multiple times to get yourself tested, but, unfortunately, our standard gluten testing is not adequate. I’ll pull some research and show you how people are falling through the cracks in our next post.
At Restorative Health Solutions, we provide a unique approach to your health. We take on a personalized/individualized approach to each patient’s case. We pride ourselves on figuring out the “why” and are determined to find the underlying cause of dysfunction in our patients’ health and, therefore, help them heal. If you are interested in what functional medicine can do for you, please give us a call at 952-479-7801 for a free 15-minute phone consultation!
