From “NEVER Paleo” to “Never Turning Back”

"I will NEVER go Paleo." Those are the words I repeated over and over to my CrossFit coach, members in my morning class and anybody else who found success with the highly controversial diet that is a throwback to the Paleolithic days."If cavemen had access to corn, potatoes and dairy, they would have eaten it!’ I believed every word of what I shared with people.”

Then, somewhat later - 

This laughter came to a screeching halt when my celiac disease symptoms ramped up to life-altering proportions. After eliminating gluten and finding instant relief, I turned my attention to the many highly processed gluten-free products such as corn, potato and rice-based flours, baking goods, pastas and bread.

Source: I Tried The Paleo Diet And I'm Never Turning Back

“Wheat sensitivity” and irritable bowel syndrome

An extensive review of non-celiac gluten sensitivity published in Nutrients found “recent studies raised the possibility that, beside gluten, wheat amylase-trypsin inhibitors and low-fermentable, poorly-absorbed, short-chain carbohydrates” contribute to irritable bowel syndrome. If future investigations confirm these initial finding, non-celiac gluten sensitivity may be more appropriately called “wheat sensitivity.” (emphasis added)

Source: Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity: The New Frontier of Gluten Related Disorders

Celiac disease is not a disease

“HLA antibodies complexed to alpha-/beta-gliadin.” Image: Wikimedia CommonsThe New Oxford American Dictionary defines a disease as:

a disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant, esp. one that produces specific signs or symptoms or that affects a specific location and is not simply a direct result of physical injury

For this discussion, the key point is “a disorder of structure or function.” With celiac disease (CD) however, there is a problem: the person does not have “a disorder of structure or function.” Their structure or function would have been just fine before the agricultural revolution. There is nothing wrong with the person; the problem is the invented diet of the agricultural revolution. (Consider it this way: if someone is suffering from chronic mercury exposure, you do not say they have mercury disease, you say they have mercury poisoning.)

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Gluten-free Novak Djokovic shakes up tennis

File image: Mark Howard PhotographyAs John Durant identified, The Wall Street Journal ran an article on tennis star Novak Djokovic: The Diet That Shook Up Tennis? Starch Madness: Novak Djokovic's Domination of the Sport Has Coincided With His Gluten-Free Turn.

Well, now there is no question about it, gluten-free Novak just shook up the tennis world by beating Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon. The WSJ, writing before today's men's singles championship win, asked:

How did Novak Djokovic conquer the tennis world? Maybe the answer is as simple as this: Since last year, he's swearing off pasta, pizza, beer, French bread, Corn Flakes, pretzels, empanadas, Mallomars and Twizzlers—anything with gluten.

Yes, it can be that simple. 

Related Post
Gluten Sensitivity on the Rise 

Short Takes: "Silent" celiac disease, Pain on the brain, Anxiety in the gut

1. "Silent" celiac disease

Celiac disease is an insult of the modern diet occurring in at least 1% of the population. The reaction of the immune system to gluten protein in wheat and other grains sets off a "misguided attack" on the lining of the small intestine. As describe by ScienceNews:

The small intestine suffers from this misguided attack, and celiac patients can experience bloating, diarrhea, constipation, lethargy and poor nutrition as they lose some ability to absorb nutrients through the damaged walls of the small intestine.

However, others sensitive to gluten may not show these classic intestinal signs but instead suffer silently. As ScienceNews continues:

But many people don’t have such clear symptoms, said gastroenterologist Katri Kaukinen of the University of Tampere. Even undetected the disease can have health effects: It has been linked to poor educational achievement and failure to thrive in children, apparently due to nutrient loss. In adulthood, undetected celiac disease is associated with a risk of fractures, poor dental enamel, short stature, pregnancy difficulties and skin problems. 

Learn more from Nathan Seppa at ScienceNews or from Dr. Gerard Guillory in the previous post Gluten Sensitivity on the Rise.

2. Pain on the brain

Constant back pain wearing you down? Well, it does thin a portion of the frontal cortex of the brain. Fortunately, good pain control can allow the brain to recover. As reported by ScienceNews, scientist at McGill University in Montreal studied the brains of patients with low back pain and found the upper-outer edges of the frontal areas, specifically the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (a region involved in pain modulation), were thinner than normal. Six months following successful treatment of the pain, repeat scans showed improvement in these areas. The greater the pain control, the greater the return to normal. Learn more from Laura Sanders at ScienceNews. 

3. Anxiety in the gut

Evidence is slowly growing that a number of "psychological" disorders such as depression may actually originate from poor nutrition. The latest study looks at the impact of gut bacteria on anxiety. As reported by ScienceDaily:

Working with healthy adult mice, the researchers showed that disrupting the normal bacterial content of the gut with antibiotics produced changes in behaviour; the mice became less cautious or anxious. This change was accompanied by an increase in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which has been linked to depression and anxiety.

When oral antibiotics were discontinued, bacteria in the gut returned to normal. "This was accompanied by restoration of normal behaviour and brain chemistry," Collins said.

One more reason to protect your gut bacteria by avoiding grains. 

Gluten Sensitivity on the Rise

Guest Post by Gerard Guillory, M.D.

Approximately 1% of persons in the US have celiac disease, an immune reaction to the gluten protein in wheat (above), barely, rye and sometimes oats. Many more may sensitive to this foreign protein.Gluten sensitivity is more common than medical experts once believed, affecting perhaps as much as 1 percent of the U.S. population. The symptoms of this condition, also referred to as celiac disease, can be widely varied and highly unpleasant. The good news is that celiac disease can be detected through a simple blood test and effectively managed through changes in diet.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye and food products such as breads and pastas that are derived from these grains. Gluten also is sometimes found in oats, which frequently are contaminated with gluten during processing and, as a result, also contain the protein.

In some people, the body’s immune system is triggered by the presence of gluten, causing a variety of problems. In children, these can include failure to thrive and short stature. Many gluten-sensitive adults experience chronic gastrointestinal problems, including diarrhea, flatulence and weight loss. Recent studies have indicated that many adults who are gluten-sensitive experience non-gastrointestinal problems as well, including iron-deficiency anemia and decreased bone density.

I became interested in gluten sensitivity in 1989, when I wrote my first book on irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). I had included a chapter on the so-called elimination diet. In those days, we didn’t have effective tests for many food allergies, so we recommended that patients eliminate various foods from their diet and then resume consumption of these, one by one. This would help identify the cause of IBS symptoms.

Through this method, we found that when some patients eliminated gluten from their diets, not only did IBS symptoms disappear, but so did other problems such as rheumatism, allergies and skin disorders.

Recent studies suggest that this isn’t a coincidence; in fact, there appears to be a direct link between gluten and auto-immune disorders. If you have an auto-immune disorder such as rheumatism, I recommend that you ask your physician about gluten sensitivity and consider getting a blood test. You also should consider testing if you are experiencing unexplained gastrointestinal problems such as chronic diarrhea or weight loss. Testing should be done before you attempt to eliminate gluten from your diet, so that the lab can determine whether gluten is triggering an immunological response.

If you test positive for celiac disease, your physician is likely to recommend that you work with a dietician to develop a gluten-free diet. Many people also join a support group, which helps them stay with the diet. Growing numbers of grocery stores and natural-foods stores sell gluten-free products, so the difficulties associated with the diet are perhaps not as onerous as they once were.

Gerard L. Guillory, M.D., is board-certified in internal medicine and has been practicing in Aurora, Colo., since July 1985. As an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Dr. Guillory is actively involved in teaching medical students, resident physicians, and nurse practitioner students. He has lectured extensively on the role of nutrition and disease. Over the years, he has fostered an interest in patient education and has authored three books on digestive troubles.

Originally posted at The Care Group, update Feb 7, 2011