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Do you think that gluten, lactose, or {insert supposed food intolerance here} is really just a fad?
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BabyBear76 wrote: »Unless you have Celiac disease; your body needs gluten. It's a mixture of two protiens types. Gluten free is actually unhealthy for the average person.
I am adding myself to the list of those eagerly awaiting the science behind this. Gluten is in no way a necessary diet component.4 -
PrincessMel72 wrote: »I can't speak to the gluten free thing, because it doesn't affect me at all. But I'm most definitely lactose intolerant. If I drink regular cow's milk or have more than a half cup of regular ice cream, my guts twist and turn and it's not a pretty thing. it's quite painful. Funny I can have one cup of yogurt and cheese doesn't affect me at all. But milk and ice cream - nope!
Hard cheeses are very low in lactose (they only contain trace amounts) just fyi so are generally safe for lactose intolerant people.0 -
@Relser well I am fat and I have celiac, and was also fat and malnourished because of the celiac and it took me 13 years to find a doctor who thought... hmm the acute abdominal pain and soft stools 6-10 times a day perhaps we should test you for celiac.
As for gluten intolerance I think it is real too I have a friend who has the same symptoms I do and she does not have celiac her doctor diagnosed her with gluten intolerance. Perhap the fact that celiac and gluten free is more out there and people are finding an answer to the doctor visits and symptoms they have lived with their whole lives.
I am sure that there are people out there who have heard about it and all the woo and think their bloat after a beer or a large pasta meal is due to the gluten and that is annoying. People who say they can't have gluten and then drink a beer or eat some cake is annoying as well.
I'm sure if they had the symptoms of celiac or someone with a severe gluten intolerance they would stop the faking ... I hope.
"People that claim that modern breads/wheats are the culprit are full of compete and utter nonsense, as breads from 70-120 years ago were far worse at aggravating gut sensitivities. Up until about 100 years ago, most breads were sourdoughs. Sourdough is a combination of at least one lactobacillus (lactic acid bacterium) and at least one yeast. Lactobacilli outnumber yeast on average about 100:1 to 200:1"
The thing that people react to is gluten not the yeast or the lactobacillus. Gluten IS: Gluten (from Latin gluten, "glue") is a composite of storage proteins termed prolamins and glutelins[1] and stored together with starch in the endosperm (which nourishes the embryonic plant during germination) of various grass-related grains. It is found in wheat, barley, rye, oat, related species and hybrids (such as spelt, khorasan, emmer, einkorn, triticale, kamut, etc.)[2] and products of these (such as malt). Gluten is appreciated for its viscoelastic properties.[3][4] It gives elasticity to dough, helping it rise and keep its shape and often gives the final product a chewy texture.
So if breads 70-120 did not have the proteins then sure it could be the stuff now a days but they did have that and 70-120 years ago there was still Celiac: From wikipedia "Humans first started to cultivate grains in the Neolithic period (beginning about 9500 BCE) in the Fertile Crescent in Western Asia, and it is likely that coeliac disease did not occur before this time. Aretaeus of Cappadocia, living in the second century in the same area, recorded a malabsorptive syndrome with chronic diarrhoea, causing a debilitation of the whole body.[32] His "Cœliac Affection" (coeliac from Greek κοιλιακός koiliakos, "abdominal") gained the attention of Western medicine when Francis Adams presented a translation of Aretaeus's work at the Sydenham Society in 1856. The patient described in Aretaeus' work had stomach pain and was atrophied, pale, feeble and incapable of work. The diarrhoea manifested as loose stools that were white, malodorous and flatulent, and the disease was intractable and liable to periodic return. The problem, Aretaeus believed, was a lack of heat in the stomach necessary to digest the food and a reduced ability to distribute the digestive products throughout the body, this incomplete digestion resulting in the diarrhoea. He regarded this as an affliction of the old and more commonly affecting women, explicitly excluding children. The cause, according to Aretaeus, was sometimes either another chronic disease or even consuming "a copious draught of cold water."[32][33]
I have never met anyone faking lactose intolerance. I am lactose intolerant too and it is no fun. My advice do not have a shake at Fudruckers on the way back from a Cubs game because that bus will not stop for you to use the bathroom.
I had never met anyone with celaics who was over weight, but now I know! It's always nice to learn more. That sucks it took thirteen freaken years!1 -
I just met someone who told me they are "allergic" to meat. Is that a thing??
If it is, I think I would just tell people I'm vegetarian to avoid the odd looks like the one I gave this person.0 -
Not sure about all meat, but my youngest sister was allergic to chicken. Both my sisters still are extremely allergic to fish, which isn't too uncommon, but chicken wasn't/isn't heard about much. (She outgrew the allergy in her teens, but as a kid, she'd break out in hives.)0
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estherdragonbat wrote: »Not sure about all meat, but my youngest sister was allergic to chicken. Both my sisters still are extremely allergic to fish, which isn't too uncommon, but chicken wasn't/isn't heard about much. (She outgrew the allergy in her teens, but as a kid, she'd break out in hives.)
That's what was odd about it...I'm allergic to fish, so I get that. But this person claimed ALL meat. I guess I could have questioned further, but just nodded and backed away instead.
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SuzySunshine99 wrote: »I just met someone who told me they are "allergic" to meat. Is that a thing??
If it is, I think I would just tell people I'm vegetarian to avoid the odd looks like the one I gave this person.
It's rare, but it kind of exists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha-gal_allergy
It's spread by tick bites, but people impacted don't have to avoid all meat. They can eat fish and poultry.2 -
[/quote]
I found your post interesting and insightful, I just wanted to make a small correction. Oats are intrinsically gluten-free. The reason you see them specifically labeled gf is because unless grown in a wheat-free environment the oat crops are often rotated with wheat crops so that stray wheat plants will come up with the oats and cause cross-contamination. Oats are also often processed along with wheat on shared equipment again leading to cross-contamination.[/quote]
I do know that oats are in themselves gluten free but they are often cross contaminated. I would not advice anyone who has this disease to eat regular Quaker Oats they would get sick.
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I took the Pinnertest and found out I was intolerant to gluten and eggs. I cut them out of my diet, and my stomachaches have reduced to maybe once a week (vs. 2x per day). I also have a reaction to diary, but I agree with everyone who said it was person specific. I wouldn't give these items up if I didn't have the issue!6
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bridgets1978 wrote: »I took the Pinnertest and found out I was intolerant to gluten and eggs. I cut them out of my diet, and my stomachaches have reduced to maybe once a week (vs. 2x per day). I also have a reaction to diary, but I agree with everyone who said it was person specific. I wouldn't give these items up if I didn't have the issue!
The Pinner test is pseudoscience with multiple issues. You could get the same results by burning $500 and then picking random foods to cut out of your diet.
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/health-fitness/prevention/is-food-intolerance-testing-for-real
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-04-11/health/ct-met-food-intolerance-tests-20120411_1_food-intolerance-food-sensitivities-food-additives2 -
Ultimately what a clinician is looking for from someone who does not have celiac disease yet claims some type of food allergy or intolerance is a reaction from the body which is immune system quantifiable from diagnostic testing. Ideally an IgG-mediated immune response to specific foods or ingredients. People that legitimately have such a condition would produce an immune system response from what the body interprets as foreign matter. This is not altogether dissimilar from how the body reacts to an invading pathogen or infectious agent like a virus, for example.
Remember the celiac disease itself is an autoimmune disorder of the more extreme and unpleasant variety, so those that claim a more minor variation of a similar biological reality should react in a similar but far less acute manner. The overwhelming majority of people simply don't, is the short answer, and furthermore unless an MD strongly suspects the patient suffers from celiac disease due to the preponderance of symptoms, they won't typically go through the trouble of ordering laboratory testing to that end. What many in medicine (and elsewhere) have done to be accommodating to the trend is offer watered down, imprecise, and sometimes entirely ambitious tests and sometimes and self tests to placate people. Since there is nothing inherently dangerous about people who omit gluten from their diet, the chances for any type of malpractice case are relatively low, so there is not real harm per se.
What I do think it accomplishes which is harmful is to allow the average Joe Blow to play doctor without the added benefit of the type of applied knowledge it takes to make these types of decisions. How long before some new age freakshow really does hurt themselves by believing every crock of nonsense they read? We have seen evidence of this type of destructive behavior from the public before in the form of lunacy like the "anti-vax" movement and other forms of quackery.
With the amount of web traffic and following that colossal imbeciles like Joseph Mercola ,Mike Adams, Vani Hari, Mehmet Oz, and others are able to attain, I would say I have more than adaquate reason to be skeptical.5 -
I've never understood why people so fiercely hate that people get sick from gluten or don't want to eat it, do you own stock in wonder bread?9
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WickAndArtoo wrote: »I've never understood why people so fiercely hate that people get sick from gluten or don't want to eat it, do you own stock in wonder bread?
The critical point of the matter you appear to have missed entirely, which is the overwhelming majority of people who claim such issues simply do not have them in a real, legitimate and clinical sense. You naturally have the hypochondriacs of the world to consider (I have an Aunt who certianly qualifies for this camp), but in the majority of circumstances I suspect you simply have people who just buy into the hype, for a whole host of possible reasons.
This does not discount the importance of freedom of choice which you brought up in the least, just that people often make dumb decisions with incomplete or false information.2 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »I just met someone who told me they are "allergic" to meat. Is that a thing??
If it is, I think I would just tell people I'm vegetarian to avoid the odd looks like the one I gave this person.
There is a tick (The Loan Star tick) that if it bits you, you become allergic to red meat.0 -
@Relser
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I had never met anyone with celaics who was over weight, but now I know! It's always nice to learn more. That sucks it took thirteen freaken years! [/quote]
I know it took forever!!! I now see over the years how I had symptoms going back to high school. I did a lot of research trying to figure out what was wrong with me, and more after I did find out. This was one article that I came across about overweight and celiac.
https://www.celiac.com/articles/1077/1/39-of-Celiac-Disease-Patients-are-Overweight-at-Diagnosis8212A-Full-30-are-Obese/Page1.html0 -
I found your post interesting and insightful, I just wanted to make a small correction. Oats are intrinsically gluten-free. The reason you see them specifically labeled gf is because unless grown in a wheat-free environment the oat crops are often rotated with wheat crops so that stray wheat plants will come up with the oats and cause cross-contamination. Oats are also often processed along with wheat on shared equipment again leading to cross-contamination.[/quote]
I do know that oats are in themselves gluten free but they are often cross contaminated. I would not advice anyone who has this disease to eat regular Quaker Oats they would get sick.
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In NZ where GF label means rested to less than 3ppm as opposed to the US where its 20ppm oats ate considered NOT safe for Coeliacs, not due to contamination as above but due to their dominant protein that is very similar to gluten. 1 in 4 coeliacs will react to it the same way as to gluten so for safetys sake we avoid even GF oats.0 -
I have mixed feelings about the trend of gluten free - I say this because as someone who is gluten intolerant I hate to be put in the same bucket as those who are avoiding gluten for non-medical reasons. I find that as a result of this trend, I can no longer eat a gluten free meal at a restaurant without fear of cross-contamination. The meal prepped just don't seem to take the allergy seriously.
On the plus side, the fact that we can find so many gluten free dedicated sections at grocery stores or even entire restaurants that are gluten free is amazing! I have only been the beneficiary in this sense of finding clearly labeled packaging now that gluten free is such a trend.
To note, I know celiacs is the most commonly linked issue with gluten, but raising awareness here - autoimmune diseases can also flare or cause additional damage to a person's body due to gluten. See photo of my knobby knee on $200 a tube of prescription topical ointment (left) versus no prescription - just avoiding gluten for a year (right).6 -
My husbands lactose intolerant & I see the results when he gives in. A friend of mine gets inflammation when eating gluten0
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reminds me of an acquintance of mine who claimed to be severly lactose intolerant yet the cup and a half of ice cream she ate very single evening at 9PM never gave her a moments problem. Nor the cream she put in her tea. Or the milk she used in her baked goods. But let her look at a bottle of milk and she swore her stomach cramped up just from that!2
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