Gluten allergies are a farce?
TadaGanIarracht
Posts: 2,615 Member
Replies
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I don't have celiac disease, but if I eat anything containing gluten I get hives. It's not a farce, and it bothers me when people say they are allergic when they really are just looking for an excuse, for whatever reason. It's very difficult having ths allergy. My hives are one step away from anaphylaxis.0
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All I know is I'm falling asleep when I eat gluten. Frustrates me that I can't find a definite answer to this.0
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I don't have celiac disease, but if I eat anything containing gluten I get hives. It's not a farce, and it bothers me when people say they are allergic when they really are just looking for an excuse, for whatever reason. It's very difficult having ths allergy. My hives are one step away from anaphylaxis.
Some celiacs get topical reactions to gluten. So clearly the body doesn't just react in one set way to an allergen or food sensitivity!
But as for myself, I stopped eating gluten 4-5 years ago and I feel much better without it. I first tried going dairy-free and this didn't change my painful bloating or gas. I also was doing these elimination diets more with the hope it'd clear up my acne (which it didn't) and wasn't really banking on some digestive improvements. I didn't even know what the symptoms of gluten allergy or sensitivity were when I did this.
So eh, YMMV.0 -
A food allergy is not the same thing as Celiac's Disease.0
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The bulk of the responses here will be a list of reasons why the word 'probably' was used.
*kicks back and mows down on popcorn*0 -
A food allergy is different. I have an allergy to wheat. Hives, etc, and have to carry an epi pen. You can have both (an allergy and celiac) but just being celiac is not the same.0
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Some celiacs get topical reactions to gluten. So clearly the body doesn't just react in one set way to an allergen or food sensitivity!
But as for myself, I stopped eating gluten 4-5 years ago and I feel much better without it. I first tried going dairy-free and this didn't change my painful bloating or gas. I also was doing these elimination diets more with the hope it'd clear up my acne (which it didn't) and wasn't really banking on some digestive improvements. I didn't even know what the symptoms of gluten allergy or sensitivity were when I did this.
So eh, YMMV.
I also believe every body reacts differently. I meant no offense, and Im sorry if what I wrote was taken the wrong way. What I meant about the people looking for an excuse is certain women I've met in Scottsdale that pick and choose. An example is one woman I know, her name is Rachel. She told me yesterday that she had "that disease where bread and gluten make you gain weight," but went ahead and ate her pasta with no worries and said that really it was her sister who told her not to eat gluten and to say she was allergic because she was fat. She weighs 125lbs... That kind of thing bothers me because not only is her sister giving her a body image problem, but the week before it was the hormones and antibiotics in commercial milk and yogurt that were making her fat and sick. IDK, it just bothers me that Heidi, the sister, picks and chooses what's "wrong" with Rachel, who is a beautiful woman with nothing wrong that she's ever told me about, and the fact that Heidi thinks it's the cool new thing to be GF, whereas I find to be trying and quite difficult sometimes, wishing I could reverse it. There are eggs, milk, and gluten in so many things, and when I'm really hungry I can't just reach for something because if I do it could result in painful hives and difficulty breathing. Does that make sense? Again, I meant no offense..
How have you been since you realized that that was your allergy? I had some broth earlier today, and didn't realize it had whey in it and in 15 hours, I look and feel like I've gained 30lbs from bloating and inflammation. My allergies are newly diagnosed so I'm still reading every label and feeling my way. I guess maybe I'm just wondering if it gets easier..
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BTW I never got diagnosed or got a positive on allergy testing, I just did it as an elimination diet thing and only cutting out gluten helped (I do eat GF substitutes just fine). But I know the type of people you are talking about. An old coworker said she was celiac and that eating gluten will make her like, violently poop everywhere. And then she goes and eats regular cookies and timbits lol. No reaction at all. So yes, it's stupid to say "omg I'm allergic to this" and then they eat it. Or say they don't eat something because it's trendy and have no idea WHY they aren't supposed to eat it.
Some celiacs get topical reactions to gluten. So clearly the body doesn't just react in one set way to an allergen or food sensitivity!
But as for myself, I stopped eating gluten 4-5 years ago and I feel much better without it. I first tried going dairy-free and this didn't change my painful bloating or gas. I also was doing these elimination diets more with the hope it'd clear up my acne (which it didn't) and wasn't really banking on some digestive improvements. I didn't even know what the symptoms of gluten allergy or sensitivity were when I did this.
So eh, YMMV.
I also believe every body reacts differently. I meant no offense, and Im sorry if what I wrote was taken the wrong way. What I meant about the people looking for an excuse is certain women I've met in Scottsdale that pick and choose. An example is one woman I know, her name is Rachel. She told me yesterday that she had "that disease where bread and gluten make you gain weight," but went ahead and ate her pasta with no worries and said that really it was her sister who told her not to eat gluten and to say she was allergic because she was fat. She weighs 125lbs... That kind of thing bothers me because not only is her sister giving her a body image problem, but the week before it was the hormones and antibiotics in commercial milk and yogurt that were making her fat and sick. IDK, it just bothers me that Heidi, the sister, picks and chooses what's "wrong" with Rachel, who is a beautiful woman with nothing wrong that she's ever told me about, and the fact that Heidi thinks it's the cool new thing to be GF, whereas I find to be trying and quite difficult sometimes, wishing I could reverse it. There are eggs, milk, and gluten in so many things, and when I'm really hungry I can't just reach for something because if I do it could result in painful hives and difficulty breathing. Does that make sense? Again, I meant no offense..
How have you been since you realized that that was your allergy? I had some broth earlier today, and didn't realize it had whey in it and in 15 hours, I look and feel like I've gained 30lbs from bloating and inflammation. My allergies are newly diagnosed so I'm still reading every label and feeling my way. I guess maybe I'm just wondering if it gets easier..
As far as getting easier, it's pretty easy to avoid. but BTW whey is not gluten, it's actually dairy (lactose?). So are you sure that you have issues with gluten? or are you saying you have issues with multiple ingredients including dairy? If so then that sucks. Although I used to be allergic to eggs, didn't eat them for years, and then it cleared up. This was even all verified with allergy testing when I was 13 adn then again 10ish years later! But I have no problems with avoiding gluten now, when I did eat gluten again for 2 months I was seriously having the worst poops, constant bloating and gas, and it was really painful. And it was very stinky, oy. I now can pretty easily notice when the ingredient list contains gluten without having to spend too much time looking over ingredients.
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There's no allergy test for "gluten". At least not one used by Immunologists. There's allergy tests for specific food proteins; wheat, rye, barley etc.0
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Same a many folks here, I just feel better when I keep gluten out of my diet. I do fine with gluten free bread but avoid most other gluten free products. I can tell within a day of eating something containing gluten (soy sauce), I will be tired and bloated.
I've never had the need to be officially diagnosed with anything, l just know what works for my body.
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TadaGanIarracht wrote: »
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/9/23/
I am a celiac but gluten sensitivity is a "thing" at least according to these medical research bodies listed on just this peer reviewed paper. So there is no farce involved.
The research paper behind the article you linked discusses misdiagnosis by the subjects themselves and the possibility that for some their symptoms may be caused by FODMAPS or other components of wheat besides gluten.
Also here is another article quoting the same researcher whose study is quoted in your article responding to people who misinterpreted his study as meaning that gluten sensitivity does not exist.
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/a-grain-of-truth-to-gluten-intolerance-20140527-zrpb3.html
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Thanks Jade. I'd read those but lost the links.0
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I have celiac and there are many different warning signs. migraines, stomach bloating and extreme pain to name a few. Since being diagnosed and removing gluten from my diet i have not had a migraine since and feel better for it.
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While I feel that celiac's disease is, in fact, a real problem that people suffer from, I will say that many people claim to have it, though they do not really (in my experience anyway).0
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It's a money maker, that's for sure.0
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You can have a sensitivity to food, where it gives you some type of distress, like gas or bloating. This is NOT an allergy, which can be life threatening. I hate it when people call their sensitivity an "allergy." It makes it harder for those with real food allergies to be taken seriously.0
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My mom jumped on the "gluten bandwagon" at the advice of Dr Oz, which caused a huge eye roll from me. However, we did notice that the sinus issues she had for decades (frequent infections every 2-3 months) completely disappeared along with this annoying throat clearing/reflux thing she had done in the two and a half decades I have known her. So, clearly some people are affected by gluten, and some aren't.0
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I had digestive issues my whole life but didn't know why. A few years ago I went on an elimination diet for a few months, I slowly reintroduced foods and carefully monitored how I felt and reacted to them.
When I eat foods that contain traces of wheat, I get a painful itchy rash on my elbows. It takes months for it to fade after it flares up. If I eat something that contains more than a trace I get painful diarrhea for 4-7 hours straight and I feel really tired and generally bad for the next two days. When I have dairy, I get diarrhea within 15 minutes but that usually only lasts an hour or two and can be halted by taking pepto. Nothing helps when it's wheat, I don't know if it's specifically the wheat or some subpart of the wheat and I don't care.
I honestly don't care what name someone has for what happens to me or even the specifics of why it happens. I would just prefer that it not happen so I avoid foods that contain wheat and have done so for years now. I call it an allergy so I don't have to go into specifics, I also call my lactose intolerance an allergy when it's not but I don't care that I'm using the wrong term. I don't really like to talk about it, it's painful and embarrassing and using euphemisms makes me feel less embarrassed.
As far as that article, it's been linked around the internet, there were some mean yahoo comments a while back. Or at least something similar where a study of 37 people who had IBS but no problem digesting wheat did not react when they ate wheat so the conclusion was it wasn't a real thing. I don't know what the goal of threads like this is, people have different reasons for eating or avoiding foods. I take no pleasure in mocking people for their choices even if I don't always understand them myself. For me, it's not in my head, I wish it was so I could go back to a normal life and not have to eat nearly every meal at home, avoid food at parties and get mocked when I order one of the few dishes that is safe for me to eat when dining out.
When I order a wheat free bun or pizza crust at the chains that offer it in my city, I get asked 'allergy or preference' those are my choices. I say allergy because if I don't they won't use their cross contamination training and it's nearly pointless to eat because I know it will bare minimum make my rash flare up.0 -
You can have a sensitivity to food, where it gives you some type of distress, like gas or bloating. This is NOT an allergy, which can be life threatening. I hate it when people call their sensitivity an "allergy." It makes it harder for those with real food allergies to be taken seriously.
When I was 13 I got allergy testing done, was said that I was allergic to a few things including eggs. But eggs never caused life-threatening issues for me, at most just some stomach discomfort. Which is how I react to gluten, but I've never gotten allergy testing for it. So I'm sure there are different degrees of severity for allergies (e.g. I am allergic to mold but it doesn't kill me). Of course, yes, it is pointless for someone to claim an allergy if they've never been tested. This is why I only say I'm sensitive to gluten or that it gives me IBS-like symptoms.0 -
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My mom jumped on the "gluten bandwagon" at the advice of Dr Oz, which caused a huge eye roll from me. However, we did notice that the sinus issues she had for decades (frequent infections every 2-3 months) completely disappeared along with this annoying throat clearing/reflux thing she had done in the two and a half decades I have known her. So, clearly some people are affected by gluten, and some aren't.
Correlation/causation...
Did her sinus issues clear up BECAUSE she stopped eating gluten? Or as a consequence of removing gluten, did she eat a better diet, thus becoming healthier?
Most of the time when people go "gluten free" for reasons other than Celiac or an actual food allergy, they try the nasty crap peddled as gluten-free first, then realize that stuff is awful, then start simply eating better. The idea of going gluten-free causes people to make better food choices in general, thus they become healthier people.0 -
My mom jumped on the "gluten bandwagon" at the advice of Dr Oz, which caused a huge eye roll from me. However, we did notice that the sinus issues she had for decades (frequent infections every 2-3 months) completely disappeared along with this annoying throat clearing/reflux thing she had done in the two and a half decades I have known her. So, clearly some people are affected by gluten, and some aren't.
Correlation/causation...
Did her sinus issues clear up BECAUSE she stopped eating gluten? Or as a consequence of removing gluten, did she eat a better diet, thus becoming healthier?
Most of the time when people go "gluten free" for reasons other than Celiac or an actual food allergy, they try the nasty crap peddled as gluten-free first, then realize that stuff is awful, then start simply eating better. The idea of going gluten-free causes people to make better food choices in general, thus they become healthier people.
I ate a GF donut yesterday before dinner. Was delicious. Many GF brands make tasty foods now, and I still eat a lot of junk/crap regularly lol.
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I don't think they're a farce. I DO think though that gluten intolerance and allergies are more prevalent because the wheat that we have now is not the same as the wheat that our parents, grand parents, etc. grew up on and ate.0
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There was another report recently from the NIH which has supported a correlative thing.
This time, though, it's tied to excessive use of pesticides, on wheat in particular, which are used to trigger the wheat's "Oh god I'm dying, better go to seed!" response and increase crop yields.
So the hypotenuse there is that, if you managed to eliminate wheat from your diet, you would also eliminate the trace residue of pesticides along with it, and your symptoms would back off.0 -
2 of my children have celiac disease. Trust me they are not just jumping on the bandwagon. they would love to eat like their friends, but they aren't tempted to cheat because of the intense pain and misery eating gluten causes them. My son also is a type 1 diabetic, and ends up in the hospital with low blood sugar and needing iv sugar when he accidently gets glutened. Its kind of a big deal. So please don't assume all the people eating gluten free are doing it because its a trend. My dr. also wants me to eat gluten free because of my Hypo thyroid...I'm on the fence...not enough research done on that to make me go gluten free completely, I have no symptoms of celiac, and I know them well. So there are Dr.s out there telling people they have gluten intolerence, (as mine has) when in fact not enough research has proven it to be true.
If you eat healthy, as most do, when you take out gluten, you are bound to feel better, but you can eat unhealthy and gluten free.
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You can have a sensitivity to food, where it gives you some type of distress, like gas or bloating. This is NOT an allergy, which can be life threatening. I hate it when people call their sensitivity an "allergy." It makes it harder for those with real food allergies to be taken seriously.
Not all allergies are life threatening. Some things that seem like "sensitivities" are in fact allergies. There is a medical definition of each word. For example me:
"A food allergy is a very specific immune system response involving either the immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibody or T-cells. Both are immune system cells that react to a particular food protein, such as milk protein.
An IgE reaction occurs within minutes to an hour or so of either smelling, touching, or ingesting a particular food. The presence of the food triggers the immune system to over-react and interpret the food as harmful. Histamine is released, causing symptoms that range from mild to severe, including hives, itching, trouble breathing, wheezing, and anaphylaxis."
I have that milk allergy. It is an allergy. But I still eat milk products and just live with the digestive discomfort (usually within about 20 minutes) and mild eczema it causes me (depending on how much I had). You're implying it's just a sensitivity because it's not life threatening to me. But it is *medically* an allergy.0 -
Most people do not discover a food allergy because of anaphylaxis. Most discover at the mild symptoms stage; itching, rashes, etc. Many food allergies will never become serious enough to kill you.0
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I don't have celiac disease, but if I eat anything containing gluten I get hives. It's not a farce, and it bothers me when people say they are allergic when they really are just looking for an excuse, for whatever reason. It's very difficult having ths allergy. My hives are one step away from anaphylaxis.
Some celiacs get topical reactions to gluten. So clearly the body doesn't just react in one set way to an allergen or food sensitivity!
But as for myself, I stopped eating gluten 4-5 years ago and I feel much better without it. I first tried going dairy-free and this didn't change my painful bloating or gas. I also was doing these elimination diets more with the hope it'd clear up my acne (which it didn't) and wasn't really banking on some digestive improvements. I didn't even know what the symptoms of gluten allergy or sensitivity were when I did this.
So eh, YMMV.
About five or six years ago, many wheat growers were convinced by Monsanto that they should apply Roundup (Monsanto's name for their herbicide in which glyphosate is the major component) to their wheat crops. Even though wheat is not yet "Roundup-ready" (they are working on it) they apply the Roundup, shortly before harvest, in order to kill the wheat plants and more efficiently dry the wheat kernels on the stalk. While it saves a bit of money for the farmer, it means that there will be quite a lot of Roundup residue in the wheat. While the government has cleared glyphosate as "generally recognized as safe"--it may not be the glyphosate that is the problem in observed toxic reactions in animal studies: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25245870 (and possible human toxicity as well). There is a chemical called POE-15 that is added to the glyphosate in the herbicide and POE-15 has, so far, proved to be highly toxic to living cells. But glyphosate itself may not be as innocent as was once thought because further animal studies have determined that long-term exposure wreaks havoc with bowel flora among other undesirable effects: "Symptoms include nausea, diarrhea, skin rashes, macrocytic anemia and depression. It is a multifactorial disease associated with numerous nutritional deficiencies as well as reproductive issues and increased risk to thyroid disease, kidney failure and cancer." You can read the rest of the article here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3945755/
Monsanto is pulling out all the stops in fighting those who are raising the alarm on the herbicide's pervasive use throughout the food supply. It is an extremely profitable product for them. They hire scientists to produce "positive" studies on its use and they hire individuals to post articles that negate its possible negative affects on health.
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