It all began when the ancestors started settling down and started domesticating their crops: They came face to face with a whole new ingredient that baffled them with its taste. The ancestors soon began incorporating this ingredient into their lives. Their daily bread was organic, therefore was not a threat to their health. In the genetically modified 21st century however, everything that is consumed is in some kind of way genetically modified, and gluten is no exception. Gluten is the protein found in semolina, spelt, kamut, wheat, barley, and rye .
It is made out of the peptides gliadin and glutenin. It is what makes bread have a chewy texture and it is what makes it fluffy. It’s also used as a stabilizing agent in processed foods, like salad dressings and mayonnaise. It can also be found in some beauty products, such as shampoo and lipstick. Man’s ancestors ate it in its most pure form, but the products consumed nowadays have not even a resemblance to that. Gluten is not a healthy choice because it is a genetically modified substance and causes illnesses and discomfort in various areas in human life such as the physical and mental body.
Indeed gluten’s modified chemistry does not match the human body’s organic chemistry causing various problems from headaches all the way to cancer. Gluten causes gut inflammation in at least %80 of the population and another %30 of the population develops antibodies (which are proteins that function to identify and help remove foreign antigens or targets such as viruses and bacteria) against gluten proteins in the gut. (11ways)The wheat protein called gliadin has a similar structure to other proteins found in the tissues of organs like the thyroid and the pancreas.
Antibodies against gliadin can attack these organs and ultimately cause autoimmune diseases like hypothyroidism and type 1 diabetes (11ways). Wheat germ agglutinin, another ingredient in modified gluten can do direct damage to the majority of tissues in the human body without requiring a specific set of genetic sensitivities. This might be the reason why chronic inflammatory and degenerative conditions are endemic to wheat-consuming populations although overt allergies or intolerances to wheat gluten appear to be rare.
Greenmedinfo) Another damaging ingredient that is inside gluten is Opioid peptides. Opioid peptides are the reason people crave more and more of gluten, (US National Library of Medicine) and in some cases it is associated with schizophrenia. Patients with schizophrenia often see their symptoms reduced when removing gluten from their diet. (ncbi) Gluten, being modified to a point where it has no real healthy chemicals is incompatible with the human body’s organic chemistry therefore should be avoided for better health.
By cutting out gluten from daily life, better physical health and comfort can be achieved. Gluten does not only harm people with gluten sensitivity or coeliac disease (which is an extreme case of gluten sensitivity) but can affect a regular non sensitive person as well. In an article written by the Washington Post, Anna Medaris Miller tells her story of a gluten-free diet and how she improved not only her athletic performance but other areas in her life. “Since cutting gluten out of my diet . . . I’ve noticed a profound change: My digestion is gentler, my sleep is sound, my energy level is more even.
After cutting out gluten from her life Anna says she placed first in a race for the first time, won a small community run and achieved a personal best in a run. (The Washington Post) Evidently there are many stories of people who have cut ties with gluten entirely to be embraced by a healthier lifestyle. According to The Gluten Free Society, gluten can sabotage exercise by causing inflammation in lung tissues therefore resulting in breathing problems and a deprivation of oxygen levels, inflaming joints leading to pain during movement and delaying the healing process and preventing recovery.
This may be the reason why injured athletes take many months to heal after an injury. Gluten also causes imbalance in the male and female hormones. According to Doctor Daniel Kalish who founded The Natural Path Clinic California, Gluten sensitivity is a common yet little-recognized cause of female hormone imbalances. He believes the culprit is the wheat protein gliadin. (Kalish) As a molecule, in addition to breaking up endocrine pathways in the body, it can also block the absorption of several different vitamins which are absorbed from food.
Malnutrition is the lack of vitamin and mineral absorption that has a direct effect on the function of hormones. (Testshock) gluten also causes intestinal permeability in other words a leaky gut. In sensitive people, gluten can cause the gut cells to release zonulin, which is a protein that can break apart the tight junctions that hold intestines together. Once these tight junctions get broken apart, the gut is considered to be leaky. A leaky gut allows toxins, microbes, undigested food particles and antibodies to escape from the intestines and travel throughout the body via bloodstream.
The antibodies that escape are the ones that the body produces to attack the gliadin in the first place. (Huffington Post) To sum up, removing gluten improves physical health by improving the gut, the hormones and overall health in general. Unfortunately gluten does not only affect the physical health but also damages the mental health of an individual and research states while gluten is not the sole factor in these mental situations, it is a contributor.
A study done by The United States National Library of Medicine shows that gluten may cause depression in subjects with non-coeliac gluten sensitivity. The study says that a short exposure to gluten specifically induced current feelings of depression with no effect on other indices or on emotional disposition. They conclude by stating that this may be the reason why some patients feel better on a gluten-free diet. (ncbi) study published in 2011 indicates that the suicide rate among celiacs is higher than the rate in the general population.
Researchers in Sweden looked at more than 29,000 people who were diagnosed with biopsy-proven celiac disease between 1969 and 2007, and found 54 of them had committed suicide, indicating a suicide rate that’s moderately higher than that in the general population. A study released in late 2011 from researchers at Penn State found that women who stuck with their diet more strictly had fewer depressive symptoms, although all celiac women studied suffered from higher rates of depression than the general population.
Gluten is also associated with bipolar disorder, many believing it being a contributor to the increase in a bipolar patient’s symptoms. Bipolar disorder is a psychiatric condition that causes people to experience extreme mood swings. A group of researchers published a study in March 2012 looking at markers of gluten sensitivity and celiac disease in acute mania, a hallmark symptom of bipolar disorder. They found that people hospitalized for mania had significantly increased levels of antibodies of gluten, but did not have raised levels of other types of celiac disease-specific antibodies.
When measured six months after hospitalization, the bipolar patients’ average levels of antibodies had dropped, and were not significantly different from those of the control subjects. However, those bipolar patients who still had elevated levels six months later were much more likely to have been re-hospitalized for mania within that time frame. (Jane Anderson) Mental illnesses are common among all parts in society, by cutting out gluten from diets people may find relief in their symptoms and lead happier lives.
Gluten therefore cannot be a healthy choice, the reason being the amount of modification it has been through and it cannot be a part of our daily lives, because it is a contributor to an amount of illnesses that make human life harder. Gluten affects the mental and physical body equally, the chemicals inside modified gluten are not in harmony with the human body’s organic chemistry therefore contributing to the heightening of many autoimmune and mental diseases.
Cutting gluten from the diet may be a challenge at first, but removing it entirely will help benefit people’s lives tremendously. In the 21st century where gluten slowly starts gaining recognition for not being as holy as it tastes, new studies are emerging and many doctors are advising patients to stay away from the grains in their lives. There are many blogs that share their experiences and many patients have found relief from their diseases just by removing gluten from their diets. The future does not look very bright for modified grains.