Is a gluten-free (GF) diet healthy? What are the symptoms of gluten intolerance? What's the difference between gluten intolerance and an allergy?



In this post, I'll address the most common questions and areas of confusion. At a time when we're more focused on inflammation and supporting our immune systems, going gluten-free offers only upside. Here's why.



Gluten Allergy, Wheat Allergy, and Sensitivities



Doctors first recognized celiac disease almost 2000 years ago, but conventional medicine has only diagnosed it during the past 100 years. They also began referencing gluten sensitivity in medical papers in 1978. The first documented cases of gluten sensitivity in children appeared in the early 1980s.



Even then, most doctors shrugged off the connection between food and a patient's health problems.



2011 was a turning point. A group of medical experts convened to discuss non-celiac gluten sensitivity.



That same year, Dr. William Davis published his book Wheat Belly. Through his writing, millions of people recognized their health issues weren't "in their heads." They were real. And they finally had a solution.



Just as today's medical industry slanders doctors who don't follow vaccine-driven dogma, they slandered Dr. Davis after he published his book. The food industry tried its best to discredit him as well.



Though Dr. Davis wasn't the first to address these concerns, he was the first medical professional (he's a cardiologist) to put his reputation on the line. To suggest "healthy whole grains" were something other than healthy bucked the "healthy whole grain" system. Slowly, others joined in, like Dr. David Perlmutter, publishing Grain Brain a couple of years later.



A 2015 Gallup poll showed that 20% of Americans say they choose a gluten-free diet. With one in five people attempting to eat GF, we now have gluten-free options for almost every favorite food.



So, how are celiac disease, wheat allergy, and non-celiac gluten sensitivity different from one another?



Celiac Disease



Celiac disease is an immune reaction to gluten, inflames the small intestine, and breaks down its lining. It also causes the immune system to attack its own tissue. The symptoms of celiac disease take weeks to years to develop.



An antigen called a human leukocyte antigen (HLA) binds to protein fragments in cells. It then moves the attached protein fragment to the cell surface and presents it to a T-lymphocyte (T-cell).



The T-cells react to gluten like they would respond to a virus or bacteria, inflaming the intestine's lining. Over time, the inflammation reduces the absorption of essential nutrients and causes digestive problems.



With repeated exposure and prolonged inflammation, the intestinal lining breaks down, allowing food particles to enter the bloodstream. Because food particles aren't supposed to be in your bloodstream, your immune system reacts to them as well. Over time, you can develop sensitivities to those foods as well.



When diagnosing celiac disease, doctors test for:




anti-endomysial antibodies (EMA)



anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTG)



anti-gliadin antibodies (AGA).




Though celiac disease has a genetic component, gastrointestinal infections, surgery, pregnancy, childbirth, and emotional stress can activate it.



Because the gluten proteins of wheat are similar to proteins in other grains like barley or rye, those who react to wheat tend to react to other grains with similar proteins.



Wheat Allergy



Those with wheat allergies react to wheat proteins other than the gluten proteins gliadin and glutenin.



The reaction occurs in minutes to hours. Wheat allergy is a reaction to wheat proteins, other than gluten, which triggers allergy-causing antibodies. The response takes just minutes to hours to become noticeable.



Gluten Sensitivity



Gluten sensitivity is not as clear-cut as celiac or wheat allergy. However, because symptoms show up within hours to days,