What exactly is gluten sensitivity? “The honest answer, at this point, is that we don’t really know,” says Daniel Leffler, director of clinical research at the Celiac Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
“Do you ever feel like you may have certain symptoms related to foods, such as headaches, stomach pain, or diarrhea?” asks EverlyWell, a company that sells dozens of at-home health tests online.
Last June, Alexi Stafford, a 15-year-old with a peanut allergy, accidentally ate a cookie filled with mini peanut butter cups. Ninety minutes later, she died. Food is a minefield for people with severe allergies. Here’s what you may not know about how some foods can make the immune system go haywire.
What’s the most common reason why people buy gluten-free foods?“No reason at all,” says one survey.
The respondents’ other reasons: they see gluten-free foods as a “healthier option,” good for “digestive health” or “weight loss,” or they “enjoy the taste.” Those reasons were all more common than “gluten sensitivity,” which was cited by only 8 percent.
But in a recent study, even GI symptoms like diarrhea or bloating weren’t a reliable sign of celiac disease, the autoimmune disorder that makes people unable to tolerate gluten, the protein in wheat, barley, rye, and some other grains.
“Our study asked about abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, weight loss, irritable bowel syndrome, dyspepsia, GERD, difficulty swallowing, bloating, and distention,” says Joseph Murray, a gastroenterologist and celiac expert at the Mayo Clinic.“None were significantly associated with having celiac disease.”
“We’re going to reveal the major signs of gluten sensitivity,” promised Dr. Oz on one of his shows several years ago.
His first sign: weight gain.
“It’s not just eating the gluten that makes us heavy,” Dr. Oz claimed. “When you have a gluten sensitivity, it’s really getting your hormones out of whack, and that then leads to inflammation and swelling.”
This makes you “hold on to fat” that you should have burned off, he told his viewers. “And even if you go on a diet, if there’s gluten in there, you don’t lose weight.”
Stomach pain, diarrhea, weight loss. Those are some of the symptoms of celiac disease, which is an autoimmune reaction to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. At least one out of 100 Americans have celiac. Most of them don’t know it. And studies suggest that some people who don’t have the disease still can’t tolerate gluten.
