My Thoughts About Gluten Intolerance: Is Our Immune System Really Abnormal?
For years, I learned that celiac disease is an abnormal autoimmune reaction to gluten. I was led to believe that my body had somehow failed me and my immune system was dysfunctional. My natural inclination to question everything has led me to a different view.
Thousands of years ago, we did not eat grains. We ate foods that were naturally available to us such as fruits, vegetables, sea vegetables, nuts, seeds, meat, fish, and seafood [3-6]. Our ancestors didn’t have to grind these foods into a flour or process these foods in any way to digest them. It was a natural process and these foods were easily digested. Current research validates how healthy these foods are for us.
Then humans started using grains as a source of food. This new food source seemed very appealing to alleviate famine and to allow the nomadic nature of humans to change to a more stationary lifestyle [3-7]. Towns were created and this agricultural way of life seemed less stressful. You can see how the benefits associated with the addition of grains seemed appealing.
However, with all change comes a period of adaptation. In our evolutionary history (prior to grains), we had consumed foods that were easy to digest. Now, humans were asking their bodies to adapt to a new food and to digest something that the intestine hadn’t been exposed to before [1,2]. This was a huge request because our bodies had evolved for millions of years to have the gastric, intestinal brush border and pancreatic enzymes necessary to digest fruits, vegetables, sea vegetables, nuts, seeds, meat, fish, and seafood, not grass. As a result, this unrealistic expectation led to a cascade of immune reactions and gluten intolerance symptoms.
When I reviewed the dietary history of humanity, it became fairly obvious to me that our immune systems may not be abnormal at all. We may just be reacting to foods we were never genetically designed to eat. Our immune systems may be reacting normally to an invader that was never meant to be ingested. I understand that our immune system does cross react which is evident with the production of auto-antibodies. However, this cross reaction wouldn’t have occurred if humanity hadn’t introduced gluten into our diet.
Others who don’t appear to have gluten intolerance may have evolved and adapted over the last 10,000 years so that they can tolerate gluten with a lower risk of a leaky gut and a reaction. However, even this is questionable since many people with an undiagnosed gluten intolerance have very little or no symptoms, yet their risk for complications still exists. Perhaps these other, apparently, asymptomatic people do have symptoms of gluten intolerance that manifests with a vague presentation. Also, as discussed in the pathophysiology chapter of my book, “Gluten Toxicity”, some studies suggest that humans do not have all of the enzymes required to digest gluten and as a result a leaky gut and an innate immune reaction can occur in everyone. Only future research into the full spectrum of gluten intolerance will uncover to what extend everyone reacts.
For now, I believe that if grains containing gluten didn’t exist, then celiac disease, dermatitis herpetiformis and non-celiac gluten intolerance wouldn’t exist. In summary, my immune system would likely be considered normal if humans hadn’t introduced grains over 10,000 years ago. I believe my immune system reacts to gluten because it is a foreign antigen/toxin that I am not designed to eat. Yes, there is an autoimmune component with anti-endomysial antibodies and anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies flagging self antigens (i.e. tissue and an enzyme in my bowel) for destruction, but this cross-reaction wouldn’t have occurred if gluten was never introduced onto my dinner plate.
My book, “Gluten Toxicity” is available now as an e-book and will be available soon as a paperback from Amazon.
References
1. Hausch F, Shan L, Santiago NA, Gray GM, Khosla C. Intestinal digestive resistance of immunodominant gliadin peptides. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2002;283(4):G996–G1003.
2. Shan L, Qiao SW, Arentz-Hansen H, et al (2005). Identification and Analysis of Multivalent Proteolytically Resistant Peptides from Gluten: Implications for Celiac Sprue. J. Proteome Res. 4 (5): 1732–41.
3. Evolutionary Aspects of Nutrition and Health: Diet, Exercise, Genetics and Chronic Disease. World Review of Nutrition and Dietetics, vol. 84. Edited by A. P. Simopoulos. Basel: Karger. 1999. Pp. 145. Book review: SE Humphries. Annals of Human Genetics Volume 63, Issue 4, pages 377–381, July 1999
4. Neolithic Revolution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neolithic_Revolution
5. Anil K Gupta. Review article PDF: Origin of agriculture and domestication of plants and animals linked to early Holocene climate amelioration. Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, Indian institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721 302, India.
6. Tamed 11,400 Years Ago, Figs Were Likely First Domesticated Crop. Science daily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/06/060602074522.htm
Comments
One Response to “My Thoughts About Gluten Intolerance: Is Our Immune System Really Abnormal?”
Leave a Reply
[...] thе original post: Mу Thουɡhtѕ Abουt Gluten Intolerance: Iѕ Oυr Immune Logic Rea… Share It: Hide [...]