Going Against the Grain: Why You Might Want to Avoid Gluten

You may have noticed that more menus and food items are labeled “gluten-free” these days. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease caused by gluten, but is gluten still important to avoid if you don’t have celiac disease?

On your Revero low-carbohydrate diet, you’ll avoid grains, so you’ll likely also avoid gluten because it’s a protein in wheat, barley, and rye. But is it just that simple?

In this article, we’ll discuss how gluten impacts your gut, brain, and immune system and can cause more trouble than it’s worth. We will also discuss how to recognize and avoid it.

What Is Gluten, Anyway?

Wheat, barley, and rye are grains that contain a protein called gluten. Gluten is a large, complex molecule that gives pizza or bagel dough its stretchy texture and provides texture and protein to other foods made from these grains.

Gliadins, glutenins, and gluteomorphins are the peptides resulting from gluten breakdown, and they're often the source of harmful reactions. In celiac disease, gluten reactions cause autoimmune disease and damage the intestines.

Some people who don't have celiac disease still experience a reaction called “non-celiac gluten sensitivity,” or NCGS.

Your immune system can have an antibody response to gluten, an antibody response to gliadins or other peptides, or both. Many “gluten sensitivity tests” only look at antibodies to gluten, so peptide-level gluten sensitivity goes undetected.

Gluten and Gut Inflammation

When your immune system becomes sensitive to gluten, gliadin, or other breakdown products of gluten, it can increase the permeability of your gut. There is also evidence that gluten damages the gut lining without an antibody response.

This condition is known as “leaky gut” because your intestines can absorb larger molecules than usual. As a result, food sensitivities can be exacerbated if these particles are not digested.

It’s also possible to absorb pieces of dead bacteria in the gut, known as lipopolysaccharides (LPS). LPS in the bloodstream triggers systemic inflammation that can cause fatigue, brain fog, and more.

A leaky gut is a recognized trigger for many autoimmune diseases, such as MS, RA, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and depression.

Gluten-induced chronic inflammation can also slow metabolism, resulting in unwelcome weight gain while promoting metabolic disease.

Why Is Gluten Such an Inflammatory Molecule?

To fully understand gluten, consider what wheat is. It’s the seed of the plant, a type of grass. Other grains in the grass family can trigger an inflammatory reaction, but today we’re focusing on wheat.

Damage to the gut lining can result in many harmful effects, including:

• Reduced absorption of foods and nutrients
• Systemic inflammation
• Joint pain, skin problems, mood, and behavior problems
• Rheumatoid arthritis

Sustained exposure to gluten, after becoming immune-sensitized, can cause:

• Antibody cross-reactivity due to molecular mimicry
• Autoimmune diseases such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
• Gluten ataxia
• Multiple sclerosis
• Neurodegenerative conditions

Because many people believe that wheat is safe for them if they don’t have celiac disease, gluten causes many problems. For some people, gas and bloating may cause discomfort after eating foods with gluten.

However, continuous exposure for years after sensitizing can cause more severe conditions. Although non-celiac gluten sensitivity exists, healthcare professionals have been slow to recognize it.

Why Does Gluten Have These Effects?

These grasses produce seeds to reproduce. Normally, birds or other animals eat these seeds, and then, when they have passed through the gastrointestinal tract, the animal’s dung effectively plants the seed. This means the seed must survive the journey through the GI tract without damage.

The seed has a better chance of getting planted sooner if it triggers some inflammation and the animal has a bowel movement sooner. These grains' inflammatory properties result from their evolutionary function as a means of reproduction.

Opiates in Your Pizza

Because we cannot fully digest gluten, some of the remaining peptides are biologically reactive. Gluteomorphin is produced when gluten is partially digested, and it binds to the brain's opiate receptors to produce effects resembling those of opium.

In New Guinea, F.C. Dohan et al. found gluteomorphins associated with paranoid schizophrenic patients. Their results were published in the journal Biological Psychiatry. The addition of gluten to the diet was found to correspond to the prevalence of schizophrenia.

Examination of 65,000 adults in remote (grain-free) areas showed only two schizophrenics. After grains were introduced, the number of schizophrenics in that region increased to match the 130+ expected from Europeans.

Other studies have confirmed this link, though gluten-free diets are still not the standard in psychiatric care facilities.

How to Avoid Gluten

Because gluten is a protein in wheat and some other grains, avoiding all wheat, rye, and barley is paramount. Your Revero diet is grain-free, so this is already the plan—but it’s important to understand how to avoid it altogether. Here’s a partial list of foods to avoid:

• Beer
• Pizza
• Pasta
• Breakfast cereal
• Cakes, cookies, and crackers
• Bread

There are other sneaky sources, like soy sauce, which is often made from wheat and not soy. Look for another article in your app under Resources titled Learning to Recognize Gluten that goes into more detail about avoiding it.

A low-carbohydrate diet can easily be gluten-free, as grains are not part of the recommended foods on your diet. Avoiding gluten can, for some, be completely transformative, reducing symptoms and improving your health. Who doesn’t want that?