Wheat, Gluten & Gliadin: 3 Possible Inflammatory Offenders

Have you observed through following your daily food diary any adverse reaction to wheat or glutenous-containing grains? As of late I have been seeing more and more food sensitivity tests that show intolerance to wheat, and other gluten-containing products. I would estimate near 50% of my clients have some sort of wheat intolerance or sensitivity. This is not something to take lightly. Food sensitivities are magnified when there is any degree of intestinal dysbiosis (leaky gut) and can be a primary antigen that provokes inflammatory immune responses.

Leaky Gut is when there is damage to the intestinal mucosal barrier and as a result, undigested food particles pass into the bloodstream through the walls of the small intestine. Any undigested food that enters the blood must be attacked by the immune system.

Celiac, Gluten & Gliadin

A person may be intolerant to gluten all of their lives and have no symptoms. 30% of people with Celiac Disease (a genetic inability to digest gluten) don’t have any symptoms! The damaging effects of gluten intolerance and celiac could be going on inside of your gut your entire life without you even knowing about it.

Gliadin is the major glycoprotein in glutenous foods (wheat, barley, rye. Oats don’t contain gluten but they do contain gliadin). When a person has celiac, the body, unable to make an enzyme to digest gliadin, forms a sort of enzyme/gliadin complex, resulting in  the attack of the enzyme called trasglutaminase. This results in volatile inflammatory processes and the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, histamine, leukotrienes and prostaglandins. The destructive result of celiac and other similar autoimmune processes could leave the tiny structures in the gut, such as the villi and micro villi, broken down, and incapable of functioning properly. It can sometimes take years of persistent treatment to heal the gut. See this short educational video I made on gut function.

Not everyone that is intolerant to wheat or gluten/gliadin-containing products has celiac disease. This is an important point. Your body can have an allergy or a delayed immune reactivity to gluten or gliadin. And again, if you have any degree of dysbiosis present, your food intolerances could be magnified exponentially.

Identifying Gluten, Gliadin, Wheat & Other Food Intolerances

Identifying celiac disease is best done through a combination of blood and saliva tests which look at the immunoglobulins IgA and IgM and their reaction to the transglutaminase enzyme. If the anti-transglutaminase enzyme is elevated, a person has a gliadin autoimmune reaction and should avoid gluten and gliadin offending foods for life.

Identifying a general reactivity to glutenous-containing foods like wheat, rye and barley is best done through an IgG leukocyte reactivity blood test. This blood test looks chiefly at the innate immune reaction to certain offending foods. An IgG leukocyte reactivity test is quite different than the conventional IgE food allergy tests, and in my opinion, of far greater accuracy and importance.