Are you Sensitive to Gluten?

Why did you give up Gluten?

Is it really necessary to remove gluten entirely from your diet? Gluten is a protein complex largely found in wheat, barley and rye and is composed of strands of gliadin and glutenin. 

It is particularly useful in baked goods as it is structurally amenable to water absorption and enables entrapment of air to create a moist, airy food product.  It also provides flavor.  As such, bakers are inclined to adjust the gluten content of baked goods to improve taste and texture.  This has led to the adulteration of breads that are traditionally dry and dense with added wheat gluten.  This modification has now produced rye breads and black breads that have the texture of an airy, moist white bread.   In and of itself, gluten is a perfectly healthy source of protein.  However, it is not the only nutritious component of whole grains.  Whole grains also contain a bran layer and a germ layer.  The bran layer contains fiber, B vitamins and other trace minerals while the germ layer is a nutrient-rich core containing vitamin E, B vitamins and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Unfortunately, these nutrient dense layers are removed from whole grains to get to the structurally useful endosperm where gluten is located.

 

Makers of processed foods have no practical use for the much healthier bran and germ layers of whole grains so they practically have been eliminated from the Standard American Diet (SAD).  The gluten-containing endosperm, on the other hand, is such a large component of the SAD diet that it is consumed in quantities that have exceeded its health benefit.  It is known that food sensitivities may be created by over-consumption of the same products, resulting in lack of adequacy, balance and variety.  Over the past few decades we have over-indulged on gluten-containing products to the point that we no longer have the capacity to completely digest what was once a perfectly healthy protein.  Gluten intolerance is not to be confused with Celiac disease, an adverse immunological response to gliadin that leads to autoimmune destruction of the small intestine.

As a result of a bona fide sensitivity to gluten or Celiac disease many consumers have removed whole grains from their diets and so are missing out on their many health benefits.  Let’s start with the bran layer.  The fiber in bran directly improves colon health, is beneficial to healthy gut bacteria and lowers plasma cholesterol levels using a mechanism that is free of the side-effects common to pharmaceutical agents.  B vitamins, in both the bran and germ layers, function as co-factors that are critical for cellular activity.  Additional benefits of the germ layer exceed that of any other food category.  The germ layer contains a plethora of antioxidants including vitamin E which is so deficient in the SAD diet, along with heart-healthy fats.

I commend David Perlmutter, author of Grain Brain, for bringing to our attention the many ways that gluten adversely effects our health and leads to cognitive decline.  However, it is somewhat concerning that we have over-interpreted his message and removed whole grains from our diets entirely.  I did a little deep dive to see what Dr. Perlmutter is eating himself.  Although he subscribes to a ketogenic diet (high protein, low carb) he does allow himself 50-100 g of carbohydrates per day.  This includes consumption of amaranth, buckwheat, rice (brown, white, wild), millet, quinoa, sorghum, teff and certified gluten-free oats.  These grains are just as healthy, if not more so, than whole wheat and provide a perfectly sound alternative for those with gluten sensitivity.  More information about the benefits of these gluten-free whole grains may be found on the Whole Grains Council website, http://wholegrainscouncil.org.