I heard that people with celiac disease suffer from symptoms similar to IBS people. I also heard that IBS is a situation less serious than celiac disease. Therefore, we do not have to stay away from gluten as the protein is an enemy only for celiac-disease people?
Well, if you know what gluten is and what they do in your bodies, intestines in particular, you will think twice about eating them.
What is the problem with gluten?
The biggest problem with gluten is that you cannot digest them totally. Gluten (a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye, and a common element in breads, cereals) is something that most people cannot ‘handle’, not to mention you and me, IBS people. The funny thing is insects, a kind of organisms less advanced than us, are able to digest gluten totally. On the contrary, humans, to be exact our gut, do not have the ability (or enzyme) to digest gluten (source: G. Enders, Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ). And the consequences are:
- gluten, partially digested, staying in our gut
- a state causing us a big problem: leaky gut
What (on earth) is leaky gut?
In a way, anything leaky is usually something bad. Do you want to live in a house (or flat) that is leaky? The same applies to leaky gut. In your healthy body, there should be an extensive intestinal lining forming a tight gate controlling what gets absorbed into your bloodstream. Leaky gut is a situation in which the tight gate becomes loose and tiny holes are to be found (source: Harvard Health Publishing). When this happens, three groups of gangsters (undigested food particles, toxins, and bacteria) find their ways to your bloodstream to steal (or rob) your health.
And gluten is an active, corrupted member of the first group of gangsters (undigested food particles). Corrupted? Yes, this is the way how they get through your gut!
Leaky gut: a game of corruption and betrayal
In a way, gluten does not go straight through the gate of your intestines and then march into your bloodstream. As the gate is so tight that gluten has to do one thing. It has to bribe your gut cells and some of them betray you. What does that mean? Gluten prompts (bribes) your gut cells to release a protein (called zonulin). Zonulin (discovered by Dr. Alessio Fasano in 2000) is the one who betrays you by opening the gate of your cell wall. Put simply, when you consume foods with gluten, a game of corruption and betrayal is played within your body.
Further problems with leaky gut
This game of corruption and betrayal is never a small one. When gluten runs into your bloodstream you have to fight against the following:
- autoimmune conditions
- diabetes, and worst of all
- celiac disease, and Crohn’s disease
