About Gluten Sensitivity/Intolerance
by Roxie Johnson
4/10
The medical community is starting to accept that there are some individuals who:
- don't have celiac disease by the current testing standards,
- don't have a wheat allergy,
- but do respond well to the gluten-free diet.
This can be called gluten sensitivity or gluten intolerance. Although this problem is not fully understood at this time, the following are the current thoughts on gluten sensitivity:
- The symptoms are sometimes identical to a person with celiac disease.
- The response to the gluten-free diet can be identical to those with celiac disease.
- It is not an auto-immune disease like celiac disease, and therefore may not cause the serious complications so often found in celiac disease. Undiagnosed celiac disease can cause significant organ damage, which is not thought to be true with those with gluten sensitivity. There is also not the concern of associated auto-immune diseases.*
- A gluten-sensitive individual may do fine on a low-gluten diet. This is definitely not the case for someone with celiac disease, who must eliminate all gluten from their diet.
- There is no specific test as yet to determine if a person has gluten sensitivity besides noting the response to the gluten-free diet.
- A person suspecting a gluten sensitivity should not eliminate gluten from their diet until tested for celiac disease (first step is a simple blood test). The implications from celiac disease are serious and far-reaching, so it is important to eliminate that diagnosis.
*In the June 2010 publication of Gluten Free Living, Peter Green,MD states: "Recent studies are showing that gluten sensitivity may be much more common than previously thought. It may, in fact, be a separate disease entity that involves different organs and different mechansims than celiac disease. While there is no doubt that the condition exists, the lack of definite criteria for a diagnosis has resuted in a skeptical attitude on the part of many doctors."
The following provide further information on this subject:
A YouTube video titled "Celiac Disease or Gluten Intolerance" by Cynthia Kupper, National Director of the Gluten Intolerance Group.
An interview with Dr. Alessio Fasano, a leading celiac researcher at the University of Maryland.
A free downloadable publication from the Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG) called "Gluten Sensitivity".
A section on the American Celiac Organization website "Why is it important to know if you have celiac disease, versus wheat allergy or gluten intolerance?" (You must scan down on the page to get to that section)
A community lecture by Dr. Martin Kagnoff from the Warren Celiac Center in October 2008 on YouTube gives information about the difference between CD and gluten intolerance.
A study summarized by Tricia Thompson "The Celiac Dietician" discusses how those who had mild enteropathy but didn't qualify as celiacs still improved on the gluten-free diet.
