Our first line of defense in maintaining good health is our digestive system. Your immune system, triggered by gluten, unintentionally destroys this defense. An immune reaction to eating this protein is not an autoimmune disorder.
The body’s immune system is not attacking your healthy intestinal cells. It’s attacking the protein. An immune reaction triggers an inflammatory response leading to inflammation and damage to a person’s duodenum – the upper part of your small intestine.
While inflammation is a vital part of a healthy immune response. When there is chronic inflammation, the result is tissue damage. Your duodenum is the first part of the small intestine to receive partially digested food (chyme) from your stomach.
An immune response causes the inner surface of the duodenum to become inflamed and swell. This, in turn, results in damage to our villi – tiny hair-like projections lining the wall of the duodenum. It is through our villi that we absorb the nutrients from the food we digest.
Our immune system will launch an attack on any gluten being absorbed through the villi. As a consequence, inflammation is sure to follow. The inflammatory response causes the villi to either fall off or lay flat.
The duodenum was never the intended target of our immune system. Thus, the unintended damage described above can be viewed as collateral damage. The collateral damage is the result of inflammation.
Inflammation also produces an outward appearance of a bloated stomach. But thankfully, say it loud and be proud, the human body is amazingly resilient – believe it. Villi damaged or destroyed will regenerate in a few days once gluten is completely eliminated from your diet.
Please know this, a digestive disturbances associated with an immune reaction to said protein may result in malabsorption. Children suffering from malabsorption (aka poor nutrient absorption), are more likely to experience stunted growth and be underweight. Malabsorption is an illness that can be physically and mentally disabling, even life threatening.
If left untreated, a gluten-free (GF) diet, acute malnutrition may develop as a result of malabsorption of nutrients. A constant supply of macro and micro nutrients are needed for children to develop normally and for adults to stay healthy.
Celiac – a term that refers to an area of the body where your duodenum is located – hence the name Celiac disease. But it’s not a disease; simply put, it’s an illness that should be called duodenitis.
Okay, what’s the most important thing for someone with an immune reaction to know? Answer – you can say goodbye to all your gluten-related health problems and not have to say goodbye to all the foods you love by eating natural foods. Well, maybe just a few, but that can actually be a good thing.
When the two unnatural food groups – ultra-processed and fast foods are removed, what’s left is natural foods. Like most people, my diet was in large part dependent on these two unnatural food groups. Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and most Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) foods are abundant in wheat and its hidden sources and related grains.
Hidden sources of wheat are food ingredients that contain wheat, but don’t use the word wheat in its name. If these two unnatural food groups are consumed by a person who has immune reactions to the wheat protein, throughout the course of his or her life, chronic health problems will develop. Presently, the only effective treatment for an immune reaction to said protein is a life-long GF diet.
Most processed foods today will be labeled GF if they are. A person with an immune reaction to said protein can eat the same natural foods their family and friends can – except wheat, rye and barley. Gluten is the protein found in these exceptions.