Did you know that 1 in 100 Americans have celiac disease and most don’t know it? And that celiac disease is 5 times more common now than 50 years ago? And that osteoporosis and anemia are the two most common adult presentations of celiac disease?
I recently attended a great talk on gluten by Melissa McLean Jory, MNT. Melissa was one of the many great speakers at the annual NANP/National Association of Nutrition Professionals conference in San Francisco. Her talk was titled The Gluten-Free Edge: Digestive Health and Sports Nutrition for Active People.
Melissa said this: “There is no biological value in gluten” – for anyone! I find this so interesting because I’m beginning to think the same thing. In fact, I find that the majority of my clients with mood problems do better on a gluten-free diet.
Gluten can affect you in so many ways, whether you have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity. Melissa shared this list of gluten-related disorders:
- Depression and anxiety, social phobia, schizophrenia […I added the last three here]
- Gastrointestinal problems, nutrient deficiencies, fat malabsorption
- Neurological complications, fatigue, headaches, ataxia, peripheral neuropathy, poor concentration
- Dermatitis herpetiformis, skin rashes, vitiligo, alopecia
- Dental enamel abnormalities, canker sores
- Anemia (iron, B12, folic acid deficiencies)
- Osteoporosis, osteopenia, arthritis, Dupuytren’s contracture, bone abnormalities
- Reduced fertility in men and women, recurrent miscarriages
- Endocrine conditions, type 1 diabetes, thyroid disease, Addison’s disease
What was new to me and fascinating was the athlete-gluten-performance connection that Melissa refers to as the “Gluten-Free Edge”. Over 60% of endurance athletes experience digestive problems such as abdominal pain and discomfort, diarrhea, constipation, gas and bloating. And because gluten causes inflammation, this can inhibit athletic performance and impair or delay recovery. The higher the sport intensity, the more likely the problem. Melissa shared that the Garmin Cycling Team went gluten-free for the 2008 season. They were the first pro-team to do so and this is what they found:
- Less bloated and “heavy” feeling
- Mentally sharper
- Fewer stomach problems
- Less stress on the immune system
- Stronger performances
Wow! As Melissa says “Go gluten free – you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!”
Here is information on how to do a gluten elimination challenge. I suggest you try it and see how you do
Melissa is wonderful and is so passionate about sharing this information. From her website: “I am Nutrition Therapist, have a degree in Exercise Science, am certified to teach yoga, and have a personal interest and expertise in celiac disease, gluten sensitivity, and holistic health. I’m on a mission to increase awareness of celiac disease and help people navigate the gluten-free lifestyle with confidence, strength, optimal nutrition, and renewed vitality. I know how difficult that can be because I have celiac disease and so does my daughter, but with the right lifestyle changes, optimal health is not only achievable, it can be fun and taste good too!”
Melissa’s new book will be available in June and you can preorder it now. I can’t wait to read it! The Gluten-Free Edge: A Nutrition and Training Guide for Peak Athletic Performance and an Active Gluten-Free Life by Peter Bronski and Melissa McLean Jory.
The whole NANP conference was superb! Other highlights included: The Consequences of Undiagnosed Vitamin B12 Deficiency by Sally Pacholok and Clinical Tools for Working with Libido by Bari Mandelbaum, NC, B Sc., I’ll share gems from these and other talks in future blog posts.
Trudy,
First off, yes, I am a dork and that photo of me confirms it! =) Second, thank you so much for this blog post. Wow, what a surprise (and an honor, especially coming from someone like you). I appreciate you taking the time to do this and to help spread the word about the detrimental impact gluten can have on health. As I said (and say often), we truly are “all in this together” and it’s so important to share our information and support each other. Life is tough, it’s nice to know we have wonderful, supportive friends to help along the way. I already know you and I are destined to be friends! We have too much in common. Geez, it’s not often that I run across someone who has a similar nutrition/lifestyle philosophy, telemark skis, climbs mountains, and knows what a slackline is! =) You rock, Trudy! I’m so glad our paths have crossed.
Thank you, thank you! Here’s to lots of future adventures (food, science, mountains)!
Peace, love, and green veggies!
Melissa
Melissa
You are SO very welcome, I love to share important and valuable information! You are the one who ROCKS!
And I feel like we are friends already – I’m about to order my slackline and I can’t wait to put it up in my backyard and share what you shared about the brain benefits of this type of activity.
PS You look cute in the picture!
Trudy
Melissa is an outstanding resource! I so wish I could have been there to hear her presentation. The other talks sound excellent, too. I’m not an endurance athlete (or athlete of any kind), but I’m still very much looking forward to her book coming out!
It’s great to be introduced to you and your blog, too, Trudy. 🙂
Thanks,
Shirley Braden
Shirley
Thanks for visiting my blog and wonderful to hear you recommend Melissa too! I believe her book will serve athletes and non-athletes alike. Oh and BTW, Melissa’s talk and all the talks were recorded and will be available via the NANP site http://www.nanp.org
Trudy
Trudy, I had no idea how much damage gluten could potentially do and what it could affect, so this is good information. I think people falsely believe that gluten-intolerance is some kind of “food fad,” but I disagree. Avoiding it sounds like another important key to a diet that supports your health, rather than drains it. What a concept :). Thanks for the info! I enjoy your newsletter so much.
Kamran
I’m so glad you mentioned the “food fad” belief – I have been hearing this on radio shows and seeing this in articles. I just think it’s worth removing gluten and seeing how you feel. The big thing is not to replace gluten-containing products with loads of processed gluten-free foods but rather to add more whole real foods. This means gluten-free grains like quinoa and starchy veggies (if tolerated…there is the whole GAPS/Paleo diet that some do very well on)
Trudy
HOGWASH!
http://www.livestrong.com/article/272460-health-benefits-of-vital-wheat-gluten/
This paper was published just 2 days ago http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22584218 “Incidence of celiac disease diagnosis in the US military is increasing (5-fold), particularly among those in the fourth and fifth decades of life and appears higher than other population-based estimates.” And this is just celiac disease…we have gluten intolerance/sensitivity that is increasing too. Up until now most of the research has focused on celiac disease but with mainstream medicine now recognizing gluten intolerance/sensitivity (new classification by Dr Fasano earlier this year http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22313950) I anticipate more studies in this area.
ITs ONLY an issue if you have celiac or an intolerance. ITS not evil
I tend not to make general assumptions about anything food related because there really is not “one size fits all” for everyone and we are all biochemically unique. BUT gluten appears to be more bad than good and I assume it’s an issue for a person until proven otherwise. And even that is difficult to prove because many people are fine for years and then start to see the effects, so we may not know if damage is being done. Also, testing is very limited and often inconclusive. I do think part of the problem is that it’s over-consumed, wheat now contains more gluten and people are less healthy so are affected more. If gluten is consumed I do think it should be in the traditional form of soughdough.
Trudy
I agree with the notion that wheat is not evil. We’re really not saying it is. What we’re saying as far as athletics is concerned is that intense sports often cause GI problems to begin with and removing gluten from the mix might help.
Many of the top celiac docs and researchers state that there is no biological advantage to eating gluten. There are beneficial nutrients in wheat, but gluten isn’t one of them. We don’t digest gluten (we can’t break it down), but that may not be a problem for you (lucky person!). For many of us (those with celiac disease, wheat allergy, or gluten sensitivity), especially those of us with a strong genetic predisposition, it can wreak havoc on the system. But, Trudy’s right, we’re all biochemically unique and what works for one person may not work for another.
The bottom line is — we all want to be healthy and removing gluten from the diet might be an answer for some folks. It’s definitely worth looking into if you have unexplained health problems.
Wishing you well!
Melissa
The article you’re (the anonymous commenter) referring to (October 2010) was written prior to the current research on gluten. Yes, gluten is protein, and yes, it would be beneficial if we could access the individual amino acids, but we don’t efficiently break them apart, so we can’t utilize them. If you can’t break the amino acids apart, absorb them into circulation, and assimilate them, it doesn’t matter how much “vital gluten” the food you’re eating contains.
The main problem, though, is the autoimmune response many people have to the undigested protein and that can be a serious health threat. If you aren’t in that category, it’s no big deal. Again, you’re very lucky that you don’t have to worry about it!
Thank you for this article, Trudy! Diet is such an individual thing but I agree that gluten intolerance is incredibly common. I ask nearly every one of my patients to at least do a 6 week trial of going off of gluten to see what difference it makes. Then reintroduce it 3x in a day as a challenge, and watch for changes. Then, if she reacts, she can decide whether and when to have it anyway but at least she is making informed choices.
Dr Amy
I agree, I find the challenge to be very powerful for my clients – to actually feel the effects! Sometimes it’s not that obvious and often can be delayed – I’m sure you see this too. A current client just did her challenge and didn’t notice any effects on the day of the challenge but two days later she felt increased pain, fatigue, foggy-headedness and sad, and then three days later she had a racing heart.
Trudy
Thank you Trudy for this wonderful article. Everything listed above on how gluten can affect you is what I have experienced. I suffered my entire childhood with unexplained symptoms and at the age of 19 was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. I was never tested for any allergies, let alone gluten.
I suffered for years with Crohn’s and it was not until I took gluten out of my diet did I start to heal and recover my life.
I was offered a year later to have a blood test done to determine if I was Celiac, which naturally came back negative because of the lack of gluten in my system. The only way to know for sure was from me to eat gluten and have a biopsy…I was not doing that either! I did not need a diagnoses to know what my body already knew.
It has been over ten years since I have taken gluten out of my diet and it has been one year since I was given the diagnoses of “no evidence of Crohn’s” I truly believe taking gluten out of my diet was a big component of healing from an “incurable disease.”
Karen
Thank you so much for sharing your story with gluten and Crohn’s disease. How wonderful to hear how removing gluten helped you start to heal and recover your life and finally get the diagnoses of “no evidence of Crohn’s” !
Many of my clients make the same choice you did – NOT to add back gluten for the testing. Also, even if they do, often the results are negative, just because the testing is often inconclusive. I do believe testing of HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8 genes may be worthwhile as folks with these genes are at a higher risk for celiac disease as well as other autoimmune diseases, including type 1 diabetes and autoimmune thyroid disease. However, folks without celiac disease may also carry these genes, so results aren’t definitive.
Trudy
I think so many people don’t understand how much MORE gluten is in the products we consume now than was decades ago. This is due to breeding higher and higher gluten strains of wheat. We also consume far more than we did a long time ago. We have become a snack culture and for some reason snacks are associated with gluten – crackers, pretzels, cookies, etc.
Thank you Trudy for this really informative article and the information on how people can do an elimination challenge. If it works that’s fabulous because then you know. If you don’t respond, well that’s great too. But to at least give them the tools to be aware of it rather than suffering with the side effects (such as depression, anxiety, skin issues, etc) is important.
Thanks Mira – I’m glad you mentioned the snacking thing – snacks are important for some people (esp if you are prone to low blood sugar) but healthy snacks should be the choice! and so true about how much gluten we consume and the higher gluten levels!
Trudy
So many people do poorly on gluten. A vast majority of the children with autism I work with cannot handle gluten. While it might not be “poison” for everyone, it certainly isn’t “healthy promoting” and likely it’s problematic. Thanks for bringing this awareness to athletes!
Thanks Julie for bringing up the very important link between gluten and autism (which was not on the list!) I know the work you do around diet for those with autism and ADHD/ADD is so powerful!
Trudy
There are so many “everyday” foods that provide no nutritional value (like gluten) that people eat unconsciously… So great to offer the education so that we can make informed choices on what we put in our bodies. THANKS, Trudy! XO, Katherine.
Thanks Katherine
Whole grains, even those with gluten, do have nutritional merit. For example whole wheat bread has complex carbs, fiber, B vitamins, selenium, iron etc. The big problem is when you can’t tolerate the gluten in these grains. And it’s appearing that more and more people are finding they can’t tolerate gluten AND many can’t tolerate it but are unaware of the problems it’s causing like liver damage, joint damage etc.
Trudy
The more I read about gluten the more I believe I’d be better off without it. I’ve gone gluten free before and just got tired of eating about 3 things over and over again. I eat out a lot, and trying to get things all gluten free proved to be a giant hassle and most of it tasted like pig slop. But I’m thinking it’s time to give it one more try. The evidence seems to be mounting….
Sue
It’s worth a trial that’s for sure – and be sure to keep a food-mood-symptom log while you’re doing it and then when you reintroduce it ie challenge. If you do better gluten-free there is NO reason food should taste like pig slop!!! really! and more and more restaurants are learning about gluten and offering gluten-free menu items. I do encourage you to check first and call-ahead. Good luck…keep me posted..
Trudy
Our family has really taken an approach in this direction.
We all agree it is a healthier diet. Thank you Trudy.
Good to hear Mitch
Trudy,
As always great information. I’m passing it on to some people who have recently discovered they are suffering from Celiac Disease.
Write on!~
Lisa Manyon
thanks Lisa!
Trudy,
As more and more of my friends discover they are gluten intolerant, I am coming around to the same conclusions – why do we even need it? I know I do much better without it, and so do most of my friends. It is interesting learning about the ‘edge’ here.
Terry
Thanks Terry – yes the ‘edge’ is interesting. If it helps athletes, what about biz owners!
Trudy