Gluten, 100% inflammatory?

Comment from Dr Philippe Fiévet¹ at the 32nd Meeting of Alternative and Complementary Medicine at the Tenon Hospital, Paris, on October 11, 2014, and re-transcribed by Aïssa Blankoff, naturopath-aromatherapist, www.naturoparis.com

Today we are witnessing a global pandemic of food-related diseases, foremost among which are the metabolic syndrome, inflammation and cancer. The issue of gluten is not unrelated to this degradation of human health.

In 1 in 3345, the diagnosis of clinical disease with the presence of anti-gluten antibodies is made. In 1 in 266 cases, we cannot speak of disease, but nevertheless of intolerance or hypersensitivity to gluten. For example, there is 20 times more celiac disease in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes. Autoimmune diseases are generally improved by stopping gluten consumption. When there is allergy, there is always cellular inflammation. Unfortunately, there are few studies on these subjects and for good reason: on every street corner, there are bakeries, and on every plate, there is gluten.

Here are some diseases that are directly linked to the consumption of gluten (non-exhaustive list):

• Autoimmune diseases: celiac disease, osteopenia, delayed puberty, arthritis, dermatitis herpetiformis …
• Allergies, baker’s asthma (4 to 8%), food allergies that can generate anaphylactic shock, allergic skin reactions (even cosmetics contain gluten)

• Non-celiac gluten sensitivity: currently, we do not yet have a biological marker of gluten sensitivity: on the other hand, the clinic speaks volumes: we find abdominal pain, skin allergies, depression, anemia, fatigue (in children), joint pain. It should also be known that if the specific antibodies of the intestinal wall (IgA) are deficient, the anti-gliadin antibodies are not found.
• Among others: repeated miscarriages, high blood pressure, gastroesophageal reflux disease, osteoporosis, inflammatory diseases.
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome: 77% of people who quit gluten no longer have irritable bowel syndrome.

Why is gluten toxic?

It is the protein called gliadin that poses the most problems: its form is indigestible because it is impossible to break the peptide bond of its amino acids. Gluten stimulates the production of interleukins (IL 8 and IL 15) which triggers the production of zonulin which creates inflammation. Zonulin, constitutionally secreted, stimulates the body’s defense; it is found increased in asthma, MS, IBD, type 1 diabetes, its manufacturing chromosome 16, can ensure the transmission of its production from generation to generation. Diabetes is constantly improved by stopping gluten, even if you limit yourself to this measure alone, so is type 2 diabetes.

These immune attacks create and maintain, by force, intestinal hyperpermeability, a condition which allows in principle undesirable macromolecules to pass into the blood and which, by breaking in, activate other immune families such as lymphocytes. Gluten consumption maintains hyperpermeability, inflammation and the body’s chronic state of defense. This mechanism takes place in 100% of individuals. In some, the symptoms will appear, in others not. Stopping gluten constantly improves the severity of all pathologies. Dr Fabienne Rancé had already demonstrated the role of hyperpermeability in allergies².

You should know that today gluten is everywhere, not only on our plates, but in many products. It is more and more modified. In the past, wheat was 1.50m high. Since then, it has been genetically manipulated, and we can see that the proportion of gluten in wheat has tripled over the past 50 years. It is even found in wine! It is used as a glue in processed foods and is increasingly used in hundreds of products of all kinds because it is extremely economical.

Raïssa Blankoff, naturopath-aromatherapist, www.naturoparis.com