Should I be gluten free?
We hear a lot about gluten in the nutritional world…mostly warnings about how we need to avoid it. Maybe you’re even the person who rolls their eyes at the person who asks for a gluten free menu at a restaurant. Before I started learning about how the food we eat affects our bodies, I was that person. Just eat the damn sandwich and enjoy it, right? At the time, I wasn’t aware of the science behind the gluten free ‘fad’, and it was just that in my mind-a fad. The more I started learning about what the food we eat does to our physiology, the more I learned that I was in fact wrong. It took me learning about it and cutting gluten out of my diet to realize that it had been affecting me all along and I had no idea.
Have you ever wondered why going gluten free is a thing? Is it really that bad for you? You may know you don’t have celiac disease, so should it still be eliminated from your diet? These are all valid questions, and the answers range from “yes, absolutely”, to “depends”.
One of the biggest issues we face with gluten is it’s connection with the thyroid. The vast majority of hypothyroid cases are autoimmune in nature. This means that your immune system attacks your thyroid gland, causing the thyroid to under-function or over-function in some way. There has been a strong link between gluten intolerance and thyroid autoimmunity because the protein component of gluten-called gliadin-looks very similar to thyroid tissue. When an individual has symptoms of hypothyroidism, some level of leaky gut is almost sure to exist as well. If leaky gut is present, the gliadin protein is not broken down properly and passes through the intestinal barrier partially (or fully) intact. The immune system recognizes gliadin as a foreign invader and goes on the attack. Since the structure of gliadin and thyroid tissue is so alike, the immune system cannot distinguish the difference between the two and proceeds to attack the thyroid as well. These attacks can last up to 6-8 months for every exposure to gluten! In this case, being 100% gluten free is absolutely warranted and necessary for preventing autoimmune flare ups and further destruction of the thyroid.
Let’s say you know for certain you don’t have a thyroid autoimmune disorder. Are there other ways gluten intolerance can affect your health? Absolutely. Gluten sensitivity can cause you to experience reactions in other parts of the body aside from gastrointestinal symptoms. It can cause skin reactions, a decline in mental acuity, anxiety, painful joints, and many more symptoms that people would not typically associate with gluten intolerance right off the bat. Blood tests can be performed to check for antibodies to gluten, but these will only be found if the gut is extremely permeable. Stool testing can assess the presence of gluten antibodies before they reach the bloodstream, and is therefore the best way to test for gluten intolerance. Stool testing can be expensive, however, so typically the approach in my practice is to do extensive and comprehensive blood testing to see if there are signs and symptoms of leaky gut present, as well as thyroid disorders or anything else that may have an interaction with gluten.
About 1 and 3 Americans are gluten intolerant, and the research shows that refined wheat is the number one source of calories in the standard American diet. Looking at these statistics, the questions of whether or not to eliminate gluten from your diet can get hairy. To make the best decision for yourself, the following should be considered:
Have you had an expanded thyroid panel performed in the past year? Routine panels do not include antibodies, which is why thyroid autoimmunity is frequently missed.
Do you regularly have bloating, irregular bowel movements, and a general feeling of being unwell after meals?
This could be a sign of leaky gut and should be evaluated.
Do you have unexplained skin reactions, brain fog, joint pain that won’t go away despite treatment, or difficulty losing weight?
These can be sneaky signs of gluten intolerance as there are many different types of gluten reactions in the body!
Eliminating gluten may seem impossible at first, but over time does get easier. We are living in a world where gluten free substitutions can be made almost anywhere for almost anything (although gluten free doesn’t automatically mean it’s a health food). When you discover how great you feel without it and you know how much your body will pay to have it, it’s so much easier to do without!