Gluten sensitivities on the rise?

Blood samples were taken from solders at the Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming about 50 years ago.  They froze the samples, and they were recently tested.  Researchers tested the samples for gluten sensitivities.  What they found was alarming.

They found that gluten sensitivities in the human blood stream is four times more than 50 years ago.  There are four times more people per capita with Celiac disease now.

Gluten sensitivity, the important factor in Celiac disease, is officially found in 1 in 100 people now, and some people think that it is more common than that.  Celiac disease is where gluten protein pieces are allowed to pass through the lining of the gut, to get into the blood, and to interact with the immune system.   People who are gluten sensitive have developed antibodies to the gluten protein, and this makes the immune system react against it.  When the immune system reacts, there is inflammatory chemical released throughout the body.  This can cause a whole list of problems, and can even trigger autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory myositis.

I had an uncle who died from inflammatory myositis.  This is like rheumatoid arthritis, except that instead or attacking the joints between the bones, the body’s immune system attacked the muscles instead.  What happened is that he got very weak, suffered through intense intractable pain, and his whole muscular system became atrophied until he died.

This makes me wonder, was he gluten sensitive?  Was it a food sensitivity that triggered his autoimmune disease?  We’ll never know.  But, now we know a new way to see if what we eat is making us sick.

The ALCAT test is available in St. George, UT, and can provide some of the answers.  The ALCAT test checks the blood for immune cell reaction to hundreds of foods, pharmeceutical chemicals, molds and additives. If your body is reacting to what you eat, you’ll know about it, and you can now do something about it with confidence that you are avoinding the right food.

Call our office if you are interested.