4 Types of Gluten Reactions and What Causes Them

Gluten, the protein in wheat and other cereals that gives dough consistency, is everywhere and its consumption not only has serious consequences for people with celiac disease but can also affect many other people who, without being celiac, have developed certain sensitivity to this protein to a greater or lesser degree.

This affectation is apparently due to the fact that some substances such as gliadins (gluten proteins), short-chain carbohydrates and amylase and trypsin inhibitors cause a alteration of the lining of the small intestine that hinders the absorption of some foods.

In any case, the rapid increase in the number of people affected by this syndrome seems to be linked to the increased consumption of gluten-containing foods: not only from the cereal itself, but also from the large number of processed products that incorporate it as such or as an additive.

This omnipresence of gluten is something that we must take into account if we want to reduce its consumption or eliminate it from our diet.

Reasons to eliminate gluten from the diet

There are different classifications according to the body’s reaction to gluten:

1. Celiac disease

It is intolerance to the gluten protein, a autoimmune and chronic disease characterized by a lesion of the mucosa of the small intestine that prevents the correct absorption of nutrients.

The symptoms are diarrhea, malnutrition, abdominal swelling, nausea and vomiting… In case of celiac disease, the person it is imperative to completely abandon gluten and avoid the slightest contamination.

2. gluten sensitivity

Also Known As non-celiac gluten sensitivity (SGNC), which could affect 10% of the population.

The symptoms are very similar to those produced by intolerance, although the extradigestive manifestationssuch as behavioral disturbances, bone and joint pain, cramps, numbness in the extremities, weight loss, or chronic fatigue.

3. Gluten allergy

It is produced by a immediate hypersensitivity immune response. It affects a very low percentage of the population and the symptoms are of different severity: abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, asthma, cough, rhinitis, conjunctivitis, hives, edema or inflammation, dermatitis…

4. Other health problems

They are what we might call “volunteers” or people who voluntarily reject gluten.

This group includes those people who, without the need for a diagnosis, banish wheat and its derivatives because they follow a therapeutic diet that excludes itsuch as the ketogenic, anti-candida, anti-cancer or Crohn’s diet, or simply because they decide to follow a “gluten free” lifestyle.