The discomfort you feel after eating bread may not be the gluten’s fault –

Bread, pasta and even beer have already been excluded from the menu of many people because they cause symptoms such as headaches, pain in the abdomen, joints and spots on the skin. The suspect in causing all this? The gluten. But then, when tested to see if they had celiac disease, some of these patients found out that they don’t have the condition. Is it your case? Calm down, science may have just discovered what’s behind it.

In a study presented at the UEG Week congress, the most prestigious gastroenterology meeting in Europe, researchers from the Johannes Gutenberg University, in Germany, would announce a curious discovery: a group of wheat proteins called amylase-trypsin inhibitors (ATI, in the acronym in English ) – of which gluten is not a part – is capable of triggering a series of inflammatory processes in the body, including non-celiac gluten sensitivity. In this condition, the person has all the symptoms of celiac disease, but does not actually have the problem.

Read also: Gluten-free diet: minus 3 kg in 10 days!

And it’s not just in the gut that these proteins cause negative effects. “We demonstrate that ATIs from wheat activate specific immune cells in the intestine and other tissues, thus potentiating the symptoms of pre-existing inflammatory diseases,” reports research leader Detlef Schuppan. In the investigation, Schuppan and his team noted that the consumption of these protein structures also opens the door to inflammation in the lymph nodes, kidneys, spleen and even the brain. With this, the symptoms of diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, asthma and lupus worsen.

Now new studies will be done to understand the action of ATIs in more detail. “We hope that this research will allow us to recommend, in the future, an ATI-free diet to help treat serious immune disorders”, comments Detlef Schuppan. I hope that day comes soon, right?