Wheat, Gluten and You - Are we eating the same grain? (Part 3)

Recently, I had a conversation with a client of mine. She was asking me what to eat for breakfast. For a skinny body type female adult, she appears to have high body fat. Guess what's her daily breakfast meals? Yes, it's wheat/grains based breakfast. Breads and cereals. The typical American breakfast, the foods which wreck havoc and shape the obesity and diabetes growth in United States and most industrialized countries. When I told her to lose the wheat, she said "Then what can I eat for breakfast?". It's not an uncommon question, but for decades, we have been hardwired by the grains and food industries to make us think that eating grains, breads and cereals is healthy and wholesome, and we should have it for breakfast and as many meals as possible. The USDA food pyramid tells the whole story about why we have become such a 'grains-dependant' homo sapien.

When our brains are so addicted to these opiate-stimulated and morphins-loaded foods, it is a huge challenge for most people to drop the wheat and exorphins and gluteomorphin containing grains. Most of us don't even realized why we can't stop eating breads, muffins, cakes, pizzas, fast foods and other wheat-based foods. The addiction is arguably more intense then drugs addiction, possibly slightly worst then sugars. Wheat is one of the most addictive substance on the planet. Thinking of above mentioned foods makes you swallow your saliva down your throat, and your leptin signals most likely no longer able to send proper message to the brain. You are always hungry all the time, most people crave for sugars or refined carbs after 

finished a meal. I call it the three hormonal musketeers, Leptin- Insulin - Cortisol. Once you abuse or dsyregulate one of these 3 vital hormones, the vicious cycle kicks off, and resistance will increase the longer you interfere with these pathways. 

In this post, I will discuss a little bit about antibodies and autoimmunity, and the relations with grains and gluten-containing foods. In terms of immune system, conventional testing primarily focus on IgE testing, but the fact that our immune system is beyond IgE mediated. Different 'arms forces' are specifically built and to defend our body from pathogens and foreign invaders. IgG, IgM, IgA play a crucial role in protecting our immune system. Although IgE reaction is usually immediate, but conventional testing methods could come back with false negative or positive. However, blood test is more accurate then skin prick test. To be safe, ask for both tests to be conducted by your physician.

Bear in mind, apart from immediate immune reaction, delayed immune response may have an 7-8 days delay before symptoms appear. In this case, IgE blood test may no longer be necessary, and IgG, IgM, and IgA come into the equation here. Due to such a delayed period before symptoms appear, it could be difficult to find out the foods or even additives caused the problem. Additives make foods become more antigenic, and some people could react to combination of foods such as protein + gluten + preservatives. The end product of the foods combined, increase the antigenic effect to the individual.

When we talk about testing for multiple immunoglobulins, it would be wise to include IgG, IgM, IgA together. The immune system sometimes make mistakes, and it create antibodies to foods as such. IgA is first secreted in saliva and also mucosal areas. The overflow enters blood, ready for future invasion. IgA is the major antibody responsible for mucosal immune reactions against food. It affect the tight junctions in the gut, resulting in possible leaky gut. The consequences could be from mild to severe, as unwanted antigens sneak through the barrier and causing all sorts of havoc as blood lymphocytes react against food antigens. Meanwhile, IgG and IgM is produced when food antigens get into circulation.

Now, let's do a quick review here. Musosa is where the outside environment meets the inside of the body, including the inside lining of the GI tract. IgA cells in the mucosa waiting to lock up problematic food particles. Locked up food particles should be eliminated. Bear in mind, inflammation opens up tight junctions, causing leaky gut. Thats bad news. IgG and IgM then produced when IgA can't cope with the scale of the problem. 

I understand that most people would wonder, "How would I test for accurate antibodies?" After reading this post, most of you may ask this question to yourself, "Does conventional laboratories or hospitals do these tests?". Well, it depends on your location, and your own research on finding the right practitioner or doctor to help you getting the proper test to be conducted. Again, different individual with different symptoms may be recommended for different tests all together.

One may wonder, is testing really matter? How important is testing these antibodies? What would my panel or family doctor says about these tests? Let's talk abit about various antibodies testing methods. In a study in 2011, it is found that almost 100% accuracy in identifying celiac disease in saliva testing.

Measures IgA plus IgM in saliva for early detection of gluten sensitivity and celiac disease would be highly recommended. It allows the patient to take preventive measures, rather then trying any means to suppress the symptoms or "fire fighting" situation. Also, IgA sometimes appear 5-10 years before onset of any noticeable symptoms in an individual.

Apart from that, testing for multiple gluten peptides would be a smarter approach, and thumbs up to your practitioner or doctor, if he or she include this test in diagnosing your condition. Bare in mind, only 50% of celiac patients have elevated antibodies to alpha gliadin, and many different components of gluten can trigger an immune response. Question is, why are we only checking one single component of gluten? Many people have been misdiagnosed because of only testing against one component of wheat. A sophisticated test can now test for an immune response to components such as alpha gliadin, gamma gliadin, omega gliadin, glutenin, gluteomorphins, and wheat germ agglutinin.

Please take note that although the immune system makes IgA or IgM antibodies at first encounter, but antibodies can be detected for up to 3 months in blood and saliva. Memory cells remember the exposure even after antibodies are gone. Second exposure triggers memory lymphocytes immediately. For instance, it takes only a few miligrams of wheat for first exposure, and subsequent exposures only need a few microgram. If your first exposure to wheat or gluten at age of 5 years old, any other exposures after that only requires less then a single bite of white bread or not even a teaspoon of cereals.

It is the same mechanism by which vaccinations work. If you receive a measure of the measles bug in a shot, the immune assembly line makes antibodies. When those bugs have been destroyed, we have memory B cells. Memory B cells are on the lookout for the re-entry of measles virus, and if it re-enters, the immune system then flips the switch. Remember, memory B cells stay with us forever, and the same mechanism occurs with food.

Stay tuned for next post.