Gluten Intolerance Symptoms
by Sarah
Welcome to Gluten Intolerance Symptoms, where I will try to help you understand gluten intolerance and then live a healthy and fun life despite living with wheat allergy symptoms or celiac disease symptoms.
A growing number of individuals are identifying their gluten intolerance symptoms — and Celiac Disease symptoms — and discovering their sensitivity to gluten. We aim to help you determine whether or not you’re experiencing gluten intolerance symptoms or symptoms of wheat intolerance, and then if you require, help you learn your way through a new world of gluten-free cuisines.
Specifically, we hope to help you understand the difference between symptoms of wheat intolerance and gluten intolerance symptoms (or gluten allergy symptoms). Many mistake these to be the same, but they’re not! Please note this article does not use “wheat” and “gluten” interchangeably as they are two distinct terms. Also, it is possible to experience Celiac Disease symptoms but test negative for Celiac Disease (which you’ll sometimes see spelled Coeliac Disease or Coeliac Sprue Disease and also has the clinical name gluten enteropathy). And yes, adults can develop food allergies, so don’t exclude yourself from certain conditions just because you didn’t have them in your youth.
You need not view your gluten intolerance symptoms — or symptoms of wheat intolerance — as a harbinger of darker days. We’ll help you restore hope. Use the following index to skip to your desired section:
Can Adults Develop Food Allergies?
What is Celiac Disease?
What is Gluten?
What Is Gluten Intolerance?
Is Gluten Intolerance a Wheat Allergy?
Can Adults Develop Food Allergies?
Too many adults develop a belief that once they reach adulthood, they have a full understanding of their sensitivities and allergies. It is also possible that you’ve either ignored or misread your gluten intolerance symptoms or gluten allergy symptoms. The condition is infamously under-diagnosed and diagnosis takes some study and thought. There isn’t a simple single test to give you an outright answer and the best and most comprehensive research on the matter has only become widespread in recent years. While a simple blood test can tell you whether you have celiac disease, if you test negative you may still experience gluten allergy symptoms, often referred to as Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS).
What is Celiac Disease?
The cold clinical definition to a Celiac Disease diagnosis is this: Positive antibodies to the proteins glutenin and gliadin, tissue transglutaminase, and intestinal endomysium, along with the verified presence of HLA-DQ8 or HLA-DQ2 genes. Fun, huh?
If you and your doctor (or natural physician) determine your gluten intolerance symptoms are distinctly a result of consuming gluten, you may be diagnosed as having celiac disease. Celiac Disease is an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine. It can rear its troublesome head at any point from infancy to old age. Currently, Celiac disease symptoms are believed to be inherited. However, as it has often gone misdiagnosed in the past, you may have gluten intolerance in your family and not realize it.
It is important to recognize that clinical tests (a blood test and/or an intestinal biopsy) can determine to some certainty that you have Celiac Disease, but inconclusive or negative results in these tests do not necessarily mean you’re free from gluten intolerance. In fact, most people experiencing legitimate and significant gluten intolerance symptoms have officially tested negative for Celiac Disease. These individuals are categorized as Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitive, or NCGS.
Because it is difficult to test conclusively, many people will be diagnosed based on a wide variety of screenings and observations. The most common symptoms are gastro-intestinal problems (diarrhea, flatulence & bloating) and fatigue, but many peripheral symptoms also lead to celiac disease diagnosis or non-Celiac gluten sensitivity. (I don’t want to make everyone reading this paranoid so over time this site will provide a wide range of essays on different ways people have come to evaluate gluten intolerance symptoms.)
The most accurate way to identify and diagnose your gluten intolerance symptoms is to use an elimination diet — a strict diet in which you completely eliminate gluten and gluten-associated foods for a significant period of time, then use careful record-keeping and observation to compare your symptoms before the elimination period to your symptoms after the elimination period.
Celiac Disease is caused by the inflammatory interaction of gliadin — a gluten protein in wheat and other grains such as barley and rye — and the enzyme tissue transglutaminase. This inflammation flattens the lining of the small intestine and thus impedes your small intestine’s ability to absorb nutrients. The best and likely only way to deal with this disease is a strict gluten-free diet.
What is Gluten?
Gluten is composed of the proteins glutenin and gliadin. They exist in the grass-like grains wheat, barley, rye and spelt. While western civilization has come to rely on gluten not only as an important nutritional protein but as a utility for obtaining a desired texture and elasticity in foods, in recent years some controversial studies indicate our bodies may not tolerate and digest gluten as well as everyone has always assumed.
What Is Gluten Intolerance?
First you must separate gluten intolerance into three distinct categories: Celiac Disease, Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity and a Wheat Allergy.
Celiac Disease Symptoms | Gluten Intolerance
Celiac Disease occurs when the proteins in gluten (glutenin and gliadin) trigger your immune system to overeact with strong and unusual anitbodies. Over time, such antibodies wear down the little hairs called villi which line the walls of your intestine (a process called villous atrophy). These finger-like tiny hairs grab and absorb nutrients as foods pass through your lower digestive tract. As celiac disease symptoms slowly destroy these villi, you become less and less able to process any nutrition from your food. This sets off a domino-effect of increasingly serious health problems.
Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity is currently a little more difficult to pinpoint. Basically, individuals who suffer from NCGS suffer very similarly to people with Celiac Disease, but the blood test which identifies and diagnoses celiac disease returns as negative. The only way to confidently diagnose NCGS is through a gluten-free diet (I’ll write more about NCGS in the future as it is an interesting topic which more directly addresses the controversy around the term gluten allergy symptoms).
The third category is wheat allergy symptoms. The origin of wheat allergy symptoms are fundamentally different than gluten intolerance or celiac disease symptoms, but some might call it gluten allergy symptoms. This is a histamine response to wheat, much like a peanut allergy or hay fever. Wheat allergies manifest themselves in a wide variety of manners which can be different for different people. Some people experience hives while others might experience stomach pain.
Is Gluten Intolerance a Wheat Allergy?
Even though it occurs as a reaction to protein in wheat, Celiac Disease is not specifically a wheat allergy. A wheat allergy — like most well-known allergies — is the response of white blood cells called basophils and mast cells to something called Immunoglobulin E (or IgE for short). In laymen terms, this is a traditional allergy where you develop antibodies to an allergen, in this case wheat. Believe it or not, you can have a wheat allergy and not have Celiac Disease (or gluten intolerance), and you can have Celiac Disease and not have a wheat allergy. They’re two completely different responses in your body.
In a vast majority of cases, gluten intolerance symptoms will be systemic and will be a result of consuming gluten over a period of time. But symptoms of wheat intolerance will instead manifest themselves more like you perceive a typical allergy: quickly and with single exposure.
For example, if you eat a large, dense piece of gluten-rich bread and have immediate reactions, you are more likely experiencing wheat intolerance symptoms or a wheat allergy rather than symptoms of gluten intolerance which specifically represent celiac disease symptoms.
I know this can be confusing, but think of a wheat allergy reaction as similar to the way a person might react to cats if he or she is allergic to them. If he pets the cat and breaths around the cat, then he will almost immediately start having watery, itchy eyes and begin sniffling and sneezing.
In contrast, gluten intolerance symptoms manifest themselves more like a nutritional deficiency, with symptoms that sometimes arise slowly over time. The symptoms can be severe and serious, but in most cases they’re systemic, not immediate like symptoms of wheat intolerance. To make this even more confusing, people frequently refer to this condition as gluten allergy symptoms.
I hope this helps you gain a basic understanding of gluten intolerance. In the coming months, I will provide multiple perspectives to evaluating gluten intolerance symptoms and I will begin rolling out some great ways to live gluten-free, including some fun recipes.
For example, check out our comprehensive Gluten-Free Pantry or our first collection of Gluten-Free Bread Recipes. Or keep up-to-date with our changes and additions with our Gluten Intolerance Symptoms blog.
Thank you for visiting and please return soon!