ncgs Tag

With this article, Gluten Allergy Symptoms, I will attempt to clarify something I feel may confuse people researching Celiac Disease (or Celiac Sprue Disease) and Gluten Intolerance.

To be honest, the term gluten allergy symptoms itself creates confusion and I’m not fond of it. I titled this article this confusing term on purpose to draw those using it so I might educate them on why it isn’t the best term for this condition. And yet even as I wrote it, I have come to the conclusion that it may still have a purpose if we can get the health community to use it in a specific way and in a consistent manner.

The first aspect you must understand is that clinical Celiac Disease and even Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS) is fundamentally different than an allergy in the traditional sense. Celiac disease is not a food allergy; it is an autoimmune disease. I explain this to some degree with the main article of this site, but because I receive an overwhelming number of emails targeting the phrase gluten allergy symptoms, I thought I better address the term more directly in its own article.

Read Gluten Allergy Symptoms

While the claim made in the title of my post may seem a bit bold, I do have a serious point about gluten intolerance symptoms, whether they derive from celiac disease (coeliac disease) or non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS).

Believe or not, there is some truth to the statement in this gluten blog post’s title. While we know celiac disease can easily lead to constipation if not treated through a rigorous gluten-elimination diet, many studies now seem to indicate that celiac disease can also lead to depression. And furthermore, this celiac constipation may be what leads to this kind of celiac depression.

Read Celiac Disease Constipation Leads to Celiac Depression?

First you must separate gluten intolerance into three distinct categories: Celiac Disease, Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity and a Wheat Allergy.

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.

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.

Read Gluten Intolerance Symptoms

A number of people have pointed out the following celiac video report running on CNN.

While I really appreciate the mainstream news media covering the serious issue of gluten intolerance symptoms, I want to note that some may find this report a little alarmist while others might find it vague:

Read CNN Covers Celiac Disease