What's with Gluten

It seems today gluten is being blamed for everything wrong with mankind; this is not really the case. As a matter of fact T Colin Campbell in his book, The China Study, reports that , “Gluten the protein in wheat, did not produce the same cancer causing result as casein (87%) of cow’s milk protein, even when fed at the same 20% level”, (p. 59).

Gluten is a protein found in grains and is especially prevalent in wheat. Some grains that contain gluten besides wheat are: barley, tricalate, malts, kamut, spelt, rye and others. The makeup of a seed or endosperm of wheat is mostly a combination of proteins and carbohydrates. These items are there to feed the seed as it grows into a plant of some sort.  Gluten is a plant based protein often found with other proteins in the seed.

Not all seeds contain gluten, they may have different forms of proteins for which to use as food. Some such seeds would be corn, wild rice, buckwheat, quinoa, and oats. Oats seem to be an issue because very often gluten will be present when oat groats are present. This seems to be caused by cross contamination from other grains present where oats are grown. Never the less it may still be present, thus a problem.

Gluten may actually be a useful source of protein foods as long as a person is not allergic or intolerant. It is used as a thickening agent and stabilizer, and due to its malleability and elasticity it is most often used in bread and pastry dough. Not long ago I sprouted some wheat and ground it. The result was a sticky glue like substance. Imitation vegan meats are made from gluten which gives it the firm meaty texture. You will often find it in pet foods and as additives to many other human foods.

The problem with gluten is that about 1% of the world population has a disease called Celiac disease. Celiac disease is an immune disorder which sees gluten as an intruder of the body and acts accordingly. This in turn causes serious digestive issues and may be very serious even fatal in some instances. This is slightly different than a gluten allergy which like most other allergies stimulate histamines. If you have a problem the solution of course is to simply eliminate gluten from the diet, but be careful. The gluten free labels do not mean the food is totally gluten free it simply means that it is below certain accepted and tolerable levels. A person must be totally aware of their gluten tolerances and behave accordingly.

Resources

Campbell, T. (2006). The China study. Dallas, TX: Benbella Books.