A seemingly new syndrome is puzzling doctors. People are coming in with mild to severe sensitivity to gluten, yet consistently test negative for celiac disease.
Although a gluten free diet seems to yield satisfactory results, doctors are at a loss to understand this development.
Although prescribing a gluten free diet as a preventative or even if there is just a suspicion of sensitivity is not recommended, there is a growing number of cases reported each year.
Non celiac gluten sensitivity, now named NCGS, is actually believed to be far more prevalent than the 1% incidence in the general population of its more severe counterpart, Celiac disease.
In fact in a pool of people with gluten sensitivity studied, 10% resulted as Celiacs, where the 90% remaining were afflicted by NCGS.
Although now a trendy fad, a gluten free diet should not be undertaken without the aid of a physician and a proper diagnosis.
But NCGS is not to be taken lightly. Some estimates believe that one in twenty Ameircans could be affected by the problem.
Some scientists, and some people opposed to GMO products, are pointing the finger at GMO wheat as the culprit. But the science is still too nebulous to even start pointing fingers. Celiac has been known for much longer than GMO products existence, however, there seems to be an yearly increase of cases, which brings back the question of how the reliance on processed foods, and new foods, engineered to increase yield and other features could be playing a role, since genetically, we do no have a recognition of some of these products.
But some point to diets that are full of processed foods, and low in vitamins and fiber. This diet, which seems to be quite prevalent in developed countries, changes the gut flora and peristalsis significantly, and can cause higher levels of inflammation in the body, which in turn could trigger autoimmune responses and other issues that affect the intestinal tract.
Partial Source : Huff Post/ MNT/ 10.17.13
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