

Small Amounts of Gluten in Subjects with Suspected Nonceliac Gluten Sensitivity - alexcasalboni
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25701700

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wbhart
I too thought gluten intolerance was all in people's minds, except for Celiac
(which is a very serious affair indeed).

I had pretty bad intestinal problems for a couple of years. I had effectively
ruled out gluten as a possible cause because in uni I had pizza boxes stacked
to the roof.

Whilst reading a paper on a dietary study I remembered that croissants
triggered severe intestinal issues for me. I began to wonder whether I had
_developed_ a sensitivity to gluten.

I cut gluten and my pretty bad intestinal issues ceased within days, with a
total abatement after 2 weeks. That's been the case for 2 months now.

I also suffer from occasional (controlled) panic attacks. There has been at
least a 50-75% reduction in those. (I was aware my panic attacks were
exacerbated by the intestinal issues.)

Another interesting discovery in an article I read on HN is that metabolism is
more affected by eating than light. So I tried not eating any calories after
10pm.

My normal waking hour is 11 am and has been for 15 years. By the first weekend
after I started nil calories after 10 pm, I woke up at 7:30 am! (It's
stablised to a more civilised hour now.)

~~~
aaronbrethorst
I never had any gluten sensitivity issues until I was in my mid 20s. After a
few years of really terrible symptoms a friend suggested I cut gluten out of
my diet and my symptoms disappeared completely within two days.

~~~
wbhart
In my case, I can't have had any severe gluten issues (at least not intestinal
ones) until age 37.

Another really strange effect is that since stopping with gluten I have had
very vivid childhood memories. I don't believe I had "brain fog", but
something interesting happened.

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Yen
This is interesting, as before now, I considered most claims of gluten
sensitivity (that weren't specifically related to Celiac disease) to be part
of a health fad. This study would seem to contradict that.

Are these P numbers actually a large effect, though? This doesn't seem to have
freely available full text.

~~~
undersuit
The health fad is super unfortunate, mostly because the "gluten free" foods I
see are still just as shitty nutritionally as their gluten equivalents.

I'd love for this to be performed on a larger scale, we'll prove that either
gluten sensitivity exists or psychics do if the results hold.

~~~
peterevans
Actually, it's really great! Because it allows people who have an observable
intolerance to gluten to eat food. That's a nice thing, isn't it?

What's unfortunate is your dismissal of (scare-quoted!) gluten free food as a
health fad, but so it goes.

~~~
undersuit
Most of the time I actually eat gluten free by choice, but I don't grab a box
of gluten free crackers, I make a salad.

I'm dismissing things like Gluten-free corn dogs... why the hell gluten is in
a corn dog is the first place is another problem all by itself.

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newobj
(TMI warning) I'm not celiac, but if I eat gluten my stool gets screwed up and
I have to wipe like (seriously) 10 times to get "clean enough". That's the
most obvious effect. Foggy, bloating, yes, to a lesser degree. But the screwed
up stool is like a night and day thing. No gluten, clean shot. Gluten, mud
butt.

I did register as highly sensitive to gluten (and dairy and soy) on an IgG
test. That's not celiac though. Also, as these things seem to be correlated, I
am homozygous for MTHFR 677T mutation.

~~~
petercooper
I don't think I was as bad as that, but I had a similar issue. I tested
negative for celiac twice, although my father is confirmed, but I have to roll
my eyes at anyone who claims non-celiac gluten sensitivity doesn't exist
because it clearly does for some of us (that said, I have _never_ suffered
from bloating or pain which are allegedly the most common symptoms).

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hoopism
We have put my daughter on a gluten free diet for reasons that aren't relevant
to this article... the byproduct has resulted in a decrease in gluten in my
own diet (pretty much extinction). I have always had intestinal issues and a
while back was able to alleviate them considerably with the decrease in dairy.

I wouldn't say that I noticed a lessening of symptoms when we switched to
gluten free diet BUT I did recently buy a bread machine and started making
gluten based bread regularly (and eating a lot of it). Symptom wise I have
felt much worse than ever before... no idea if there's a link... but it was
interesting to note (had to rack my brain to figure out why I felt so bloated
and crummy). Only real change was the consumption of more bread than usual.

~~~
daughart
There was a study a while back that suggested FODMAPs, not gluten, was a prime
candidate for this type of symptom.

"Fodmaps is an acronym for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides,
monosaccharides and polyols, sugars that draw water into the intestinal tract.
They may be poorly digested or absorbed, and become fodder for colonic
bacteria that produce gas and can cause abdominal distress."

[http://www.gastrojournal.org/article/S0016-5085%2813%2900702...](http://www.gastrojournal.org/article/S0016-5085%2813%2900702-6/abstract)

~~~
dmix
Yup I have ulcerative colitis and one doctor put me on FODMAP, my awful
symptoms were minimized much the same was as taking almost chemo-level
pharmaceuticals I was put on at an earlier time (which also was effective).
That time around I wanted to try a diet approach and it seemed to work. And
traditionally there have been no diet based remedies for colitis, whereas with
Crohn's and celiac diet matters a lot so that says something for FODMAP
ancedotally.

The only problem is the it is really hard to find FODMAP food in grocery
stores. You end up eating a very small group of the same meals and are forced
to not eat out at many restaurants. So much like weight-loss/working out
you'll be receding back to eating regular food within a few months unless
you're dedicated.

I hope the 'food industry' starts offering more food in the FODMAP genre,
instead of the obsessive and over-priced gluten-free products that are popping
up - and largely not science based the way FODMAP has been.

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brandonmenc
Here's an anecdote:

My mother is so allergic to wheat (not sure if it's the gluten or not) that
when she touches dough, she instantly breaks out in hives at the site of
contact. It's interesting, because ingestion isn't required to produce a
reaction. She can't eat the stuff, either.

She's even more allergic to corn. The only grain she can contact without
consequence is rice. She eliminated grains from her diet and, after many
years, can now eat small amounts without much of a problem.

Can anyone else here attest to this kind of general grain allergy?

~~~
newobj
There are two kinds of "allergies", IgE and IgG. IgE is more "anaphylactic",
and IgG can be referred to as a "delayed allergy."

When talking about gut sensitivity I think people are usually referring to the
IgG sensitivity.

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ChuckMcM
I sooooo wish someone would do this study and include in it a survey of gut
flora through out the tests.

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fasteo
Sorry, maybe OT:

Does anybody here has empirical experience with ADHD and the supposed
connection with gluten sensitivity [1] ? I have a kid with severe ADHD and I
have been always reluctant to try a gluten-free diet, but the truth is that
the evidence is getting stronger everyday.

Thanks.

[1]
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3184556/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3184556/)

~~~
joshrotenberg
I also have a kid with attention issues. We recently did some testing for
Celiac which was negative, but he clearly feels better, both in terms of focus
and gastrointestinal issues, when he lays off the gluten/wheat. Try it out,
worth a shot. Also, it definitely makes it easier when you give it up as a
family and, in my experience, pretty much all of the gluten free bread
products taste like crap, so find ways to avoid things with bread in general.

~~~
newobj
Has your child had any genetic testing? Any mutations in A1298C or C677T?

~~~
fasteo
Nope. Worth doing ?

Incidentally, I did the 23andme test and I have just checked mine[1]:

A1298C: no SNP of MTHFR

C677T: heterozygous for MTHFR

[1] [http://blog.stickyrice.net/archives/2013/decode-23andme-
for-...](http://blog.stickyrice.net/archives/2013/decode-23andme-for-mthfr-
genes/)

~~~
newobj
Mainly asking you for my own data, but I certainly think so (given how
easy/cheap it is now). My son was non-verbal till he was 3 and as we later
discovered, mutated on both 1298/677 due to bad genes from both my ex-wife and
I. When we gave him an injection of methyl-b12 (the primary course of
supplementation for these mutations), he literally started talking the next
day. I've heard this story so. many. times. in the autistic community. So at
this point I always ask people about it.

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serve_yay
I don't know why it's so hard to just believe people if they don't want gluten
or say it makes them feel bad. It could be a placebo, but how many things you
care about are just in your head?

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spdustin
Is there a source for the full text that doesn't involve subscribing? I seem
to recall some comments in the past that there are sites that offer the full
text of such studies.

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maxerickson
I always wonder how many people who feel better after giving up bread are
dealing with some level of insulin resistance.

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raverbashing
" Participants were randomly assigned to groups given either 4.375 g/day
gluten or rice starch (placebo) for 1 week, each via gastro-soluble
capsules.""

One thing that's not clear is what was communicated to the patients: "You'll
be given gluten", "You'll be given something unspecified" or "You'll be given
a gluten-free food" (and then groups split in gluten/placebo given)

~~~
jimjimjim
"... a Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, ..."

The important part of the title is the words Double-Blind. The patients don't
know and the people running it don't know.

~~~
bcherry
The patients know they're eating a pill - the administrators have to tell them
something about this pill, even in a double blind study. Did they tell them
"this pill contains gluten" (even though the placebo group did not receive
gluten) or did they tell them "this pill contains no gluten" or did they tell
them "this pill may or may not contain gluten"? Maybe they told them "this
pill contains an experimental drug for combatting gluten intolerance". it does
matter what they used.

~~~
inyourtenement
I have some small experience as a study subject. We were given detailed
information ahead of time which included what was under study, and whether
there would be a placebo group.

I guess the assumption is that since both groups receive the same information
any placebo effect would be equalized.

