159 Putting Gluten Free To The Test
My last blog post was intentionally short and incendiary, and I sincerely appreciate the commenters that respectfully called me out on the overgeneralizations. They were to make a point, but I do apologize.
The point is this: Of those who self identify with gluten sensitivity, only a tiny 5-7 percent claimed to ever have had their alleged allergy or intolerance formally diagnosed by a doctor. In fact, gluten-specific effects occurred only in 8% of people who identified themselves as having Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity when they were tested. Jumping to conclusions about gluten can mask the real causes of your symptoms, many of which can be very serious.
NaturalNews.com blames gluten for symptoms similar to IBS: migraines, fibromyalgia, irritability, dizziness, and fatigue, going so far as to call it a Peanut Butter and Death sandwich. Parents of children with autism in particular are now being targeted by gluten free food as a cure for their children’s autism by the likes of Jenny Mccarthy. Sales of Gluten-free foods last year topped 10.5 billion dollars, who sell food for 76% to 518% more. Gluten-free is big business.
But don’t take health advice from alternative peddlers: there are also a number of scam allergy tests out there. Specifically IgG and IgE antibody tests which have no clinical relevance to food allergies. HemoCode, the York Test, and the LEAP test are three common scams which have taken in some friends of mine in the past. For a one time fee of a few hundred dollars these tests will give you random results with a list of your “sensitivities” that come back different each time.
We can see how pseudoscience builds off of existing conditions and fears in popular culture, and then makes a leap in logic in order to market a product. In this case we start with Celiac disease, a gluten intolerance that causes serious gastrointestinal symptoms in 1% of Americans. Also wheat allergies, which could actually be triggered by any number of plant proteins not specific to wheat. And lastly, a very small number of diagnosable GI disorders (sometimes called Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity) or symptoms of IBS that may be triggered by short-chain carbohydrates (fermentable, oligo-, di-, monosaccharides, and polyols called FODMAPS) and are not actually affected by gluten specifically. Experts are still looking for the exact cause and argue over what to call it, but these are real issues.
The pseudoscience being sold is that gluten is also responsible for your symptoms and ailments, whatever they may be.
Is this the gluten one?
KATE
Of course it is.
WYLONA
This is the best pizza ever!
KATE
Wait, nope. That was the control pizza. All gluten.
WYLONA
ACK! I'm having a sensitivity attack!
KATE
Oops, my mistake. It was gluten free.
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It’s also being promoted by the various food companies, not so much because they care, but because often it’s an easy and quick marketing ploy. For example, I have a box of sugar which proudly touts that it’s “gluten free.” No kidding, I’d expect it to be.
Also fat free
Along those lines, I keep seeing hard candies (pretty much just boiled sugar) touting themselves as gluten and fat free..just because they can.
Nobody told me gluten was free. For years I’ve been paying for it. Is it too late to claim a refund? If so, it will help me with my debt allergy, caused by not enough money in my life, which I’ve tried supplimenting by more money, but not to much avail.
I did that “bait & switch” thing with a friend who was deep into astrology. After several rounds of “Oh, you are such a perfect…” she was hopping mad. Never did find out my real birthday…
I had the opposite of this once. Somebody said they could guess my birthday from what they thought my sign was. I didn’t tell them either, but they guessed it right. However, because I acted over the top and was so very amazed, they then assumed they’d got it wrong. All night they badgered me to tell them my real birthday, to which I annoyingly kept telling them how amazing they were to have such amazing powers and that it was right. On the other hand, maybe they really were psychic and I destroyed the confidence of the only person in the world who truly was psychic? I suppose if they were pschic they should have known.
I really want to punch Mccarthy and I’m generally considered a pacifist. As a person who has been categorized with HFA, I’ve taken a personal interest in autism and she is a prime example of a parent who handles the situation poorly. She may mean well, but her understanding is off. I recall an article from a scientific journal which found a correlation between autism and the variety of bacteria in the digestive tract; the dietary alterations may be having some kind of impact (maybe not the right one).
But what I really take issue with is the notion of “curing” autism. Firstly, it is a neurological condition with a genetic basis. Autistic people don’t just behave differently, they think and perceive differently compared to most people. And yes, environment may be a factor, but that doesn’t overrule the fact that people are born with the condition. Second, try asking them if they’d want to be “cured”. Polls show that the majority of people with autism wouldn’t want to change even if they had the option.
Autism often coincides with higher incident rates for other conditions such as depression, bi-polar, or schizophrenia. This may lead to some confusion over what factors are actually due to the autism and what may be due to another condition. Personally, I suspect that the depression factor may be boosted by the way society sees autism as undesirable.
When I was diagnosed (not self-diagnosed), it really messed with my head. Eventually, despite society, I realized that I’m not defective, I’m just different. Though, I frequently suspect society is defective.
I’m a pacifist in between fights the same way I’m a vegan in between meals. But I see your point. Autism isn’t cancer or the common cold, it’s just a condition. In a lot of cases of HFA, a lot of times it’s almost imperceptible. There are probably a lot of undiagnosed HFA cases going around. My shrink suggested that I might actually be a HFA (though I haven’t followed up to make sure)
Her and her beliefs with vaccines and every other person that actually falls for the pseudo science crap is a laughing stock in some places outside of America.
I was in India visting my cousins in Bombay when one of their firends derided me and America being full of fools that would rather kill their kids than save them. When I expressed my confusion, she pointed out McCarthy and a few other anti-vaccination “scientists.” I did my best to show that she is a minority.
I didn’t realize until then how far a person could reach out to the world.
If that’s the kind of “sensitivity” you see and not just a “worst of the bunch” as a near-strawman, I no longer blame you for thinking that gluten intolerance aside from celiac isn’t a thing. It takes a while for the difference to take effect (and some people can handle trace amounts but not much more while others can’t handle trace amounts at all), and many of the symptoms take a LONG time to subside. (There are also neurological effects, but if I understand correctly they present much more severely with celiac than non-celiac.)
On the subject brought up by LostMind, I was diagnosed as having Asperger’s Syndrome as a kid. When I was put through a full evaluation a few years ago (for non-hypochondriacal personal reasons), it turned out it was a misdiagnosis because a whole bunch of the things happened to coincide with the symptoms of AS (plus the obvious clinical depression and bipolarity, which are often comorbid with high-functioning autism). I’d suspected some of them for years, but others were surprises that made perfect sense in hindsight.