Gluten sensitivity is currently estimated to affect as many as 18 million Americans.
[1] Reactions to gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley, are becoming increasingly common. Gluten sensitivity can range in severity from mild discomfort, such as gas and bloating, to celiac disease, a serious autoimmune condition that can, if undiagnosed, result in a 4-fold increase in death.
[2] Genetics alone cannot explain the rapid rise in gluten-related disorders, and experts believe that there must be an environmental trigger. There continues to be much debate about what that environmental trigger may be.
Some assert that a higher gluten content of modern wheat is to blame for the rising prevalence of gluten-related disorders.
[3] But a 2013 review of data commissioned by the United States Department of Agriculture found no evidence to support this.
[4] Others blame increased consumption of wheat overall,
[4] age of wheat introduction,
[5] cesarean birth,
[6] breastfeeding duration,
[7] or alterations in intestinal microflora.
[8] All of these do offer some explanation, but they cannot completely account for the drastic increase in gluten sensitivities that we have seen in recent years.
Another possible environmental trigger may be the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to the American food supply, which occurred in the mid-1990s. GMOs are created by a laboratory process that transfers genetic material into the DNA of an organism. There are nine genetically modified (GM) food crops currently on the market: soy, corn, cotton (oil), canola (oil), sugar from sugar beets, zucchini, yellow squash, Hawaiian papaya, and alfalfa. Notice that wheat is
not one of these. Although wheat has been hybridized through natural breeding techniques over the years, it is
not in fact a GMO.
Comment: For more information on wheat and gluten intolerance read the following articles:
The Dark Side of Wheat - New Perspectives on Celiac Disease and Wheat Intolerance
Opening Pandora's Bread Box: The Critical Role of Wheat Lectin in Human Disease
Gluten: What You Don't Know Might Kill You
Facts you might not know about gluten
Book Review: Gluten Toxicity - The Mysterious Symptoms of Celiac Disease, Dermatitis Herpetiformis, and Non-Celiac Gluten Intolerance
Can You Stomach Wheat? How Giving up Grain May Better Your Health
Just because someone doesn't have coeliac disease, doesn't mean they don't have a problem with gluten
Beyond Gluten-Free: The Critical Role of Chitin-Binding Lectins in Human Disease
Gluten Sensitivity and the Impact on the Brain