Gluten: What you don't know could kill you

Something you’re eating may be killing you, and you probably don’t even know it! If you eat foods like cheeseburgers, French fries, or drink 6 cans of soda a day, you likely know you shortening your life. But who would think eating a slice of whole wheat bread could be just as bad or worse.

Bread contains gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, spelt, kamut, and oats. It is hidden in foods like pizza, pasta, bread, wraps, rolls, and most processed foods. It is a huge portion of our diets today. Most people have heard of gluten causing celiac disease, but not many know that gluten can cause a long list of diseases including: irritable bowel disease, cancer, fatigue, canker sores, multiple sclerosis, and neurological diseases like anxiety, depression and migraines. The list goes on and on.

So what does gluten sensitivity do to the body? Gluten sensitivity is actually an auto-immune disease that leads to inflammation throughout the body affecting all organ systems including your brain, heart, joints, and digestive tract.  Uncontrolled inflammation throughout the body leads to a number of diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and pain throughout the body.

How can you find out if you have an issue with gluten? The best way to test this is to use an elimination/reintegration diet and monitor how you feel. The only way to know if you have a problem with gluten is to remove it for a short period of time (2 to 4 weeks) and see how you feel. You will need to get rid of the following foods:

• Gluten (barley, rye, oats, spelt, kamut, wheat, triticale--see www.celiac.com for a complete list of foods that contain gluten, as well as often surprising and hidden sources of gluten.)

• Hidden sources (soup mixes, salad dressings, sauces, as well as lipstick, certain vitamins, medications, stamps and envelopes you have to lick, and even Play-Doh.)

For this test to work you MUST eliminate 100 percent of the gluten from your diet--no exceptions, no hidden gluten, and not a single crumb of bread.

Then eat it again and see what happens. If you feel bad at all, you need to stay off gluten permanently. This will teach you better than any test about the impact gluten has on your body.

Yours in health,

Dr. Brooks Laber D.C.