better
HEALTH
A LOT OF PEOPLE SAY TH EY’RE
ALLERGIC TO GLUTEN—ARE TH EY?
Not really, no. Humans are not allergic
to gluten, per se; they are either
gluten “sensitive” (which researchers
say affects 30 percent of the
population) or they’ve developed a
more dangerous autoimmune disease
called celiac (which plagues about one
in 100 Americans, often undiagnosed).
“With celiac disease, the body’s
autoimmune response is first to attack
the gluten and then attack its own
cells. This causes serious damage over
time. With gluten sensitivity, the
glutinous food never gets fully
digested, leading to inflammation and
irritation in different areas of the
body,” says Dr. Vikki Petersen,
certified clinical nutritionist, director
of the HealthNow Medical Center in
Sunnyvale, California, and author of
the book
The Gluten Effect.
2 0 4 JULY 20Ю BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS
HOW DO I KNOW IF I HAVE PROBLEMS
W ITH GLUTEN?
Because gluten intolerance affects a
wide range of systems in the body, its
symptoms can be far-reaching and
varied. They include major and minor
gastrointestinal issues such as chronic
diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloating,
constipation, acid reflux, and IBS,
along with anemia, malnourishment,
infertility, recurrent miscarriages,
arthritis, and osteoporosis.
HOW IS IT DIAGNOSED?
You can ask your physician to rule out
celiac disease with a simple blood test
or an intestinal biopsy. If you’re
worried about a gluten sensitivity,
Petersen recommends you cut out all
foods containing gluten from your diet
for a month and then add them back
in and see if the symptoms return.
“The gold standard for diagnosing any
food sensitivity is elimination and
provocation, which means living
gluten-free for at least a month and
then trying to eat the food again,” she
says. <rYou have to really commit to
the diet, though—if you’re not perfect
with it, the test won’t work.”
W ILL I LOSE W EIGHT IF I GO ON
A GLU TEN -FREE DIET?
Tricky question. On a gluten-free diet,
malnourished celiac sufferers who
have intestinal damage as a result of
the disease will often gain weight. As
for everyone else, cutting out glutinous
carbs can lead to weight loss, but only
if they’re replaced with nutritious,
high-quality foods. W hat’s more, many
packaged gluten-free foods actually
have less fiber than their gluten-
containing counterparts and are more
starchy. “If you take out refined white-
flour desserts and replace them with
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