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Gluten is a protein that is in common grains such as wheat, rye, and barley, and other less common grains such as spelt, bulgar, semolina, couscous, triticale, graham, kamut and durum flour. It has a glue-like constancy that gives bread its elastic properties. If you are gluten intolerant, your body is unable to digest this glue-like protein and the portion of the gluten that is undigested forms deposits on the intestinal walls. The body sees it as a foreign invader and sends the immune system into the area to kill it. The immune system response creates antibodies that sensitize the body to gluten. The next time it is ingested, the body again sees the gluten as foreign invader and starts a continual attack every time gluten is eaten.
This is only the beginning for people with gluten intolerance. The immune response to the gluten protein creates a chain reaction that involves not only the digestive system, but the entire body including the brain, skin, heart and immune system. Gluten Sensitivity has several levels of severity, and unfortunately many cases are never diagnosed. In fact, approximately 8 out of 9 patients with gluten sensitivity are not diagnosed because they don’t have intestinal symptoms.
With the majority of our diets consisting of gluten in some form or another it is often difficult to deal with this kind of disorder.
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