Random Questions I'm Wondering About

[nosy parker]

1- Why does it sound like being gluten-free is scary "healthwise"? I keep reading that it's very hard to get your required nutrients when on this diet.  I would have thought the opposite to be true.  I mean wouldn't eating healthy proteins (meat) and a lot of veggies, fruit etc.. be good for you?  You could still have dairy.  Maybe fiber would be a bit tougher but doable also.  So what's up with that?

 

2- If so many endo samples are necessary because the damage can be patchy, wouldn't that mean that a great majority of the intestine is healthy?  This wouldn't cause nutritional deficiency, would it?  I understand that eventually the damage would spread and earlier diagnosis is better, but why do so many experience nutritional deficiencies if the damage isn't bad enough to be obvious in endo?

 

3- Does the damge always start from the top down?  I don't think the endo goes past the duodenum, right?  Is it possible for the damge to be much further down first and spread upwards?  If not, why does it start at the top?

 

4-Does celiac affect your alcohol tolerance?  I've noticed a huge change in this for me.  A small glass of wine hits me really hard and makes my heart beat really fast.  I don't feel very well after and I certainly never had this issue.  I always assumed it's aging, but it's made me wonder if there is now something wrong with my liver. I soooo enjoy a glass of wine, but now every time I have one I regret it later and think I'm going to have to give it up altogether.

 

Just stuff that's been floating around in my head and I've been wondering about!  Thanks.

 

 

[Deaminated Marcus]

Nosy Parker... I'll answer questions 1 and 4...

 

1. That annoys me so much when I hear nutrition experts say that the gluten free diet is un-nutritional.

     I've been doing the gluten challenge and when I cranked up on the bread, it meant I wasn't eating as much vegetables like the purple cabbage and carrots etc etc that I was eating in my salad.
       I can feel that I'm not getting the nutrition when I'm doing the gluten challenge. 

       What are the nutritionists thinking when they look down on the gluten free diet?

[notme]

1.  yeah, doesn't make much sense but i think alot of processed foods are 'enriched' with extra vitamins that you don't really think about unless you have to - like we do - and you could end up deficient on certain ones.  i get my blood tested - am low on D so i take a supplement.  also i supplement extra B-12.  if you are taking a gluten-free multi-vitamin it's probably a good idea.

 

2.  they have a long way to go as far as celiac testing!  really, even (and i hate to use this over-used word!) awareness has a long way to go.  

 

3.  i don't know where it starts.  i know when i started healing it felt like it started at the top.  i also know that when i had my endoscopy, the doc could actually see the damage.  she told me if i wanted to there was a camera/capsule i could swallow and it would go all the way thru (???)  i was like, ahhh!  no!  if she had already had a diagnosis it was good enough for me.  maybe your doc would do that? 

 

4.  haha - alot of people turn into cheap dates once they go gluten-free.  i always attributed it to my intestines being able to absorb things now.  including alcohol    i watch myself when i never really had to before.  wine will make me zero to floor very quickly!

[nvsmom]

1- Why does it sound like being gluten-free is scary "healthwise"? I keep reading that it's very hard to get your required nutrients when on this diet.  I would have thought the opposite to be true.  I mean wouldn't eating healthy proteins (meat) and a lot of veggies, fruit etc.. be good for you?  You could still have dairy.  Maybe fiber would be a bit tougher but doable also.  So what's up with that?

 

2- If so many endo samples are necessary because the damage can be patchy, wouldn't that mean that a great majority of the intestine is healthy?  This wouldn't cause nutritional deficiency, would it?  I understand that eventually the damage would spread and earlier diagnosis is better, but why do so many experience nutritional deficiencies if the damage isn't bad enough to be obvious in endo?

 

3- Does the damge always start from the top down?  I don't think the endo goes past the duodenum, right?  Is it possible for the damge to be much further down first and spread upwards?  If not, why does it start at the top?

 

4-Does celiac affect your alcohol tolerance?  I've noticed a huge change in this for me.  A small glass of wine hits me really hard and makes my heart beat really fast.  I don't feel very well after and I certainly never had this issue.  I always assumed it's aging, but it's made me wonder if there is now something wrong with my liver. I soooo enjoy a glass of wine, but now every time I have one I regret it later and think I'm going to have to give it up altogether.

 

Just stuff that's been floating around in my head and I've been wondering about!  Thanks.

1. I think eating gluten-free can be less healthy if you replace every "glutenous" fortified food with unfortified gluten-free food, bread slice for bread slice, without switching to whole foods. If you up you veggies and proteins, I don't see how it could be less healthy.... But not all celiacs do that.

2. I have read in a few places that the nutritional deficiencies could be caused largely by inflammation and not just the villi blunting. This makes sense to me because it would help explain why non-celiac gluten intolerant (NCGI) individuals have deficiencies, as well as those with other autoimmune diseases.

i did not have a endoscopy done but from my very positive ttg IgA and EMA tests, And over thirty years of symptoms, i assume that I had a fair deal of villi blunting but I had absolutely zero nutritional deficiencies- in fact my B12 was above range. There are no hard and fast rules for this... Perhaps my organic diet helped, or maybe it was the ton of supplements I take, or maybe I was lucky. Who knows.

I can't help with your last questions. I don't know how the damage usually occurs. As for alcohol, I am a lightweight too but I thought that was from lack of practice. Lol

[cavernio]

1. I think the only info about eating gluten free being less healthy is directed at people who are doing it because they think it is healthier.  As already mentioned, wheat flour is fortified in most developed parts of the world, whereas alot of the other flours aren't. Of course a diet rich in produce and meat is going to be more nutrient packed. White flours I think are digested really easily too, so you're not going to be crapping out nutrients like you will be if you aren't digesting things well.

 

2. A few things about this. Firstly, many people who are celiac and gluten sensitive have other intestinal problems, like diarrhea. Specifically, this means food is going to be passed through you quickly, in all likliehood, too quickly to get absorbed properly. Other things like bloating could indicate SIBO where bacteria will interfere with nutrient breakdown. Secondly, lots of non-celiacs have nutrient deficiencies, like probably everyone in Canada in winter who doesn't take vitamin D. Thirdly, not everyone has 'patchy' villi, and it could very well be that the people who have fairly good villi tend to not be nutrient deficient. Lastly, a lesson I took a long time to learn, is that not all these vitamin deficiency symptoms are actually vitamin deficiency. For instance, I have been trying to figure out my peripheral neuropathy for ages. I supplemented, I triple checked for diabetes, and when I found out that I was a celiac, I thought 'oh good, I AM deficient in vitamins, I probably just need to up my b12 intake'. I know better now, and only because when I was glutened and my teeth ached in a weird pattern and way that reminded me of how my feet and hands can hurt, did I fully delve into the literature and found that celiac disease causes peripheral neuropathy by actually having my own immune system attacking my own nerves. Intestinal damage is just the well-known surface of this auto-immune disease.

 

3. Possibly it does damage everything in a patchy way. They only look at the duodenum because it's easiest to access, and even though it might be possible to look at and biopsy many more parts of the intestine NOW, historically it wasn't done. You could check it out in googlescholar, there might be papers published about doctors researching where celiac damage can be found.

 

4. Join the club! I hate having to give up alcohol, but I know I should. I hope it's not a liver problem, if so, it's only arisen in me since being gluten-free! (My liver was tested often before the celiac diagnosis, 'There's nothing wrong with you!'.) Actually, a lot of people say the same thing. It really sucks but the more clean I eat, the more alcohol hits me hard, fast, and leaves me with a headache. One drink.