Gluten sensitivity levels

[Maresa]

I hear people talking about being either very sensitive or not overly sensitive to gluten. I understand that to mean they feel outwardly sick with either a significant amount of gluten or only a tiny speck/cross contamination. But if you have celiac disease does your sensitivity level matter in terms of the damage being done inside you? Ideally, shouldn’t we always consider ourselves super sensitive despite outward signs?

[plumbago]

A topic of endless discussion! I wish I had a clean answer to give you, but I don't.

[Maresa]

Thank you! I should have known that I was not the first to think of this!!

[trents]

Ideally, yes. But we don't live in an ideal world. The problem is that there is no practical way to test the effect of trace amounts of gluten in the actual gut environment of "insensitive" celiacs.

[Maresa]

Thank you. Makes sense. Like everything in life, just try to do the best you can within the parameters of reality. I guess I was hoping to get a “pass” since I am not super sensitive.

[trents]

Adding to the complexity of your question is new data that suggests thorough mucosal recovery is anything but guaranteed even for those celiacs practicing a GFD and that when and if it happens it often takes years, despite improvement in clinical symptoms. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20145607/

Edited February 14, 2024 by trents

[Scott Adams]

The general "best practice" would be to treat gluten like you would rat poison, even if you have no symptoms if you get contamination. The autoimmune process that triggers inflammation in your gut, skin, or nerves is likely still happening, even though there may be no obvious symptoms. The analogy of diabetics who still consume sugar and use more insulin to control this comes to mind--it may work in the short term, but not as well as avoiding the sugar altogether.

[RMJ]

I am basically an asymptomatic celiac but still call myself super sensitive because of how careful I need to be to keep my antibodies in the normal range.