Why corn intolerant after 4 mths gluten free?

[Nicole boling]

I became gluten free about 4 mths ago. when I would eat gluten I’d have anxiety and my heart would race. I quit gluten and now corn seems to be an issue. Has anyone else have to to give up corn after going gluten free from having celiac disease? 

[GardeningForHealth]

This seems to be a common problem for us Celiacs, but a search on Pubmed does not seem to reveal that this problem is being researched or even acknowledged. I wonder if anyone here on the forums knows more about this.

[Nicole boling]

Oh okay. It’s so hard especially being corn intolerant on top of celiac. So grain free it is I guess. 

[knitty kitty]

Sequences of proteins in corn resemble sequences of proteins in gluten.  Antigluten antibodies hone in on those sequences no matter the source.  Sometimes, we develop antibodies against other protein sequences in corn as well.  

 

Maize Prolamins Could Induce a Gluten-Like Cellular Immune Response in Some Celiac Disease Patients

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3820067/

 

The Prevalence of Anti-Zein Antibodies: A Comparative Study between Celiac Disease and Irritable Bowel Syndrome

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33671228/

Edited June 6, 2024 by knitty kitty
Typo correction

[GardeningForHealth]

15 hours ago, knitty kitty said:

Sequences of proteins in corn resemble sequences of proteins in gluten.  Antigluten antibodies hone in on those sequences no matter the source.  Sometimes, we develop antibodies against other protein sequences in corn as well.  

 

Maize Prolamins Could Induce a Gluten-Like Cellular Immune Response in Some Celiac Disease Patients

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3820067/

 

The Prevalence of Anti-Zein Antibodies: A Comparative Study between Celiac Disease and Irritable Bowel Syndrome

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33671228/

Wow. I am reading this for the first time. Fascinating. That second article you linked to calls out a prolamin, "zein," found in corn, and discusses a blood test for it, called IgA AZA (anti-zein-antibody).  This is the corn equivalent to the wheat anti-gliadin antibody IgA AGA blood test, found in the Celiac blood panel.

This would likely promote corn prolamins to the same status as gluten/gliadin, unless you only find AZA in a Celiac patient, but never in someone without Celiac.

I wonder if there are people who test positive for IgA AZA, but not IgA AGA. If so, would we call them Celiac? Would AZA be added to the Celiac blood panel?

Perhaps Celiac disease is not as special as was initially thought, in that an autoimmune reaction to gluten is unique/different/rare/special, and "no other foods are like that." I think many other foods are like that; this is my hypothesis.

Perhaps Celiac disease is not so much about our immune system reacting to one or more prolamins, but about how that reaction got started in the first place. 

[Mari]

Hi Nicole,

It is good that you asked this question as the answers have given all of some helpful information. 

To answer your question I became corn intolerant at least 20 years before I learned I had Celiac Disease. I would buy 3 ears of corn at the Farmers Market and eat them over the next three days, The first day - no reaction. The 2nd day a slight reaction  but soon learned that if I ate corn the 3rd day the reaction was stronger and uncomfortable. 

At this time I had a 'leaky gut' problem. That meant that my small intestine had been damaged by the autoimmune reaction to gluten proteins that let other food antigens to be recognized as harmful invaders by my immune system. During that time I became intolerant of many foods so by the time I learned i had celiac disease I had a very limited diet. I am intolerant of the whole nightshade family (tomatoes, hot peppers, eggplant, etc.) as an example of other intolerances. 

 

There are two other things that I could mention, The first is that you have identified one food intolerance, corn. If you had damage to your small intestine you may have developed other food intolerances. And until you heal you may develop more reaction to other foods or other  substances in your environment. I started an elimination diet eating only lamb, gluten-free rice and zucchini from my garden. When that seemed to be OK I started adding other foods, mostly vegetables then grains or beans instead of rice then other foods and seasonings. Don't make assumptions about whether you can tolerate a food. My assumption about summer squash was ok but my assumption that I could eat small or tiny amounts of corn or hot peppers was very wrong. 

The 2nd thing is that Knitty Kitty and others often give information and links for dealing with inflammation. Take care Nicole. 

 

[Nicole boling]

Thank you. I honestly think it’s always been corn. But we’ll see and thank you so much an god bless

[Mari]

Nicole, you are very welcome.

Marian