Confused

[ChickieD]

Hi everyone,

I came to this forum hoping for answers. I do not have celiac disease but I have tested as mildly reactive to gliadin, which I now understand is the main issue with those who have celiac disease. My confusion, however, is with the fact that I am not reactive to gluten and I'm just not understanding the relationship of the two. So, it appears that my diet will need to essentially be that of one with celiac disease...?

What foods contain gluten but not gliadin? Or, vise versa? Big question, I know.

[Fairy Dancer]

Gliadin is a type of gluten. Gluten is a collective name for certain proteins found in grains. Gliadin is wheat gluten, secalin is rye gluten and hordein is Barley gluten, as far as I am aware.

[Skylark]

Gluten is a generic word for the protein part of a grain (as opposed to the starchy part), which is a mixture of a few specific proteins including glutelin and gliadins. Wheat gluten is mostly gliadin. People with celiac disease react to a particular gluten protein called alpha-gliadin. If you react to gliadin you actually do react to gluten since "gluten" is the broader word. For the purpose of finding foods, you need a celiac diet.

[GlutenFreeManna]

What test did you have done? Gliadin is one of the proteins that makes up gluten in certain grains--wheat, barley, and rye (and sometimes oats are included although the protein is a slightly different one). We would probably use gluten and gliadin interchangablely here. Not sure how you could be intolerant of gliadin and not gluten unless you are thinking of food science use of gltuen which can include corn and rice (but corn and rice do NOT have gliadin and are not considered to be gluten by celiacs/gluten intolerant people). Here's an article that may help you understand gliadin better: https://www.celiac.com/articles/8/1/What-is-gluten-What-is-gliadin/Page1.html

[ChickieD]

Thanks, Skylark. I guess I was beginning to figure that out. I haven't been as diligent as I'm beginning to realize I will need to be in eliminating gluten from my diet. Thankfully my symptoms are not that bad.

One other question. My daughter has been fighting extreme fatigue for about 6 years. As I've come to understand gliadin intolerance and be genetic. She was recently tested for gluten intolerance and it came back negative. As I understand it was a basic test in a panel of many others. Should she be tested further? And,if so, what test should be done?

[ChickieD]

GlutenFreeMana - My doc (naturopath) had a 200 food sensitivity panel done via (Company Name Removed - They Spammed This Forum and are Banned). I tested out "mildly intolerant" to wheat (among 35 other foods), corn being the only other grain. I'm guessing wheat is the gliadin connection, right?

[GlutenFreeManna]

GlutenFreeMana - My doc (naturopath) had a 200 food sensitivity panel done via (Company Name Removed - They Spammed This Forum and are Banned). I tested out "mildly intolerant" to wheat (among 35 other foods), corn being the only other grain. I'm guessing wheat is the gliadin connection, right?

Yes wheat is one of the grains with gliaden as a protein. Just so you know, food intolerance testing is not very accurate. The best test for a food intolerance is your own body's reactions when removing that food for a set time (usually a month or more) and then trying a little to see how your react. The tests for celiac are much more accurate (especially when you get a positive) than a food intolerance test. If you would like to be tested for celiac (or have your daughter tested) however you need to keep on consuming gluten (wheat, barley, rye) until the testing is done. Here's a link that explains the testing: Open Original Shared Link You may want to print that out and take it to your dr if you want testing so that he/she does all the tests listed instead of just one or two of them.

[Skylark]

One other question. My daughter has been fighting extreme fatigue for about 6 years. As I've come to understand gliadin intolerance and be genetic. She was recently tested for gluten intolerance and it came back negative. As I understand it was a basic test in a panel of many others. Should she be tested further? And,if so, what test should be done?

I'm not sure what sort of test your daughter had, but there is no reliable test for gluten intolerance other than trying the diet for a few months. If she has finished celiac testing (requires a full gluten diet), she should go ahead and give the diet a good, strict try.

[Skylark]

GlutenFreeMana - My doc (naturopath) had a 200 food sensitivity panel done via (Company Name Removed - They Spammed This Forum and are Banned). I tested out "mildly intolerant" to wheat (among 35 other foods), corn being the only other grain. I'm guessing wheat is the gliadin connection, right?

Hard to know. Most food intolerance testing is unreliable because the food is not directly exposed to your bloodstream or skin. You need to eliminate the 35 positive foods for a few weeks and reintroduce them one at a time to see if you react when you eat them.