what is the best test for gluten intolerance/allergy?

[mmpetunia]

i have been gluten and dairy free for over a year now, but this holiday season i fell off the bandwagon. i figured, since i am already eating gluten i may as well get the testing done. i have actually felt pretty good, no noticeable reaction to the reintroduction of gluten to my diet at all. if the test shows that i do not have a negative reaction to gluten do i still need to exclude it from my diet? i can manage with no dairy pretty easily but the gluten has always been a challenge. if its necessary i'm willing but if it isn't then i'd rather keep it for quality of life's sake.

thanks.

[jimmylegs]

you're supposed to exclude things on the basis of possible allergic response. however, i think that's bogus. i used to react badly to gluten when i was zinc deficient. then i supplemented and changed diet to correct zinc deficiency. then i stopped reacting badly to gluten.

my stepdaughter used to tests 'allergic' to all kinds of things but after i put her on a corrective diet and supplement regimen, her allergies magically disappeared. along with her chronic mono.

gluten free diets allow the body to retain more zinc and serum zinc levels naturally rise. i maintain my status with a daily zinc supplement and a low gluten diet. no probs. if you start to experience a reaction to gluten, it probably means your zinc stores are down and your immune system is out of balance in consequence. easy fix.

[mmpetunia]

so, essentially as long as i am not a celiac the purpose behind being gluten free is to maintain zinc levels? is there somewhere i can read up on this? i read terry wahl's book and did plenty of google searching about diet after my dx but the main reason i saw for the exclusion of gluten was molecular mimicry. i understand that gluten is still not good for me but gluten is really tough to get around, especially when dining out. also, beer.

[jimmylegs]

all right so i went looking for academic research on molecular mimicry and three scholarly results came up on the google search. i chose to read the abstract of the paper with the most citations (132). here's a quote from the abstract:

Molecular mimicry in autoimmune disease
http://adc.bmj.com/content/79/5/448.full
"The term “molecular mimicry” was used in the 1970s to explain persistent viral infections. It was suggested that the MHC and viruses encoded similar peptide sequences, which allowed the host to regard an infecting virus as “self” and forego an immune response. More recently, it has been used as a hypothesis to explain autoimmune disease."

my gut feeling is that this is a flawed hypothesis. there's so much research on nutritional bases for susceptibilty to infection, both bacterial and viral. i don't have good enough access to get into things in detail but on the surface it really doesn't look like there's actual research measuring knowns about molecular mimicry in patients.

ah, i just glanced at the first non-academic link in the results and this is in the text:

"Molecular Mimicry often starts as a result of damage to the intestinal lining. When the is damaged, small leaks are formed (intestinal..." ... yes that is a straight quote by the way... http://www.organizedwisdom.com/lectins- ... 03/nxi/med *slightly* better expressed (ie, when the gut cells are damaged...') in the search results at this link http://www.glutenfreesociety.org/gluten ... r-mimicry/

that would be intestinal permeability. why not cut it off at the pass and ensure the intestine's membrane integrity via good zinc status.

so whether you look at it from the intestinal permeability angle or the recurrent infection angle, nutrients are the basics. imho focusing on molecular mimicry is going after the barn door after the horse is long gone.

[mmpetunia]

jimmy,

i was hoping to read up on the zinc and gluten connection. i am very interested in knowing more about that, since i don't want to unnecessarily torture myself with a restricted diet if i don't have to. if i remember correctly, the molecular mimicry hypothesis (the information that i was reading) was related to intestinal permeability. i didn't know that zinc was a factor and i would be very interested in reading more about that specific aspect of it. i am glad that keeping away from gluten has hopefully allowed my zinc levels to rise so it definitely was a good choice and one that i do not regret. it has been very, very good for me and i am a healthier person because of it. but now i'm interested in fine tuning my regimen and i want to understand why something works instead of global exclusions. ya know? thanks for your help.

[jimmylegs]

here's a link to an earlier post on the subject of nutrition and gluten free diets, in both celiac patients and healthy controls.
http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-d ... ml#p161564

in it i'm looking at the data from a study of nutritional status of celiac patients and controls before and after gluten free diet, and based on the raw numbers, in comparison with my other reading, i disagreed with their conclusions.

a link to a pdf of the study is in there.

you should be able to use the forum search and filter for me as the author, plus use keyword search terms
+intestinal +permeability +zinc +tight +junction +membrane +integrity

that should provide some decent reading (use all the terms including the plus signs though)

[jimmylegs]

hmmm well that search string was a little restrictive.. +tight +junction +zinc gives a better list
http://www.thisisms.com/forum/search.ph ... mit=Search
the oldest result in that list is a good post
http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-d ... tml#p54065
check out the wiki diagram link at the end, love that pic.

[NHE]

all right so i went looking for academic research on molecular mimicry and three scholarly results came up on the google search. i chose to read the abstract of the paper with the most citations (132). here's a quote from the abstract:

Molecular mimicry in autoimmune disease
http://adc.bmj.com/content/79/5/448.full
"The term “molecular mimicry” was used in the 1970s to explain persistent viral infections. It was suggested that the MHC and viruses encoded similar peptide sequences, which allowed the host to regard an infecting virus as “self” and forego an immune response. More recently, it has been used as a hypothesis to explain autoimmune disease."

my gut feeling is that this is a flawed hypothesis. there's so much research on nutritional bases for susceptibilty to infection, both bacterial and viral. i don't have good enough access to get into things in detail but on the surface it really doesn't look like there's actual research measuring knowns about molecular mimicry in patients.

Thoughts on molecular mimicry from mult-slerosis.org

http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/MolecularMimicry.html

[mmpetunia]

thank you, thank you Jimmy and NHE!!

[jimmylegs]

np

[lyndacarol]

i have been gluten and dairy free for over a year now, but this holiday season i fell off the bandwagon. i figured, since i am already eating gluten i may as well get the testing done. i have actually felt pretty good, no noticeable reaction to the reintroduction of gluten to my diet at all. if the test shows that i do not have a negative reaction to gluten do i still need to exclude it from my diet? i can manage with no dairy pretty easily but the gluten has always been a challenge. if its necessary i'm willing but if it isn't then i'd rather keep it for quality of life's sake.

Meagan – I am currently reading Wheat Belly, a book by Dr. William Davis. To answer the question you raised in December, Dr. Davis says, on page 80, "Three groups of antibody blood tests are now widely available to diagnose celiac disease, or at least strongly suggest that an immune response against gluten has been triggered."

"Anti-gliadin antibodies.…

Transglutaminase antibody.…

Endomysium antibodies.… Introduced in the mid--90s, this test is emerging as the most accurate antibody test, identifying more than 90% celiac cases.

If you have already divorced yourself from wheat, note that these tests can turn negative within a few months, and almost certainly negative or reduced after six months. So the tests have value only for people currently consuming products or only for those who recently have stopped consuming wheat products. Fortunately, there are some other tests available.…"

The author recommends elimination of wheat from the diet for a month to see if there is an effect on the symptoms.

And on the topic of nutritional deficiencies, the author says (page 88), "Iron-deficiency anemia is unusually common among celiac sufferers, affecting up to 69%. Deficiencies of vitamin B-12, folic acid, zinc, and fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K are also common."

The author discusses intestinal permeability (Leaky Gut) as one result of wheat sensitivity. He also explains that wheat raises blood sugar levels more than table sugar or even a candy bar AND then spikes insulin as a result. He has signed a new term: immune-mediated gluten intolerance. I am adding my lifelong ingestion of wheat to the cause of my elevated insulin level. The author is persuasive; I have been convinced. I encourage others to read this book.