Barbecue

Our next gluten free support meeting will be on August 15th.
Please come join us for a yummy barbecue with all the fixin's.
Stay tuned for more information.
Thank you for your support and have a great summer!

Gluten, Candida and Leaky Gut

Extraordinary Health News
Leaky gut syndrome is also known as intestinal permeability due to the idea that unhealthy bacteria and other toxins pass through a permeable intestinal lining and into the bloodstream and body, wreaking health havoc. And while it may be called “leaky gut,” the symptoms can be in other areas than the gut, since toxins are allowed to circulate bodywide. Up until recently, leaky gut was not given the credence it was due, but newer research shows that it is a definite force to be reckoned with, and may also be the cause of or tied to several diseases and disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome; inflammatory bowel disease; rheumatoid arthritis; asthma; eczema; psoriasis; chronic fatigue syndrome; kidney disease; diabetes; depression; heart failure and more. Leaky gut syndrome is so real, that there is even a test for it—a test developed in the 1980s by UCLA researchers seeking to understand what caused Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease. The researchers found that leaky gut came before the inflammation, leading the researchers to believe that the gut leakiness played a key role in the disease development. Likewise, there are over 10,000 articles related to intestinal permeability. And now we understand even more about how leaky gut occurs. Harvard celiac researcher, Alessio Fasano, M.D., discovered that our bodies produce a protein called Zonulin that functions to “unzip” the tight junctions that seal up our intestinal lining—leading to leaky gut. It’s not determined what all causes the release of Zonulin, but gluten and unhealthy bacteria can do it, leading to unzipped tight junctions and leaky gut. Add that to genetic factors or predispositions, and you’re looking at the perfect storm set for leaky gut. Dr. Fasano writes, “I firmly believe that without the loss of the intestinal barrier, it is difficult to understand how autoimmune diseases would develop.” Fasano and other doctors have gone so far as to say that gut health should be their main objective in medicine. That makes sense, too, since Hippocrates, known as the Father of Medicine, said that all disease begins in the gut—a statement he made over 2,000 years ago. Now let’s discuss the effects of gluten and Candida on the gut. For starters, some people find it difficult or impossible to properly digest gluten. If the gut isn’t healthy, then gluten proteins can damage the intestinal tract—causing inflammation and irritation, leading to leaky gut. What happens is the intestinal villi are damaged or destroyed. That’s a problem, too, because the villi are tiny hair-like projections along the epithelial lining of the intestinal wall which function to help our bodies absorb the nutrients and fats it needs. When the villi are damaged or destroyed, then the gut gets “leaky” and also attracts Candida albicans, a fungus, as well as unhealthy bacteria, leading to further permeability of the gut as well as more inflammation and more damage. Over time, the walls of the intestinal tract become so “leaky” or permeable that unhealthy bacteria and other toxins can enter the bloodstream where they then circulate bodywide. The villi aren’t the only things damaged in the gut, though. The cells that make up lining of the intestinal wall can take a hit, too. These cells are usually bound tightly together, making up what’s called “tight junctions,” which we mentioned earlier. But when gluten comes on the scene, it loosens up those tight junctions, allowing undigested food particles, parasites, unhealthy bacteria, fungi and other toxins into the bloodstream as well. Even for those with a healthy gut who are genetically predisposed to celiac disease, eating gluten even in minute amounts can damage their intestinal lining, leading to making it more susceptible to Candida, unhealthy bacteria and to developing leaky gut. For them, no amount of gluten is safe. Interestingly, a protein called HWP-1 found in Candida is nearly identical to two gluten proteins named alpha gliadin and gamma-gliadin—proteins known to stimulate immune cell responses in those with celiac disease. In short, Candida has the same protein sequence as gluten and may also be a trigger for celiac disease. Of course, Candida overgrowth degrades the intestinal walls, too, and also grows filaments, or tentacles, that “drill” into the gut lining and grow in the gut wall. Candida also feeds on sugar and the standard American diet is packed with sugar—giving Candida an almost never-ending source of food to feed its growth. Leaky gut—it’s real and can cause a lot of damage. So, avoid possible triggers, including gluten and Candida.

Our Last Meeting

Whether traveling by sea, air or land, Catherine Trahin, who has traveled extensively, gave helpful travel tips and suggestions at last Saturday's monthly meeting.  The Gluten Free Support Group of Southwest Washington is taking July off.  Our August meeting, will be a barbecue.  More news later.  We look forward to seeing you on August 15.

Tieraona Low Dog, MD

I can't help but feel as though industries exploit women for profit- including the medical industry. We have made menopause a condition that requires treatment. I'm sorry, but we didn't have to go see our doctor when we hit puberty, and we don't have to see one when we enter the journey of menopause. Scaring women about this natural time of transition may deprive them of learning from the journey, and instead pushes them to purchase and use drugs and other products. Now we say that women not wanting to have sex is a condition that can be treated with a pill. We've removed the piece of the conversation that addresses WHY a woman might not want to have sex and replaced it with a cultural stigma against women not having the same sex-drive as men. By medicalizing female sexuality, I fear that as some women find their sensuality, other women are being forced to forge it. Sex is the most intimate, personal, and complicated part of our lives- simplifying it down to a pill doesn't do a service to anyone.

My dear friend Adriane Fugh-Berman co-wrote an article on the bioethics of this pink pill that's worth the read: http://bit.ly/1f1dozH

June 20 Meeting

Gluten Free Support Group of Southwest Washington

June Meeting

Agenda:   Informational meeting.  Member Catherine Trahin will share her travel experiences, “Travel the World Gluten Free”

 Date:  Saturday, June 20, 2015

Time:  10:00 am – 11:30 am

Location:  Health Education Center (Room 1) at Peace Health Southwest Medical Center.  (Location is accessed via NE 92^nd Ave. off E. Mill Plain Blvd.  Pass the parking structure and turn left.  The entrance is directly ahead.)

Cost:  Free admission

For Information: Contact Maureen at 360-571-8998

Save the Date!

The June meeting will feature member Catherine Trahin who has traveled extensively.  Her topic:  "Travel the World Gluten Free".  Join us June 20, 2015 at the Health Education Center. 

Many Probiotics Contain Gluten

Last year, doctors at Columbia University found that people with celiac disease frequently use probiotic supplements, but that those who take these products tend to experience more symptoms of the disease than those who do not.

Now these experts say they may know why: More than half of the top-selling probiotic supplements they analyzed contained gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye that is harmful to people with celiac disease. The authors of the study found gluten in probiotic supplements that carried “gluten-free” claims on their labels, and they discovered that the most expensive supplements were just as likely to contain gluten as the cheapest products.

The results suggest that people with celiac disease, or those avoiding gluten for any reason, should be cautious about taking probiotic supplements, said Dr. Peter H. R. Green, the director of the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University and the author of the new study, which was presented at a recent medical conference in Washington, called Digestive Disease Week 2015. He said that many people in this category do not realize that dietary supplements can be contaminated with gluten, and that it was baffling to him that gluten would turn up in these products at all.

“The question is: Why are companies putting wheat or barley or rye in probiotic supplements?” Dr. Green said. “People use these natural products in an attempt to be healthy. Yet it’s a very poorly regulated industry. Can anyone trust a gluten-free label?”

The new findings are a symptom of what experts say is a larger problem in the $33-billion-a-year supplement industry. Several large studies and law enforcement investigations in the last two years have suggested that supplements often do not contain what their labels claim. The industry is loosely regulated, and the Food and Drug Administration has said that two thirds of companies do not comply with a basic set of good manufacturing practices.

Dr. Green said that he and his colleagues were troubled by a 2013 article in The New York Times that described a study carried out at the University of Guelph in Ontario. That study found that many herbal supplements contained cheap fillers, substitutes and unlisted ingredients such as soy and wheat.

The article prompted Dr. Green and his colleagues to launch their own study to see if the supplements their patients were using contained gluten – and they decided to focus on probiotic supplements because they had found that nearly a quarter of celiac patients use them. That may not be surprising. Probiotics are widely touted for digestive health, and according to the National Institutes of Health they are among the most popular supplements in America, along with fish oil and multivitamins.

Studies show that celiac patients who use probiotic supplements report that they have a higher quality of life but – paradoxically – more bloating, cramping, irregular bowel movements and other symptoms of celiac disease, said Dr. Benjamin Lebwohl, an assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology at Columbia’s Celiac Disease Center.

“Often it’s almost a given that probiotics promote gut health, and that’s frequently on the label,” Dr. Lebwohl said. “But there’s very little evidence supporting this.”

Dr. Lebwohl said it was unclear whether patients with more symptoms of the disease were seeking out probiotic supplements, or whether the supplements were contributing to their higher rate of symptoms.

To figure this out, he and Dr. Green purchased 22 of the bestselling probiotic supplements from Amazon.com and several national retail chains. Then they subjected the products to a type of laboratory test known as liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

The researchers found that 12 of the supplements – or roughly 55 percent – contained detectable levels of gluten. Eight of these 12 products carried gluten-free claims on their labels.

According to the F.D.A., to qualify as gluten-free a product must contain less than 20 parts per million of the protein. Dr. Green said that two of the products that claimed to be gluten-free – or roughly 13 percent – were found to contain levels of gluten that exceeded the F.D.A. threshold. One product was found to contain high levels of wheat, and the other had high levels of barley.

Of the seven products that did not carry gluten-free labels, four tested positive for gluten, including two that exceeded the F.D.A. threshold. The researchers declined to release the names of the products they tested.

“We don’t know exactly how widespread this is and whether the levels vary from batch to batch,” Dr. Green said.

Ultimately, the study found that most of the supplements that tested positive for gluten were found to contain it at levels below the F.D.A. threshold. But Dr. Green said this was not reassuring because a person taking more than one capsule a day could accumulate high levels.

“We don’t know how many capsules people are taking each day,” he said. “If the level in a capsule is 19.8 parts per million it can qualify as gluten-free. But if people are taking a lot of this product, they’ll get cumulative amounts of gluten that will cause them damage.”

He also said that even among people with wheat allergies and celiac disease, the level of gluten that can be tolerated varies tremendously from one person to the next. Some people “may be much more sensitive to even less than 20 parts per million,” he said. “So the question that comes up is: Why do these products have gluten anyway?”

-Dr.Com