Chiro-practical
Wheat's Your Problem?
Negative reactions to wheat can be the cause of many conditions—from mild indigestion to chronic pain. Many times, symptoms take hours to appear, making it difficult to diagnose a sensitivity to wheat. As many as 11 million Americans suffer from food allergies, and wheat is one of the most common irritants.
Wheat allergies are easy to detect because symptoms such as vomiting, swelling, diarrhea, and even anaphylactic shock appear within minutes to two hours of exposure. However, wheat intolerance is a delayed reaction and much harder to identify. Symptoms that can occur include fatigue, nasal congestion, hives, headaches, migraines, stomach pain, eczema, and achy joints.
A common way to diagnose intolerance is to rotate wheat in and out of your diet for several days at a time, while keeping a food diary, to track changes and any reactions. A sensitive blood test that detects delayed reactions also can be an easy and effective way to diagnose this. Many people suffer from chronic conditions such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, fibromyalgia, and headaches, which are caused by chronic inflammation in the body. Since wheat is a known cause of inflammation, it should be eliminated to get chronic diseases under control.
Celiac disease is a rare but serious condition in which the body’s immune system attacks the intestines when wheat is ingested. If left undiagnosed, it can double the risk of premature mortality. Some symptoms include bloating, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, weight loss, dermatitis herpetiformis, osteoporosis, anemia, delayed puberty, infertility, vitamin deficiencies, depression, and additional autoimmune disorders. People with celiac disease have to follow a lifelong gluten-free diet. Once gluten is removed from the diet, 70 percent of patients have noticeable improvement in about two weeks, although it may take the intestines years to recover.
For more information on foods that contain wheat and gluten, you can visit the following Web sites: www.celiac.org, www.csaceliacs.org, www.gluten.net, and www.glutenfree.com. TPW
Wheat allergies are easy to detect because symptoms such as vomiting, swelling, diarrhea, and even anaphylactic shock appear within minutes to two hours of exposure. However, wheat intolerance is a delayed reaction and much harder to identify. Symptoms that can occur include fatigue, nasal congestion, hives, headaches, migraines, stomach pain, eczema, and achy joints.
A common way to diagnose intolerance is to rotate wheat in and out of your diet for several days at a time, while keeping a food diary, to track changes and any reactions. A sensitive blood test that detects delayed reactions also can be an easy and effective way to diagnose this. Many people suffer from chronic conditions such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, fibromyalgia, and headaches, which are caused by chronic inflammation in the body. Since wheat is a known cause of inflammation, it should be eliminated to get chronic diseases under control.
Celiac disease is a rare but serious condition in which the body’s immune system attacks the intestines when wheat is ingested. If left undiagnosed, it can double the risk of premature mortality. Some symptoms include bloating, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, weight loss, dermatitis herpetiformis, osteoporosis, anemia, delayed puberty, infertility, vitamin deficiencies, depression, and additional autoimmune disorders. People with celiac disease have to follow a lifelong gluten-free diet. Once gluten is removed from the diet, 70 percent of patients have noticeable improvement in about two weeks, although it may take the intestines years to recover.
For more information on foods that contain wheat and gluten, you can visit the following Web sites: www.celiac.org, www.csaceliacs.org, www.gluten.net, and www.glutenfree.com. TPW