6 ms·

A carb called fructan may be the culprit behind gluten sensitivity

55 points by curtis 8y ago

IronWolve 8y ago
Also, there is some theories fat protects people from allergies of some food, that's why people losing weight sometimes become allergic to many foods. They never had a gluten allergy or nut allergy but now they do after weight loss. So when heard about the fat/allergy connection it clicked with me too. I had the same thing happen to me, working with cement, lost major weight due to job, became allergic to all kinds of chemicals. Doc blamed the Lime, but after looking back, I'm suspecting the weight loss, as the tests reported I was allergic to everything, but it went away after 1-2 years, this was over 20+ years ago.
- uberduber 8y ago
  Very interesting, I've spent a lot of time in various doctor's offices, and I've always noticed while getting allergy shots there are so many very thin people. Even the small children look skinny. Maybe only 10% of people look overweight, whereas at other offices often 60-70% of the people look overweight. Also the biggest person I saw at allergist was mildly obese where I've seen tons of 300+ lb people at many other specialties.
  - yhoneycomb 8y ago
    Could be that but it could also be partly that people with allergies are more conscious/aware of the food they're eating
    - jaclaz 8y ago
      Yep, or the other way round, people with this or that problem in digesting food (or however food related symptoms even if not a proper allergy or medical condition) tend instinctively to eat less, hence they are thinner, while "healthy" people that have no adverse effect from eating anything tend to eat a bit more and are thus fatter.
- 1_player 8y ago
  > I was allergic to everything, but it went away after 1-2 years Would you say they went away because you regained some of the lost weight/fat?
pasbesoin 8y ago
FODMAP My father recently had a doctor point him towards this -- for a condition significantly more troublesome than many apparent symptoms with non- or non-diagnosed celiac gluten sensitivity. He took a look at the diet's do's and don't's, and ruled it out. What would he eat? (And he and my mother have eaten pretty darned healthily, up to now -- pre FODMAP recommendations. So, is FODMAP real? Or is this the next "gluten free"? Because it rules out a LOT of what we've considered to be a healthy and healthily diverse diet.
- uberduber 8y ago
  FODMAP is real, most of the people I know who are on the diet where it has helped have SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). The problem is that SIBO can have a bunch of causes. Mostly what I hear is that they get the antibiotic and whatever underlying cause can't be found or fixed so they get put on a low-FODMAP diet to stop the bacteria from growing out of control. Doesn't work for everybody, guess it depends on your gut bacteria and what they can survive on, but it seems to work for enough people that doctors recommend it.
  - pasbesoin 8y ago
    Thanks. I think I need to nudge him to do some more of his own research. He definitely needs anything that may help.
    - joshumax 8y ago
      I actually had SIBO a while back. Several years ago I had a terrible GI doctor who kept saying all my symptoms were in my head. I eventually got to the point where I weighed less than 100lbs and was constantly sick despite being desperate to stomach anything without falling ill. She would just shrug all this off and tell me nothing was wrong. Eventually I switched to a better doctor who immediately diagnosed me with SIBO, and further testing showed that I was genetically incapable of producing fructose transportation enzymes in my small intestine. Of course most things that contain fructose are high in many other sugar alcohols that ferment in the large intestine and cause an over growth in bacteria that thrive in this environment. After my old doctor was discovered to have nearly killed an infant with her refusal to actually do her job, we filed a complaint. Of course MultiCare swept everything under the rug and did nothing...
phantom0308 8y ago
Most of the research on FODMAPs have come out of Monash University in Australia. Here’s a video from one of the lead researchers making a presentation on it. https://youtu.be/ByszVbFBPtY https://youtu.be/ByszVbFBPtY I’ve been on this for two weeks. The diet is incredibly restrictive and unenjoyable. My symptoms have been a little better judging from my food/symptom log.
- JadeNB 8y ago
  > I’ve been on this for two weeks. The diet is incredibly restrictive and unenjoyable. My symptoms have been a little better judging from my food/symptom log. I don't know if this is the place for "It Gets Better", but my wife was also on the diet, and also found it restrictive and unenjoyable, but found a noticeable difference in her symptoms. One important point is that it is not meant to be a lifelong diet; it is meant to provide a 'reset' on which a future satisfactory baseline, with lower FODMAPs (especially in areas of discovered sensitivity) but not none, can be built. She has found much more success managing her symptoms since then. (One example discovery: a previous lactose-intolerance test had totally failed to catch her severe lactose intolerance.)
basch 8y ago
I REALLY dont like that this article is a year old (Vox published it like Nov 21, 2017) but it only shows the Updated date, soas to appear new.
phyzome 8y ago
« There are definitely real gluten-related disorders that people have to cope with, but these are vanishingly rare. Celiac disease causes people's immune systems to violently attack their small intestine whenever they eat gluten. About 1 percent of Americans have celiac disease, according to the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. » 1% is not vanishingly rare! « Even more rare are genuine wheat allergies, which affect an estimated 0.1 percent of people in Westernized countries. » 0.1% -- also not vanishingly rare.
emaercklein 8y ago
There is book called The Wheat Belly that has a good explanation for the evolution and genetic mutation of gluten throughout history to make it easier to mass produce - resulting in a new genetic makeup that is entirely different and very hard for our digestive systems to process. Intolerance manifests itself differently in everyone so it goes widely unrecognized in many people. You have to go over a month without any gluten to really notice a difference and it seems most people quit after two weeks of "no results." Even if you love pizza/bread and can't imagine ever giving it up, its still an interesting read to understand the science behind the theory.

55 points by curtis 8y ago

Also, there is some theories fat protects people from allergies of some food, that's why people losing weight sometimes become allergic to many foods. They never had a gluten allergy or nut allergy but now they do after weight loss. So when heard about the fat/allergy connection it clicked with me too. I had the same thing happen to me, working with cement, lost major weight due to job, became allergic to all kinds of chemicals. Doc blamed the Lime, but after looking back, I'm suspecting the weight loss, as the tests reported I was allergic to everything, but it went away after 1-2 years, this was over 20+ years ago.

uberduber 8y ago
Very interesting, I've spent a lot of time in various doctor's offices, and I've always noticed while getting allergy shots there are so many very thin people. Even the small children look skinny. Maybe only 10% of people look overweight, whereas at other offices often 60-70% of the people look overweight. Also the biggest person I saw at allergist was mildly obese where I've seen tons of 300+ lb people at many other specialties.
- yhoneycomb 8y ago
  Could be that but it could also be partly that people with allergies are more conscious/aware of the food they're eating
  - jaclaz 8y ago
    Yep, or the other way round, people with this or that problem in digesting food (or however food related symptoms even if not a proper allergy or medical condition) tend instinctively to eat less, hence they are thinner, while "healthy" people that have no adverse effect from eating anything tend to eat a bit more and are thus fatter.
1_player 8y ago
> I was allergic to everything, but it went away after 1-2 years Would you say they went away because you regained some of the lost weight/fat?

pasbesoin 8y ago

FODMAP My father recently had a doctor point him towards this -- for a condition significantly more troublesome than many apparent symptoms with non- or non-diagnosed celiac gluten sensitivity. He took a look at the diet's do's and don't's, and ruled it out. What would he eat? (And he and my mother have eaten pretty darned healthily, up to now -- pre FODMAP recommendations. So, is FODMAP real? Or is this the next "gluten free"? Because it rules out a LOT of what we've considered to be a healthy and healthily diverse diet.

uberduber 8y ago
FODMAP is real, most of the people I know who are on the diet where it has helped have SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). The problem is that SIBO can have a bunch of causes. Mostly what I hear is that they get the antibiotic and whatever underlying cause can't be found or fixed so they get put on a low-FODMAP diet to stop the bacteria from growing out of control. Doesn't work for everybody, guess it depends on your gut bacteria and what they can survive on, but it seems to work for enough people that doctors recommend it.
- pasbesoin 8y ago
  Thanks. I think I need to nudge him to do some more of his own research. He definitely needs anything that may help.
  - joshumax 8y ago
    I actually had SIBO a while back. Several years ago I had a terrible GI doctor who kept saying all my symptoms were in my head. I eventually got to the point where I weighed less than 100lbs and was constantly sick despite being desperate to stomach anything without falling ill. She would just shrug all this off and tell me nothing was wrong. Eventually I switched to a better doctor who immediately diagnosed me with SIBO, and further testing showed that I was genetically incapable of producing fructose transportation enzymes in my small intestine. Of course most things that contain fructose are high in many other sugar alcohols that ferment in the large intestine and cause an over growth in bacteria that thrive in this environment. After my old doctor was discovered to have nearly killed an infant with her refusal to actually do her job, we filed a complaint. Of course MultiCare swept everything under the rug and did nothing...

phantom0308 8y ago

Most of the research on FODMAPs have come out of Monash University in Australia. Here’s a video from one of the lead researchers making a presentation on it. https://youtu.be/ByszVbFBPtY https://youtu.be/ByszVbFBPtY I’ve been on this for two weeks. The diet is incredibly restrictive and unenjoyable. My symptoms have been a little better judging from my food/symptom log.

JadeNB 8y ago
> I’ve been on this for two weeks. The diet is incredibly restrictive and unenjoyable. My symptoms have been a little better judging from my food/symptom log. I don't know if this is the place for "It Gets Better", but my wife was also on the diet, and also found it restrictive and unenjoyable, but found a noticeable difference in her symptoms. One important point is that it is not meant to be a lifelong diet; it is meant to provide a 'reset' on which a future satisfactory baseline, with lower FODMAPs (especially in areas of discovered sensitivity) but not none, can be built. She has found much more success managing her symptoms since then. (One example discovery: a previous lactose-intolerance test had totally failed to catch her severe lactose intolerance.)

basch 8y ago

I REALLY dont like that this article is a year old (Vox published it like Nov 21, 2017) but it only shows the Updated date, soas to appear new.

phyzome 8y ago

« There are definitely real gluten-related disorders that people have to cope with, but these are vanishingly rare. Celiac disease causes people's immune systems to violently attack their small intestine whenever they eat gluten. About 1 percent of Americans have celiac disease, according to the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. » 1% is not vanishingly rare! « Even more rare are genuine wheat allergies, which affect an estimated 0.1 percent of people in Westernized countries. » 0.1% -- also not vanishingly rare.

emaercklein 8y ago

There is book called The Wheat Belly that has a good explanation for the evolution and genetic mutation of gluten throughout history to make it easier to mass produce - resulting in a new genetic makeup that is entirely different and very hard for our digestive systems to process. Intolerance manifests itself differently in everyone so it goes widely unrecognized in many people. You have to go over a month without any gluten to really notice a difference and it seems most people quit after two weeks of "no results." Even if you love pizza/bread and can't imagine ever giving it up, its still an interesting read to understand the science behind the theory.