7 ms·

The intestinal lining contains a large portion of the bio-available serotonergic compounds. That gluten & related grains cause inflammation of the intestinal li

by ganzuul 12y ago

The intestinal lining contains a large portion of the bio-available serotonergic compounds. That gluten & related grains cause inflammation of the intestinal lining is gaining notoriety. There may be hope that a drop in wheat production leads to a drop in mental health issues.

pygy_ 12y ago
The prevalence of gluten sensitivity is actually very low (~1%). It is AFAIK on the rise in the younger generation, for unknown reasons, but still, there are no reasons to expect a drastic change in mental health if we were to stop eating wheat altogether. That is, unless there are infra-clinical effects.
- cfontes 12y ago
  I am a bit sick of this Gluten thing. I understand that some ( maybe this 1% ) actually have a disease or some deep sensitivity. But from my personal circles and work ones I am seeing lots of people that have always been sensitive and prone to say they have some weird diseases are adopting this, switching to Gluten-free and using it like a brand. I've been away from home for some time, I meet something like 10 people from a total of 100 maybe... that claimed to have some variation of Celiac disease, a few even told me that all their tests were negative, but tests don't matter they still had it. Most of those people didn't know each other. Now I am back home and guess what? I am finding that the same kind of people around here are claiming the same thing. Most of those people I meet at IT related things, sport activities and random day to day life I fell people want to be special and sometimes they do it by having a special condition or something like that. Besides the real ones we keep creating diseases that are really loose specified and releasing it to the public. People catch those things and blame all their problems on some super special condition. I can't seat still, I really can't. And I talk a lot too... I've lived like that, learned to control it and to focus when needed. I am no Jedi, life thought me that this behavior would make my life miserable. Now a days children like me are sick! Wonderful, problem solved.
  - jcromartie 12y ago
    It's identity politics. People want something to make them feel special. With the decline of actual strife (sectarian, racial, gender) in society, people need to feel like they are oppressed by something. Gluten and the food industry conveniently fit the bill for many.
    - mattmanser 12y ago
      I think it's far more likely that they feel that something is wrong with them and they're desperately trying to find what it is, and just keep latching on to the next fad. Whether or not it's all in the mind is kinda moot, as it still makes them feel bad. By doing something, anything, they feel a bit better.
      - bluecalm 12y ago
        What a closed-minded attitude! Fad, identity, feel special... what about: they experiment with things and many of them have found that gluten-free makes them feel better. Why are you dismissing the most natural explanation of all while patronizing them in the process ?
        cfontes 12y ago
        Them do it! I am not against it. Just citing some facts I observed. Medical tests will tell you if you have Celiac disease or not. If you don't and want to keep doing it, fine! I will not talk with you about it and will run from that topic in order to not offend you, but my opinion still is that this is some mind game people are playing with themselves (unconsiously) Anyway, I am happy you are happy.
        bluecalm 12y ago
        It's quite possible that many people do better on glute-free diet despite all the test coming negative. That might be because: -tests doesn't cater for everything; maybe there is some mechanism in which gluten harms those people which isn't detected by tests -maybe removing food with gluten from the diet removes something else which was harmful (one hypothesis is that maybe it's this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FODMAP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FODMAP) Your attitude is amazingly closed minded. There is nothing wrong with being skeptical but suggesting all those people just want to feel special (or similar psychoanalytical mumbo-jumbo) is just made-up nonsense. There is 0 evidence that they do it to want to feel special or what not but there is a lot of evidence that they in fact feel better (their feedback).
ars 12y ago
Do you think there are more mental health issue now, or 500 years ago? (I don't mean active untreated cases, I mean cases that occur.) You might be interested to know that it wasn't that long ago that humans typically got up to 80% of their calories from wheat in the form of bread. Today it's about 30-40% (in the US anyway). So there ALREADY has been a huge drop in wheat production. If anything it might be time to reverse that, not extend it. PS. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seitan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seitan is quite yummy, it's almost pure gluten and is a wonderful source of vegetarian protein.
- ddebernardy 12y ago
  Note that we're not eating the same wheat as our ancestors though: http://authoritynutrition.com/modern-wheat-health-nightmare/ http://authoritynutrition.com/modern-wheat-health-nightmare/
  - ars 12y ago
    The differences are tiny, and they ate white flour back then too. I don't agree that most wheat was sprouted - before refrigeration this would just cause the flour to spoil. That article did not exactly strike me as very credible. It basically took every single possible thing it could find and included them, no matter how credible or not credible the source. People will look for any excuse to justify their behavior. But really gluten is perfectly fine for 99% of people and saying "the wheat changed" does not change it. Yes, the wheat did change, but the differences can hardly be enough to say "that's the cause of mental health issues".
  - dubfan 12y ago
    That's a good thing. We can't grow our ancestor's wheat anymore, because it's vulnerable to crop-destroying pathogens.
- ganzuul 12y ago
  I think that ergot poisoning during the same era makes this issue uniquely difficult to debate among strangers.

by ganzuul 12y ago

pygy_ 12y ago

The prevalence of gluten sensitivity is actually very low (~1%). It is AFAIK on the rise in the younger generation, for unknown reasons, but still, there are no reasons to expect a drastic change in mental health if we were to stop eating wheat altogether. That is, unless there are infra-clinical effects.

cfontes 12y ago
I am a bit sick of this Gluten thing. I understand that some ( maybe this 1% ) actually have a disease or some deep sensitivity. But from my personal circles and work ones I am seeing lots of people that have always been sensitive and prone to say they have some weird diseases are adopting this, switching to Gluten-free and using it like a brand. I've been away from home for some time, I meet something like 10 people from a total of 100 maybe... that claimed to have some variation of Celiac disease, a few even told me that all their tests were negative, but tests don't matter they still had it. Most of those people didn't know each other. Now I am back home and guess what? I am finding that the same kind of people around here are claiming the same thing. Most of those people I meet at IT related things, sport activities and random day to day life I fell people want to be special and sometimes they do it by having a special condition or something like that. Besides the real ones we keep creating diseases that are really loose specified and releasing it to the public. People catch those things and blame all their problems on some super special condition. I can't seat still, I really can't. And I talk a lot too... I've lived like that, learned to control it and to focus when needed. I am no Jedi, life thought me that this behavior would make my life miserable. Now a days children like me are sick! Wonderful, problem solved.
- jcromartie 12y ago
  It's identity politics. People want something to make them feel special. With the decline of actual strife (sectarian, racial, gender) in society, people need to feel like they are oppressed by something. Gluten and the food industry conveniently fit the bill for many.
  - mattmanser 12y ago
    I think it's far more likely that they feel that something is wrong with them and they're desperately trying to find what it is, and just keep latching on to the next fad. Whether or not it's all in the mind is kinda moot, as it still makes them feel bad. By doing something, anything, they feel a bit better.
    - bluecalm 12y ago
      What a closed-minded attitude! Fad, identity, feel special... what about: they experiment with things and many of them have found that gluten-free makes them feel better. Why are you dismissing the most natural explanation of all while patronizing them in the process ?
      - cfontes 12y ago
        Them do it! I am not against it. Just citing some facts I observed. Medical tests will tell you if you have Celiac disease or not. If you don't and want to keep doing it, fine! I will not talk with you about it and will run from that topic in order to not offend you, but my opinion still is that this is some mind game people are playing with themselves (unconsiously) Anyway, I am happy you are happy.
        bluecalm 12y ago
        It's quite possible that many people do better on glute-free diet despite all the test coming negative. That might be because: -tests doesn't cater for everything; maybe there is some mechanism in which gluten harms those people which isn't detected by tests -maybe removing food with gluten from the diet removes something else which was harmful (one hypothesis is that maybe it's this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FODMAP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FODMAP) Your attitude is amazingly closed minded. There is nothing wrong with being skeptical but suggesting all those people just want to feel special (or similar psychoanalytical mumbo-jumbo) is just made-up nonsense. There is 0 evidence that they do it to want to feel special or what not but there is a lot of evidence that they in fact feel better (their feedback).

ars 12y ago

Do you think there are more mental health issue now, or 500 years ago? (I don't mean active untreated cases, I mean cases that occur.) You might be interested to know that it wasn't that long ago that humans typically got up to 80% of their calories from wheat in the form of bread. Today it's about 30-40% (in the US anyway). So there ALREADY has been a huge drop in wheat production. If anything it might be time to reverse that, not extend it. PS. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seitan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seitan is quite yummy, it's almost pure gluten and is a wonderful source of vegetarian protein.

ddebernardy 12y ago
Note that we're not eating the same wheat as our ancestors though: http://authoritynutrition.com/modern-wheat-health-nightmare/ http://authoritynutrition.com/modern-wheat-health-nightmare/
- ars 12y ago
  The differences are tiny, and they ate white flour back then too. I don't agree that most wheat was sprouted - before refrigeration this would just cause the flour to spoil. That article did not exactly strike me as very credible. It basically took every single possible thing it could find and included them, no matter how credible or not credible the source. People will look for any excuse to justify their behavior. But really gluten is perfectly fine for 99% of people and saying "the wheat changed" does not change it. Yes, the wheat did change, but the differences can hardly be enough to say "that's the cause of mental health issues".
- dubfan 12y ago
  That's a good thing. We can't grow our ancestor's wheat anymore, because it's vulnerable to crop-destroying pathogens.
ganzuul 12y ago
I think that ergot poisoning during the same era makes this issue uniquely difficult to debate among strangers.