Gluten-Free Diet May Lead to Poor Gut Health

Excellent article, but frustrating too. Just getting a handle on gluten free & now something else to worry about.

This report by Kim Hopkins is absolute nonesense. There is no such thing as a yeast which is also a bacteria. Candida is not a bacteria. Anything which follows from the logic that they are is not just suspect but dangerous. The content provided by Hopkins is extremely vague and not backed up with references (I would challenge Hopkins to provide ample evidence that consumption of meat derived from animals that have received hormone treatments results in humans with a leaky gut when compared to humans fed non-hormone treated animals).

Anyone frustrated by their celiac disease who is further flummoxed by the additional load that Hopkins implies they should take on should simply ignore the article and make something good to eat.

The study in Spain is damn near irrelevant to celiacs...10 healthy normal volunteers. Anybody here healthy and normal?

Informative...and my personal experience adds credibility to the ideas presented. I am Celiac and have Fibromyalgia. It has become obvious to me that my body needs supplementation at a higher level than normal for me to see improvement in symptoms. Particularly helpful are the probiotics, omegas, antioxidants, vitamins and enzymes. Of course, it goes without saying that all supplements must be gluten free!

I have celiac disease and am currently being treated for a systemic yeast infection. Good article! Need more info about a healthy intestinal tract.

Just getting started with corrective measure re: celiac disease. Thank you for writing an article my non-medical mind can wrap around.

This is an alarmist article that could lead celiacs to think that a gluten-free diet is not good for us. Brian's comment about candida (yeast, not bacteria) is absolutely correct. Also, we do not know what the study subjects were eating, just that they were not eating gluten. And a month-long study gives no information on how digestive systems might adapt after more than a month on a balanced gluten-free diet. The article does not explain why gluten would be necessary for 'helpful bacteria' to grow in the gut - there needs to be some good hypothesis for me to consider the validity of the research. Finally, the list of 'symptoms' is so broad and typical of the kinds of things that celiacs may experience that it is not very helpful. Nothing wrong with eating yogurt and probiotics and a lot more veggies and fruits than most folks eat, but no reason to start worrying about the gluten-free diet without some more rigorous evidence here.

The experience of healthy subjects may have no bearing on people who go on the gluten-free diet after developing symptoms. Also without knowing what the subjects DID eat it is meaningless to know that their gut flora became more imbalanced. Many people eat more refined starches on a gluten-free diet and this alone can cause gut flora to become imbalanced, but this is not an intrinsic problem with a gluten-free diet. My family follows the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, which is gluten-free but also cuts out the starches that feed the bad gut flora. Our gut flora has improved significantly on this diet and our leaky gut is healing. The GAPS diet takes into account all of the info given here about enzymes, probiotics, malabsorption, and EFAs.

I think she brings up a good point...just because it's gluten free doesn't mean it's healthy. If we're changing our diet to be gluten-free, why not also cut out the other bad stuff...sugar, junk carbs and beef up on the better choices? After years of gluten abuse our immune systems probably need every boost they can get. Also, years of gluten damage can't be good for our flora balance, and many of us have had to take lots of antibiotics and/or steroids because we got sick more than most.

The listed signs of bacterial imbalance sound a lot like my pre-gluten, dairy, soy, corn starch, potato, green solanacea, and beet family free situation. (Yes, I can find food to eat but no more picnic baskets for me Boo-Boo! Lots of nuts & berries: Nuts!)

After 8 months into gluten-free and shorter periods away from the rest, my blood pressure rises and I feel different if I have eaten something that is a known issue for me.

Radical changes in diet are bound to cause some issues. Try eating a lot of plums, and see what happens. Many have reported issues early on when going gluten-free.

Before going gluten-free, we ate more, fish, fruits, yogurt, and vegetables and prepared many more meals from scratch than our friends, though we are neither vegetarian nor vegan. (meat is something I can eat.) It is possible that was preconditioning and helpful to going gluten-free. I suspect the poor absorption of nutrients, made us crave nutrient-rich food.

Avoidance of dairy, potato, and corn starch eliminates almost all gluten-free baked goods and desserts other than what little I make from scratch.

If gluten is not very digestible and lines the gut, it is not unreasonable that as it clears, digestion changes and/or other intolerances make themselves known. It may be essential to avoid an excess of sugar and refined carbohydrates that might tax the system even though the sources are 'gluten-free', aside from any cross-contamination issues, until a new intestinal flora balance is developed.

Before the casein and whey sensitivities were found, I consumed a lot of yogurt and Activia. the active cultures may also have helped more than the allergens they contained, hurt. I also noted that mushrooms in quantity did not make me feel well though they did not give an intolerance reaction and had been fine before going gluten-free.

The study is WAY too small, of too short a duration, and with inadequate outlines of the diets used. It is a nice pilot study, though. At least someone is giving the issue some attention.

Now they can repeat it with control, celiac going gluten-free, and non-celiac gluten-free groups of different periods of time for more publications! Publish or perish!

I think she brings up a good point...just because it's gluten free doesn't mean it's healthy. If we're changing our diet to be gluten-free, why not also cut out the other bad stuff...sugar, junk carbs and beef up on the better choices? After years of gluten abuse our immune systems probably need every boost they can get. Also, years of gluten damage can't be good for our flora balance, and many of us have had to take lots of antibiotics and/or steroids because we got sick more than most.

Um, grass fed beef is by far one of the healthiest foods you can eat, and is a pretty important part of any gluten free diet.

There is much truth to this article! 6 years into a gluten free diet for our celiac---and my husband and I have been sicker than ever!!! I was finally starting to accept that there was simply gluten in everything. Until a friend told me about the GAPS diet. Wow! Gut dysbiosis is very real and very damaging. Because you start to 'react' to just about every single food you eat, thinking there is gluten, where in reality you have severe leaky gut. So you are 'reacting' to everything, with your immune system on high alert and attack mode. GAPS and SCD provide much needed relief for those of us who need MORE than just Standard American Gluten Free.

This report by Kim Hopkins is absolute nonesense. There is no such thing as a yeast which is also a bacteria. Candida is not a bacteria. Anything which follows from the logic that they are is not just suspect but dangerous. The content provided by Hopkins is extremely vague and not backed up with references (I would challenge Hopkins to provide ample evidence that consumption of meat derived from animals that have received hormone treatments results in humans with a leaky gut when compared to humans fed non-hormone treated animals).

Anyone frustrated by their celiac disease who is further flummoxed by the additional load that Hopkins implies they should take on should simply ignore the article and make something good to eat.

 

The study in Spain is damn near irrelevant to celiacs...10 healthy normal volunteers. Anybody here healthy and normal?

I think you misunderstand. Gut bacteria help to regulate yeast in the intestines. Nobody said yeast is a bacteria.