So, I tried asking it in askscience and my post got deleted, so I’m assuming this is a dumb question even though I’m just trying to understand a topic full of pseudoscience and it’s not a very uncommon assumption that gluten is just bad for health.
What I know is gluten can induce inflammatory response but for those who already have intolerance or allergy to it, but I’m not sure and nutrition is a very hard thing to get an answer for because there are a lot of misleading information. So, can anyone clarify this for me? I’ll gladly read some scientific articles too.
Thanks!
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The best answer is ‘Yes, but for the vast majority of the population it doesn’t cause harm or symptoms’.
Gluten can’t be fully broken down by normal human enzymes. The partly broken down proteins normally sit in the intestine and cause no harm whatsoever. When there is breakdown of the normal gut barrier and these proteins get into the lining of the gut they do activate the immune system and are removed without causing problems or symptoms.
People with Coeliac disease have a genetic predisposition for their immune system to recognize and respond aggressively to these gluten breakdown products when they pass the gut barrier and the resulting inflammation damages the gut.
Unfortunately terms like ‘pro-inflammatory’ or ‘anti-inflammatory’ can be used in situations like this to be misleading. It is technically correct to say that gluten can cause inflammation but many food proteins can cause an immune response in the same way without causing harm.
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