Even when patients test negative for celiac disease, immediate food allergies or negative for HLADQ2 or DQ8 they restrict gluten because they feel better without it.
The media and modern medicine questions this restriction and usually they believe that the patient is following a fad. Not so fast. Scientists looked at the effect of gluten in people with non-celiac gluten sensitivity on their mental state and not their gut check. They studied twenty subjects between the ages of 24 and 62 including 5 males with irritable bowel syndrome and no celiac diagnosis. They did a double-blind cross-over study following one of three dietary challenges for 3 days followed by a 3 day washout before crossing to the next diet.
The results were clear. Short-term exposure to gluten induced depression. Most of the participants opted to continue to remain GF or gluten free because they felt better.
I find a cross-reactivity and concurrent allergies in individuals who are sensitive to gluten and dairy. Those allergens are usually the first ones I have patients eliminate to regain their gastrointestinal health.
When certain individuals eat gluten it is the equivalent of shooting up with morphine and creates a euphoric pain-free feeling that needs more gluten to achieve the same feeling. It's like chasing after the "first high." Patients will exclaim that they are addicted to bread and cannot live without it. I agree with them because they are brain addicted to bread and other processed carbs.
