TL;DR: Gluten and gliadin are themselves proteins that the body always perceives as a virus or bacterium. As a result, the overall state of one’s health is decreased by gluten’s ingestion.
Welcome back UpRiver, biohacker.
Today we will be discussing why people actually ought to avoid gluten. We go into the nitty-gritty science to properly understand the issue with gluten when it comes to our longevity and quality of life. With that said, let’s now jump into the scientific explanation behind the claim that gluten is not our friend, but unfortunately, and of no fault of its own, our enemy.
Unbiasedly, What Is Gluten?
The word we use today in english “gluten” comes from the latin, which literally means, “glue.”[1] If we are to speak technically, gluten is a group of proteins, called prolamins and glutelins, which occur with starch in the endosperm of various cereal grains.[2]
Glutens have unique viscoelastic and adhesive properties (i.e. GLUE-ten), which gives dough its elasticity, helping it rise and keep its shape and often leaving the final product with a chewy texture.[3] Additionally, as the properties presented are all beneficial to things like the making of bread, cereals etc. and are also offered at a low price, this is the reason why gluten is such a prominent player in grocery-store food aisles and even non food-related products.[4]
Tip: An easy way to remember what foods and products have gluten in them, is to remember the acronym: BROWS. This stands for: barley, rye, oats, wheat, (and spelt). (There are technically a couple other places where one can find gluten, such as malt, but BROWS is the vast majority.)
Now that you have a general understanding of what gluten actually is, let’s move onto the history and evolution of the human diet as per gluten’s involvement, nay, non-involvement.
Evolution and History
Depending on which scientist you ask, the numbers may vary a little bit here and a little bit there, but ultimately, modern human beings Homo Sapien Sapiens have been on this Earth for roughly 200 000 years.[5] For a longtime, our diets consisted primarily of what we found by scavenging, or caught by hunting.[6] For the vast majority of that time, we were not consuming things that contained gluten – especially in the quantity that people do of today’s day and age. Granted that depending on particular climate and region, some grains were had here and there by select groups of people likely after having expanded beyond the African continent (roughly 60 000 – 80 000 years following the conception of the modern human species.)[7]
Eventually, Homo Sapien Sapiens began to introduce gluten into the human diet. It is speculated that gluten was generally adopted into the broad human diet somewhere around 9000 year ago.[8] Now, if this number is accepted and ran with, then it mathematically follows that we as a species have only been consuming this molecule for approximately 4.5% of our entire anthropological diet – and that’s only if we start counting 200 000 years ago…
Flash forward some 8000-ish years to the 1800’s. Humans have been eating some gluten, but not all humans, and not all the time. By the 1800’s however, it was eventually discovered that milling the grains (stripping away the germ and the bran) made it so the grains could be kept for longer and also produced a soft, unadulterated white flour.[9] By the early 1800s, many mills had equipment so that they could produce this refined flour.
Demand for white flour grew as it became the desirable baking ingredient. Because it was more expensive than brown flour, it also became a status symbol.[10] By the 1900’s wheat and grain product consumption expanded dramatically and it was normal to eat these products, which became a culinary staple in human diets practically around the globe.
Okay, now you have a basal understanding of what gluten is and where it came from. We will now get into the UpRiver rundown of why one ought to avoid gluten in one’s diet if longevity and quality of life is the objective.
Our terms: Gliadin, Inflammation, Zonulin and Vibrio Cholerae
Let’s start by briefly defining our terms here.
Inflammation: is a normal response included in the weaponry your body deploys to fight off and defends against bacteria, viruses and other foreign invaders. However, some things in our environment, diet and predetermined genetic code cause our bodies to produce inflammation when it is not necessitated by genuine threats. When this happens frequently or unendingly, we call this “chronic inflammation” (check out UpRiver’s articles on inflammation and how to reduce it HERE).
Gliadin: (a type of prolamin) is a class of proteins present in wheat and several other cereals within the grass genus Triticum. Gliadins, which are a component of gluten, are essential for giving bread the ability to rise properly during baking. Gliadins and glutenins are the two main components of the gluten fraction of the wheat seed. This gluten is found in products such as wheat flour. Gluten is split about evenly between the gliadins and glutenins, although there are variations found in different sources.[11]
Zonulin: is an enterotoxin that causes the modulation of the paracellular pathway in the gut/digestive tract. Zonulin causes fissures between cell membranes allowing things to pass through and in between them.[12]
Vibrio Cholerae: otherwise referred to as “Zot” (zonula occludens toxin), emulates and replicates the function of zonulin in the body causing identical effects, but from a different cause than authentic zonulin itself. This is contained inside of the gliadin molecule, which is present in the gluten molecule.
In short, ingesting gluten means you ingest gliadin, ingesting gliadin means you ingest Zot, which then emulates Zonulin, and modulates the gut wall permeability.
How Gluten Becomes The Adversary
For a long time, researchers treated gluten as a sugar.[13] Likely, the reason for this is that gluten is found almost exclusively tied to sugars and carbohydrates. In recent years though, researches and specialists have discovered that gluten is in fact a protein and this information has been widely propagated among the scientific community. Interestingly, in light of gluten belonging to the protein family, it now falls into a very particular category and thus carries a feature potentially nefarious and absolutely distinct from the other two molecules – fat and sugars…
The only things that cause infectious disease in the body are molecular proteins – again, to be distinguished from fats and sugars (glucose, fructose, etc.)[14] Proteins makeup bacteria, viruses and building blocks of many other molecules. This is where gluten comes in.
When gluten enters the body, it goes down the digestive tract ie. the gut. When this happens, the body does not recognize the foreign molecule, that, let’s remember, we didn’t really consume for ages in our anthropological past. As a result, the body begins to deploy its natural defenses against foreign invaders and threats that it would if the body were genuinely under attack from an actual virus or bacteria with the potential to kill us.
Amongst the weaponry the body deploys are cytokines, which will signal for inflammation and the components involved in its process to address the present “attacker.”[15] Already then, we have unnecessary inflammation in the body, which is not a good thing (learn why HERE). Notwithstanding, there is still a second prong to the problem gluten causes in the body.
Remember zonulin, the molecule we mentioned earlier? Here’s where it comes into play. As a quick recap though,
zonulin in effect causes small fissures in the lining of the gut, which allows things to pass directly from the bloodstream into or out of the gut.
This is especially helpful when the threat your immune system is fighting is actually in the digestive tract itself. Chemical cavalry cells called cytokines are deployed in the body, which are the body’s front line defense against foreign attackers.[16] Now back to gluten…
Built into the gluten, but more specifically gliadin molecule (which is a component of the gluten protein) are proteins called Vibrio Cholerae (Zot), pictured beneath in blue.[17]
The Zot, part of gliaden’s molecular make-up, causes the cells in your digestive tract to separate allowing particulars to pass through the gut, directly into your bloodstream and vice versa. The reason this happens is that the Zot both causes the release of zonulin in your body, and also emulates its effects, which leads to an exaggerated effect when compared to the normal extent at which zonulin functions and is meant to function in the gut. This in and of itself poses a twofold downside for the body:
The former downside is characterized by the following resulting process of gluten’s and thus gliadin’s consumption: particles of food you have consumed alongside gluten during a given meal, containing who-knows-what, now much more easily penetrate the bloodstream, potentially wreaking havoc on whatever tissues they come into collision with.
This former issue is commonly referred to as “leaky gut syndrome.”[18]
The latter downside of gluten consumption is the ability for the misallocation of cytokines in the body. This occurs when the cells intended for signalling immune response in the gut drift through the digestive tract tissue (as a result of the gut fissures) and cause the body to inflame areas irrelevant to the perceived threat.[19]
Leaky Gut Syndrome (LGS)
For a long time, LGS’ cause was unknown. However, the recent discovery of the chemical zonulin and its precursors (largely credited to Dr. Alessio Fasano, Mucosal Biology Research Center and Center for Celiac Research, University of Maryland School of Medicine,
Baltimore, Maryland) has given valuable scientific insight into its causes and allows researchers to put a finger on both the health implications of LGS, as well as methods towards its resolution.
Many individuals have LGS without even realizing it. To give you an idea of what LGS actually is, the common symptoms are here enumerated:[20]
- Gastric ulcers
- Infectious diarrhea
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
- Inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis)
- Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO)
- Celiac disease
- Esophageal and colorectal cancer
- Allergies
- Respiratory infections
- Acute inflammation conditions (sepsis, SIRS, multiple organ failure)
- Chronic inflammatory conditions (such as arthritis)
- Thyroid disorders
- Obesity-related metabolic diseases (fatty liver, Type II diabetes, heart disease)
- Autoimmune disease (lupus, multiple sclerosis, Type I diabetes, Hashimoto’s, and more)
- Parkinson’s disease
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Propensity towards weight gain or obesity
- Amongst many others…
With all this now presented, it must seem pretty clear why UpRiver cannot look past the issues gluten, and thus gliadin, can cause it’s ingestants. On the contrary though, there are still groups of people who believe gluten should be treated as beneficial for human consumption as it has long thought to be. That is why we have taken the time to preemptively address two of the arguments a proponent of gluten consumption may raise, below.
Arguments from the Gluten Proponent
Argument 1: The champion of gluten ingestion may argue that even though gluten is technically found in these products, that there may not be enough to be considered harmful. He may further argue that on those grounds, the consumption of our favourite, say, bread is fine to consume and even on a regular basis.
Response: To disarm this argument, suffice it to say that the protein complex that makes up the gluten supplies 75–85% of the total protein in bread wheat. [21] That is evidently a considerable and therefore unignorable quantity, by any rational measure anyway. In other words, if you consume even a slice or two of toast, unfortunately, you’re consuming far more than enough gluten and gliadin to cause unnatural modulation in the gut’s tissue. Don’t get me wrong, I too love a good stack of french toast but unfortunately even in moderation gluten’s consumption can rapidly lead to LGS and other inflammatory issues in the body.
Argument 2: “Some people are celiacs and thus have a gluten allergy, as I’m not one of those, I can still eat gluten without any problems, right?”
Response: Wrong. Unlike many other diseases, celiac is not something that people are necessarily born with. Research suggests that celiac disease can develop at any point in someone’s life, even late into their adulthood.[22] This is likely because, just like any virus or bacteria, our body fights them off constantly; although, sometimes we lose that battle. Sometimes when the battle with gluten is lost severely, our immune system’s ability to respond to it deteriorates to an extent beyond repair.[23] All it takes is one decisive victory on gluten’s part to win not only the proverbial battle, but the war as well.
Author’s Motivation
Many moons ago, I had heard whispers of gluten-intolerants and celiacs around the world revolting against what I had believed to be holy causes and coveted items. Namely, breakfast cereals, bread, pasta, and all things one would foggily press one’s nose up against the glass of a bakery to orgasmically gaze upon.
Even though I dismissed the critics and continued to eat what I wanted, I eventually, for whatever reason, decided to look into it more. To my amazement, I found that they were right (but not always for the reasons they claimed). I stumbled across Dr. Alessio Fasano and read as many of the articles and studies he had put out as I could. The results seemed absolutely conclusive.
From there, I read more and more and continued to distance myself from gluten. As my knowledge grew, so did my feeling of wellbeing from gluten avoidance. As a test, I would consume gluten once every few weeks or so to gauge how I felt. Again, the results were conclusive. I attempted to keep everything the same other than my gluten intake on that day. Digestional problems disappeared and so did the infamous “brain fog” many of us deal with on a daily basis. I even felt happier, which I was told by a few of my colleagues and my closest friends was evident to them – and they didn’t even know I had changed anything!
Now, depending on your intake you may stand to gain some serious benefits right away from staying away from the stuff. On the other hand, if you don’t consume gluten too often, it may take a little longer to see benefits. Results, as with many experiments, vary from person to person. In any case though, I encourage you to try for 30 days, consider it a challenge. See how you feel and don’t forget to let us know on our forum, which you can access HERE!
Conclusion
Gluten and gliadin are molecules that until recently weren’t really thought of as a proteins, even though they most definitely are. As it is proteins that are responsible for infectious diseases in the human body, it stands to reason that gluten could be the cause of disease. Upon further research, it was determined that gluten and gliadin are in fact a cause of issues in the body at large.
As what leading researchers have deemed a “mistake of evolution” stemming from our historically validated digestional unfamiliarity with gluten and gliadin, our body responds to it’s ingestion the way it would a virus, bacteria or forgeign invader. Additionally, found in the make-up gliadin in particular are proteins called Vibrio Cholerae (Zot), which cause the gut to allow spacing between its cells. This, in turn, allows things to more readily pass in and out of the gut, leading directly to the bloodstream. This then has the potential to both cause unwanted inflammation throughout the whole body (and brain), as well as allows food particles to exit where they are supposed to be by evolutionary physiological design – the digestive tract.
Despite these negative factors as they pertain to the human diet, perhaps it could be said of gluten that it is not itself intrinsically a bad thing. Notwithstanding, when we turn our scope back to the health of the human body, gluten’s and gliadin’s ingestion, likely regardless of frequency, causes undesirable results that one looking to move UpRiver ought to avoid.
Conclusion diagram: (Here we see how gluten and its gliadin particles cause zonulin to increase the permeability in the gut and create gut fissures that lead to gut and cell disruption.)
Note: If you absolutely love gluten and are having a hard time kicking the habit, consider checking out our article on habits HERE.
As always, best of luck biohacker, and keep moving UpRiver.
REFERENCES
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten
[2] Food and Drug Administration (January 2007). “Food Labeling ; Gluten-Free Labeling of Foods” (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-01-26.
[3] Lamacchia C, Camarca A, Picascia S, Di Luccia A, Gianfrani C (Jan 29, 2014). “Cereal-based gluten-free food: how to reconcile nutritional and technological properties of wheat proteins with safety for celiac disease patients”.
[4] Day L, Augustin MA, Batey IL, Wrigley, CW (February 2006). “Wheat-gluten uses and industry needs”. Trends in Food Science & Technology (Review). 17 (2): 82–90. doi:10.1016/j.tifs.2005.10.003.
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_human_evolution
[6] Ibid.
[7] psmag.com/news/why-and-when-did-early-humans-leave-africa
[8] surefoodsliving.com/2010/09/a-brief-history-of-wheat-and-why-it-is-making-us-sick/
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliadin
[12] journals.physiology.org/doi/pdf/10.1152/physrev.00003.2008
[13] https://www.livestrong.com/article/547713-what-is-the-difference-between-carbohydrates-and-gluten/https://www.livestrong.com/article/547713-what-is-the-difference-between-carbohydrates-and-gluten/https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/gluten-free-diet/art-20048530
[14] https://www.livescience.com/53272-what-is-a-virus.html
[15] https://www.webmd.com/arthritis/about-inflammation#1
[16] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0012369215328208
[17] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00365520500235334
[18] https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/features/leaky-gut-syndrome#1
[19] https://journals.physiology.org/doi/pdf/10.1152/physrev.00003.2008
[20] https://www.nature.com/articles/ncpgasthep0259, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24898698, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23709068_Normalization_of_leaky_gut_in_chronic_fatigue_syndrome_CFS_is_accompanied_by_a_clinical_improvement_Effects_of_age_duration_of_illness_and_the_translocation_of_LPS_from_gram-negative_bacteria, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0271531712001595
[21] Shewry, P. R.; Halford, N. G.; Belton, P. S.; Tatham, A. S. (2002). “The structure and properties of gluten: An elastic protein from wheat grain”. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 357 (1418): 133–142. doi:10.1098/rstb.2001.1024. PMC 1692935. PMID 11911770.
[23] Ibid.
