Because it has become relevant in recent conversation, I'd like to do a thread on allergies and the process we use to test for them, as well as a brief primer on what gluten intolerance really is. Gather round, wee kiddies!
To start, what is an allergy? Simply, it's an immune response to a substance, or allergen. There are different kinds of allergies, from environmental (hay fever, pet dander, mold, etc) to irritants (poison oak, bee stings, spider bites) to internal (food allergies.)
The immune response is actually several different chemical substances that all serve different functions. Histamines are the most commonly known but there are cytokinesis, leukotreins, and others. Together they cause reactions from runny nose to hives to digestive problems.
Severe allergic reactions are known as anaphylaxis and these are dangerous, immediately life-threatening allergies requiring the sufferer to carry epinephrine in the case of accidental exposure. Most allergic reactions are less severe.
Most any substance can become an allergen, and allergies can develop with continual exposure to the allergen, sometimes without warning. Latex (which I am allergic to) is an example of this. Healthcare workers especially tend to become allergic to latex from their exam gloves.
Now, when a person becomes sensitized by an allergen, their body releases antigens (the immune response) to combat the allergen. Each allergen is composed of hundreds or thousands of chemical compounds, and the antigens are as well.
The antigens remain present in the blood long after the allergen is gone. Differing levels of exposure to the allergen produce corresponding levels of antigen.
Alright, so. How do we test whether a person is allergic to a particular substance? We test for it in the blood right?
Alright, so. How do we test whether a person is allergic to a particular substance? We test for it in the blood right?
Wrong! We test for the presence of antigens for that particular substance. And because both allergens and antigens are composed of hundreds of chemical compounds, it's impossible to have tests for them all, so we cherry pick several of the most common.
So, if you were allergic to a chemical component of a substance that is not the one whose antibodies are being tested for, your test results would be negative. But you would know, based on symptoms you experience, that you ARE allergic to it. Frustration central!!!
Which brings us to gluten intolerance. It's common for people to equate Celiac disease with gluten intolerance. It is also wrong. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease where the immune system is triggered by wheat gluten to attack healthy cells in the digestive tract.
An autoimmune disease is simply an overactive immune response against healthy cells or systems. Mine, hypertrophic lichen planus, affects the skin on my lower legs. MS, Lupus, and Celiac all affect different systems. Gluten intolerance is an allergy response, not autoimmune.
So what the hell is gluten anyway? Simply, it is the wheat plant's natural defense system against birds and small mammals. Gluten is an irritating substance that surrounds the wheat germ which makes birds and animals who eat it sick. They don't eat it --> the wheat propagates.
When we harvest and process our wheat crops, the gluten is incorporated into the flour and this makes wheat flour a reactive substance to those of us who are sensitive to it. Many people believe that all people react to it to some degree, but most just ignore it.
Without getting too gross here, these reactions include bloating, cramping, abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, hives, and swelling of the extremities or throat. It can be one, a few, or all of these, and mild to severe.
Now. Here's the interesting part. Europeans report significantly lower incidence of gluten intolerance than Americans. How can that be if our gluten obsession isn't all in our heads, right? The answer lies in our GMO business and Big Agriculture.
Wheat is plentiful, cheap to produce, and in absolutely everything (soy sauce and licorice, for example) thanks to Big Agriculture's profit push. But in order to be able to grow bigger, more robust plants in larger areas with higher resistance to predation, we started tinkering.
We genetically modified our wheat to have an extra thick gluten layer so the crop yields were higher and their pockets got fatter. So when we eat bread, were eating larger amounts of gluten than our European counterparts.
This is also why gluten intolerance is much more prevalent now than in the 50's when everybody existed on Wonder bread. They hadn't figured out how to increase the gluten content yet. Cool, huh?
So, to wrap this whole thing up, people can be allergic to things they test negative for, gluten is pretty bad for you, Big Agri is the literal devil, and if something makes you feel bad, ignore those telling you you're imagining it and eat what makes you feel good. Peace, all!
I just realized that autocorrect turned "cytokines" into "cytokinesis" and I'm not entirely sure what to do with that.
