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Most Dangerous Foods for Gluten Sensitivity, Celiac Disease, Gluten-free Diet #4--Oats

Dr. David Clark,DC -Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Functional Neurologist and Clinical Nutrition expert explains why Oats are a dangerous food if you have gluten sensitivity or Celiac disease.

http://doctordavidclark.com

The #4 Most dangerous food if you have gluten sensitivity, Celiac disease or following a gluten-free diet is Oats. 

Before you say "Oh Crap!" and start typing in comments and questions let me explain.  There are some nuances to that statement about oats.

This is part of a series based on updated information on the most dangerous foods for people that have gluten sensitivity, celiac disease or are following a gluten-free diet.

The problem with Oats is the phenomenon called "cross reaction."

Cross reaction occurs when the antibodies for one food (gluten in our example) attach to another food (oats in our example). 

For clarity’s sake let’s make sure we all understand gluten sensitivity. Gluten sensitivity means you have an immune system reaction to gluten. Your immune system has targeted and continues to target gluten as invader that needs to be destroyed. Whether you use the term "gluten sensitive" or "celiac".  It’s all basically the same thing--you have an immune system reaction, an inflammatory reaction to gluten.

Gluten antibodies are like little, flashing adhesive strobe lights.  They’re designed to attach on to gluten.  But, in cross reaction they can attach on to something else that’s not gluten --but it looks close enough to gluten that the antibodies can recognize the something else as gluten, and they try to kill it. 

This is cross reaction. There’s a bunch of foods that can cross react 

• Corn is #3.
• Brewer’s and baker’s yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae) is #2.
• Milk products of all kinds are #1. 

Number four is oats. 

Now let me give you the fine details.  This information comes from two places. 

This information about corn and gluten comes from two places:

1. a conference that I attended in October 2012
2. a paper by Dr. Aristo Vojdani published in January 2013. Here's the link to that paper. It's like a Top 10 most dangerous foods List. You know, "stay away from these if you have a gluten problem."

Vojdani et al discovered that Oats "cross-react' with gluten antibodies.

They tested two kinds of oats: 

• "Oat cultivar one"
• "Oat cultivar two"

They don't tell us the brand names of eaither (darn!),  but one of those "cultivars" reacted very strongly against gluten antibodies.  The other one did not. 

The question is "What is in oats that allows cross reaction?"

Let me give you a little background... 

It’s been known for a long time that commercially available oats in this country are commonly contaminated with gluten. Why?  Because oats are often transported in the same trucks.  They’re stored in the same silos. There's a significant amount of plain contamination. 

Some oats are certified as "gluten-free"...meaning they’ve been tested and they’re supposed to be gluten-free.  And they may, in fact, be free of gluten.

However, there is a protein in oats called "avenin" -- avenin is the problem. Avenin cross reacts with gluten antibodies.

But not all oats contain avenin. 

It gets kind of confusing....oats don’t contain gluten the way that wheat does... but some kinds of oats do contain avenin, which can cross react. And that’s a bad situation if you're trying to avoid eating gluten.

How do you know which oats are safe? 

I don’t know.  I don't think a particular bran/manufacturer of oats could, or would, tell you if their oats contain avenin or not.

So what do you do about oats and cross reaction with gluten antibodies? 

The first thing is--if you're about to start a gluten-free diet don’t make the mistake of eating oats right away (or other grains like corn, rice and millet).

That’s a big mistake a lot of people make because they go from eating gluten to immediately eating foods that are gluten alternatives, but these many of these foods are ALSO cross-reactors. So, to your immune system, you're really not eating gluten-free.

This is a story I often hear in my patients...

They start a gluten-free diet because they’ve got an autoimmune condition like Hashimoto’s, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Crohn's, Multiple Sclerosis-- or some kind of inflammatory problem.  They start a gluten-free diet, but because they’re still eating these cross-reactive foods they don’t really get much improvement....or they plateau.

Cross reaction is a likely reason why they didn't get full benefit from the gluten-free diet..  Some Oats have this protein avenin that can cross-react with gluten antibodies. 

Me personally, I can’t eat oats. Even certified gluten-free oats.  I found out a fewl years ago I have a big problem with oats (along with corn and milk. See the connection?).

I have a couple of different autoimmune conditions myself, so for me this is absolutlely relevant. I'm passionate about this topic because it means so much to me and my family as well. 

The take-away message is:  oats are the number four most dangerous food for gluten sensitivity and celiac.  So be careful.

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© 2013 David Clark. All Rights Reserved.

Dr. David Clark, DC
Functional Neurologist (FACFN)
Diplomate College of Clinical Nutrition
Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist
Vestibular Rehab Specialist (ACNB)
919-401-0444
1515 W. NC Hwy 54 Ste 210
Durham, NC 27707

URL: http://www.doctordavidclark.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DrDavidClark
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-David-Clark-Functional-Neurologist/92451382182

Disclaimer: The contents of this site are for educational purposes only. Nothing here should be construed as medical advice. Nothing here is a substitute for actual medical care. Consult a qualified healthcare professional.

Hidden Cause #15 Why You STILL Have Low Thyroid Symptoms-Low Conversion Caused By High Cortisol

Dr. David Clark, DC- Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Natural Thyroid doctor- explains how high levels of the stress hormone cortisol can cause low thyroid symptoms.

TriangleThyroidDoctor.com

Hidden Cause #15 why you STILL have low thyroid symptoms even though you may be taking thyroid medication, and even though your lab tests look normal is...

Low conversion of T4 into T3 caused by high levels of cortisol.

Here’s what I mean: 

97% of what your thyroid gland makes is T4.  T4 is basically inactive.  It doesn’t do much.  It must be chemically converted into T3--the "active" hormone. 

Conversion happens primarily in the liver due to the action of the enzyme called 5'-deiodinase. 

Simply stated...

Elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol shut down this enzyme that is necessary for normal converstion.  When cortisol slows down conversion, you produce less T3 than normal...and with abnornal low levels ot T3 you can suffer low thyroid symptoms like these:

• brain fog
• fatigue
• depression
• constipation
• dry skin and dry hair
• hair loss on the scalp
• thinning eyebrows
• a need to sleep 10 or more hours just to function
• weight gain even though you eat low calorie and exercise
• trouble losing weight

Those are the things that happen when cortisol is too high and you don’t make enough T3. 

What is cortisol? and why would it be too high? 

Your adrenal glands make the hormone cortisol. If you spend just a little time searching the internet you'll see that people try to paint cortisol as "evil." But cortisol just does what you tell it to do. Cortisol is necessary for normal, healthy function. The problem is when there is too much or too little cortisol.

It’s kind of like cholesterol.  There is no "bad" cholesterol.  Cholesterol just does what your body is telling it to do.

What causes high cortisol?

High cortisol is typically caused by

1. Psychological Stress
2. Inflammation
   

Let's talk about the psychological stress response....

A person under a lot stress typically has high cortisol levels--at least in the short term. And who has stress? Everyone.

When the stress is CHRONIC -- happening day in and day out--that's a big problem.

When the stress lasts a short time, but is HUGE--that's a big problem.  In either situation, cortisol can shut down the enzyme causing low thyroid symptoms.

Inflammation also causes high cortisol.So, anything that is inflammatory...that inflames...that causes the immune system to respond...can cause the release of cortisol.

What causes inflammation?

It's a along list...here's s a few:

• Infections--viral, fungal, parasite, bacterial (some of these infections are hidden)
  
• Autoimmune disease such as Hashimoto's, Vitiligo, RA, Multiple Sclerosis
• Food sensitivities - gluten, milk, celiac etc

Those are all things that could cause elevated cortisol And elevated cortisol will shut down the conversion of T4 to T3 and produces those low thyroid symptoms.

So what do you do about this cortisol problem? 

That depends on what is actually going on in your case. 

The first thing I can tell you – and this is something that would be good for everybody – is that if you know you have a lot of psychological stress, you may not be able to change what stresses you, but you can change how your body responds to it. 

I recommend you learn how to do the  Relaxation Response.

This was first discovered and refined by a Harvard medical doctor named Herbert Bensen.  (You can look him up).  It’s a very simple, semi-meditative technique...kind of like doing a mental flush.  It’s very effective.  Research has shown the Relaxation Response lowers blood pressure 20 to 30 points in people with high blood pressure-- without using medication. It’s something you can learn how to do yourself.

As far as ferreting out where inflammation is...that’s up to a good doctor who’s knows what to look for...how best to look for it, and what to do when he/she finds it.

So remember that list from earlier...

 

• Infections--viral, fungal, parasite, bacterial (some of these infections are hidden)
• Autoimmune disease such as Hashimoto's, Vitiligo, RA, Multiple Sclerosis
• Food sensitivities - gluten, milk, celiac etc

Your doctor MUST able to look for all of these. (and know what to do when he/she finds them).

Hidden Cause #15 is when you have low conversion of T4 into T3 caused by high levels of cortisol. High levels of cortisol are typically caused by stress and caused by inflammatory events.

Oh, and don’t forget to look up how to do that Relaxation Response.

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© 2013 David Clark. All Rights Reserved.

 

Dr. David Clark, DC
Functional Neurologist (FACFN)
Diplomate College of Clinical Nutrition
Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist
Vestibular Rehab Specialist (ACNB)
919-401-0444
1515 W. NC Hwy 54 Ste 210
Durham, NC 27707

URL: http://www.doctordavidclark.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DrDavidClark
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-David-Clark-Functional-Neurologist/92451382182

Disclaimer: The contents of this site are for educational purposes only. Nothing here should be construed as medical advice. Nothing here is a substitute for actual medical care. Consult a qualified healthcare professional.

Most Dangerous Foods for Gluten Sensitivity, Celiac Disease, Gluten-free Diet #3--Corn

Dr. David Clark,DC -Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Functional Neurologist explains why corn is a dangerous food if you have gluten sensitivity or Celiac disease.

http://doctordavidclark.com

The #3 Most dangerous food if you have gluten sensitivity, Celiac disease or following a gluten-free diet is Corn. 

To review:

• Corn is #3.
• Brewer’s and baker’s yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae) is #2.
• Milk products of all kinds are #1. 

So let’s talk about corn a bit... 

This information about corn and gluten comes from two places:

1. a conference that I attended in October 2012
   
2. a paper by Dr. Aristo Vojdani published in January 2013. Here's the link to that paper
   

They discovered that corn "cross-reacts' with gluten antibodies.

Cross-reaction occurs when the antibodies that the body is making to tag one food (gluten, in our example) attach to a different food (corn) that is not the original food. This is called cross reaction. 

 In Celiac disease or gluten sensitivity (let’s not debate the semantics, they’re functionally the same thing) you have a problem with gluten. Your immune system is reacting to gluten and is trying to kill it, so it makes antibodies to tag the gluten. 

Antibodies are like little flashing, adhesive strobe lights that are designed to attach onto the gluten protein so that the immune system cells can find it and try to kill it. 

When those antibodies attach to some food that’s NOT gluten --because that food looks SIMILAR to gluten--that’s called cross reaction.

The recent Vojdani study confirms that the #3 offender of all foods that they checked was corn. 

Just for clarity’s sake, I want you to understand that Celiac disease is only one kind of gluten sensitivity.  It’s not the only kind and really it’s just a semantic difference.  Celiac disease is basically where the immune system problem transitions into a certain kind of autoimmune attack. But for practical purposes, you’ve got a gluten problem. 

When you’ve got a gluten problem and you make these antibodies to gluten, they can attach to corn. You eat corn even though it’s NOT gluten and you have a gluten-like immune system inflammatory response to the corn.

I know this happens because I’ve seen this clinically in so many patients. 

A lot of people make a big mistake when they decide they’re going to eat gluten-free and here’s how this usually happens:

The person gest sick...

...Have all kinds of unexplained symptoms for years...

...Finally get diagnosed with an autoimmune condition like Hashimoto’s, rheumatoid arthritis, Type I diabetes, Vitiligo, Multiple sclerosis...

...Decide to go on a gluten-free diet...

...And they start a "gluten-free" diet but---they start eating cross-reactive foods like milk, yeast, corn. (But they didn't know the danger).

When they start the gluten-free diet, maybe it doesn’t do that much for them and they start wondering...

"Is there something wrong with me? This gluten-free diet thing doesn’t work!"

But the gluten-free diet DOES work, if you do it the RIGHT WAY. 

The WRONG WAY:

Going from eating gluten to immediately eating gluten-free alternatives that you didn’t eat that much of before....but now you’re eating a lot of...alternatives such as corn.

Corn is in many gluten-free processed foods like breads, cookies, pastas etc. You need to know that corn may be a major problem for you.

In my patients, I always recommend they eat no grains (and other foods) at all for a period of time so that they can avoid these cross-reactive foods.

My main thrust today was to let you know that corn is a cross-reactor with gluten antibodies. (Just for you technical people, the specific problematic part of corn is called lipid transfer protein.) 

Now the last point...

To be fair, just because corn can cross-react and certainly does cross-react, it doesn’t mean that corn IS cross-reacting all the time in every individual patient.

But for many people with gluten sensitivity, Celiac disease who are trying like heck to live gluten-free...

Corn is cross-reacting and causing serious problems. 

Watch on YouTube

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Most-Dangerous-Foods-for-Gluten-Sensitivity-Celiac-Disease-Gluten-free-Diet-3-Corn

© 2013 David Clark. All Rights Reserved.

Dr. David Clark, DC
Functional Neurologist (FACFN)
Diplomate College of Clinical Nutrition
Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist
Vestibular Rehab Specialist (ACNB)
919-401-0444
1515 W. NC Hwy 54 Ste 210
Durham, NC 27707

URL: http://www.doctordavidclark.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DrDavidClark
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-David-Clark-Functional-Neurologist/92451382182

Disclaimer: The contents of this site are for educational purposes only. Nothing here should be construed as medical advice. Nothing here is a substitute for actual medical care. Consult a qualified healthcare professional.