Researchers Pinpoint Cause of Gluten Allergies

An anonymous reader writes "When patients with celiac disease consume foods containing gluten — a protein present in wheat, barley and rye — their immune systems send out an alarm, triggering a response that can damage their intestines and prevent them from absorbing certain nutrients. Now, scientists have pinpointed the culprits most responsible for this harmful reaction: three small fragments within the gluten protein that spark chaos in the gut."

Comments

Here's hoping they can track down peanut allergies

[GrumblyStuff]

I've always wondered what was the deal with food allergies. I say peanut allergies because it often provokes such an insane reaction. Is it genetic and those genes were always around but we never made the connection between food and symptons or is it something that developed as we changed or our environment changed?

There's other examples of our change of habitats. Heartburn/gastic reflux/stomach cancer is one I remember just off the top of my head.

Re:double standard

[mangu]

Who gets to decide whether you're the problem, or the substance is?

The percentage of people who are harmed by arsenic (100) vs. the percentage of people who are harmed by gluten (small).

Re:Here's hoping they can track down peanut allerg

[ColdWetDog]

N, it's not so 'simple'. Although there is a tendency towards fewer environmental allergies in people exposed to a larger mix of allergens ('dirt and stuff') it's by no means a binary thing. Allergic reactions are complex and multifactorial. I don't think the driving force behind allergic responses is a Darwinian selection sort of thing (remember, not EVERYTHING is a selection factor). It may well be that the inherent complexity of the challenge - response systems in the immune system leads to 'problems'. Although the immune system is a hugely functional piece of kit (try living without one for a while) it is also responsible for many human diseases when it goes out of whack.

So let your kids play out in the back with the horses and hay but don't be surprised if they get celiac disease. That's apples and oranges. Or Yugos and Hummers. (Added to preempt the inevitable request for an automotive analogy.)

Re:Here's hoping they can track down peanut allerg

[FatdogHaiku]

You can acquire an allergy via exposure. A good example is powdered latex gloves. The powder, usually corn starch, picks up small amounts of latex protein and rubs it into the pores of your skin. The powder can also get into the air and carry latex into the lungs. As exposure continues, the risk of having a problem rises. This is a large issue for health care workers, and many of them are switching to non-powdered vinyl gloves. ANYONE can get a reaction if they get enough exposure, but it may take 20 years for some people to see an effect. Other people do have a predisposition to develop food or other allergies, there is more information available here.

Re:Here's hoping they can track down peanut allerg

[Anonymous Coward]

I have Celiac's disease and I'd like to comment on wheat substitutes as I have first-hand experience with many. I will say up front, there really is no substitute for wheat. The combination of taste and texture cannot be matched at any cost. The substitution used depends on many factors, and the alternatives may involve adding 4-5 ingredients to replace the wheat.

Gluten is what gives wheat it's spongy/elastic texture. If you tried to make bread from rice or potatoes, it will crumble because these starches lack gluten. Any potato or rice bread you buy in the store or bake will invariably include a flour containing gluten(except those specifically designed to be gluten-free). There are really only two options here:
* Xanthan gum. This is a replacement protein used widely in gluten-free products. It is not cheap nor does it have any flavor.
* Guar gum. Similar to Xanthan but slightly cheaper and is a laxative.

Wheat has a certain taste. There is *NO* substitute that compares here as one cannot get wheat without gluten. The appropriate substitution here depends on the application.
* A common use for wheat flour is dusting so the product doesn't stick. There really isn't anything cheaper then wheat for this application but rice flour is as effective and has a very weak flavor.
* Breads can use a mix of flours based on tapioca, rice, potato or beans. All of these do not taste like wheat. Beans are a laxative and much more expensive. White rice and potato flour are not as nutritious.

Some gluten-containing starches have desired chemical properties.
* Almost all beer is made from barley or wheat and therefore contains gluten.

Wheat has a good shelf-life.
* Anything potato or rice based baked good must be refrigerated and even then only lasts about half as long.
* All the aforementioned flours need to be stored refrigerated whereas wheat flour does not.

Re:Gluten

[dgatwood]

In the case of gluten allergies, two reasons:

• The effect is cumulative and tends not to cause serious problems until well after the start of breeding age.
• It seldom would be bad enough to kill you anyway.

Thus, it is neither a significant positive nor negative evolutionary pressure, so the percentage of expression should rise and fall almost randomly through history.

If you want to know the actual reason for the increase in gluten and peanut allergies lately, we have a pretty good idea:

• The human body has historically not consumed such large quantities of wheat as we do today, thanks in part to better transportation and storage.
• In countries that have historically consumed large amounts of wheat (e.g. parts of Europe that consume wheat-based pastas), the varieties of wheat grown in those areas contain significantly less gluten than the red wheat that is popular in the United States (which I think was originally indigenous to Russia).
• Modern society has gotten so busy that few women breast feed infants as long as they should. As a result, children are exposed to real foods at an earlier time than ever before in the history of the human race. There is evidence that children exposed to gluten, peanuts, etc. too early in life are significantly more likely to develop an allergy to them.

Nothing evolutionary about it. It's predominantly societal and geographical.