gluten free familyA mum's blog about gluten-free living in Australia

Sydney gluten free expo

Is gluten intolerance a real condition?

This was one of the topics debated at the gluten free expo in Sydney, and Dr Robert Anderson, the man leading development of the coeliac vaccine, took to the stage to address this sensitive issue.

The gluten intolerant now far outnumber those with coeliac disease, but according to Dr Anderson finding a true diagnosis for either condition is far from straightforward.

I won’t go into too much of the science here, suffice it to say that he believes coeliac disease is being underdiagnosed by the medical communiy owing to over-reliance on things like preliminary blood tests which may give false negatives – as well as the less common issue of biopsies that can miss damage in the small intestines.

He says a gene, blood test and biopsy (where evidence of coeliac disease exists) are all required to build up an accurate diagnosis. (The coeliac society now has a diagnostic flow chart that is designed to steer prospective sufferers on a path of investigation that will prevent such misdiagnoses and I will write more on this at a later date).

This brings us to the other side of the equation – gluten intolerance. Dr Anderson believes that most cases of gluten intolerance in the wider society have been confused with fructose malabsorbtion.

Because high fructose levels are common in wheat products he says this accounts for the fact that many who give up gluten find IBS-type symptoms are also relieved.  And yet he believes most people in this category would do better on a low Fodmap diet (yes, I had to google it too).

This might well be the case for people like me who suffer stomachy-type symptoms – but I do have to wonder about my child – who tested negative for coeliac but had all the classic symptoms mentioned by Dr Anderson of the disease (vitamin deficiencies, poor growth etc).

I also wonder about the mysterious leaky gut phenomenon being investigated by people like Dr Rodney Ford, and whether this medical issue has any bearing on either of the other two. After all, many families have reported excellent results by excluding both gluten and casein from children’s diets – especially when there are behavioural conditions that need to be managed.

Unfortunately neither Dr Ford nor Dr Anderson have responded to the questions I sent them on this matter – so I guess we must all stay in the dark for a little longer.

But in practical terms for us – I guess I could always retest my son for coeliac – because he certainly might have been one of those who fell through the cracks based on Dr Anderson’s presentation. But that probably means going back to gluten for a proper diagnosis Or he may just be fructose intolerant – in which case it would be handy to know this so we could adapt his diet accordingly (although the fact that gluten seems to change his whole personality gives me serious doubts about this being the case).

And if in fact he has a leaky gut, the diagnostic path is even less straightforward because this condition still doesn’t seem have any heavyweight scientific backing … yet.

I guess I have some thinking to do . . .

LH