This week, Columbia University announced a “breakthrough” in our understanding of how  gluten relates to health issues. Their findings, published in the journal Gut, revealed that the  complaints gluten-sensitive people (those with non-celiac gluten sensitivity) experience are a  consequence of a disruption of the gut lining – what has come to be called “leaky gut.”  As the authors concluded:  These findings reveal a state of systemic immune activation in conjunction with a compromised  intestinal epithelium affecting a subset of individuals who experience sensitivity to wheat in the  absence of celiac disease.  Co-author of the study, Dr. Umberto Volta, professor of internal medicine at the University of  Bologna, summarized as follows  These results shift the paradigm in our recognition and understanding of non-celiac wheat  sensitivity and will likely have important implications for diagnosis and treatment…  Considering the large number of people affected by the condition and its significant negative  health impact on patients, this is an important area of research that deserves much more  attention and funding.  I am pleased to see reports like this making their way into the conversation. But to be fair, the  idea that a breakdown of the intestinal lining plays a pivotal role in the various complaints of  those suffering from non-celiac gluten sensitivity isn’t a new discovery.   What is newsworthy is the recent finding that the breakdown in the gut lining as a response to  gluten exposure is, according to Harvard researchers, an event that occurs in all humans. That  means that there is immune activation occurring in all of us when we consume gluten, whether  we think we are having issues, or not.  When we understand the powerful relationship between this mechanism of immune activation  and diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer’s, coronary artery disease, and even obesity, it makes  opting for a gluten-free diet the clear choice if you want to do everything you can to protect  your health. 

Gluten and your gut...