What is Gluten?
Many people think that gluten is a carbohydrate, but that’s not true. Gluten is not a carbohydrate; it is a protein present in certain grains, most popularly in wheat. Wheat is a carbohydrate, but gluten is the protein that gives wheat dough its characteristic texture. When flour is mixed with water, the gluten proteins namely gliadins and glutenins align together and give the dough its flexibility and elasticity. That’s what makes the bread soft, fluffy, and stretchy.
When bread is baked, the yeast traps air inside due to the presence of gluten, preventing it from escaping. This is what makes the bread rise and become fluffy and delicious. Gluten is the protein that wheat uses to help its seed germinate effectively. Due to its remarkable properties, industries like the sugar industry, vegetable oil industry, and those involved in processed and junk foods have made extensive use of gluten.
Gluten is used in many baked, processed, and junk food items due to its flexible nature, which makes products crunchy, fluffy, and easy to mold into various shapes. As a result, these foods are easy to consume in large amounts often without you even realizing how much you’ve eaten.
However, gluten can also trigger allergic reactions in the body because it is a protein. The body may develop antibodies against it, leading to an immune response just like other common food allergies (e.g., to milk proteins, eggs, or seafood). Gluten allergy works similarly to any other protein-based allergy.
What you need to understand is:
Is gluten really that bad, or is the way it's being used the actual problem?
Gluten is now widely present in foods with inflammatory potential, low in nutrients and antioxidants, especially in vegetable oils and processed foods. Our body is encountering gluten alongside a host of inflammatory chemicals due to our modern lifestyle and eating habits. When we consume junk food, we not only consume gluten but also many inflammatory compounds. This creates a “threat-like situation” for the immune system.
Historically, our immune system only responded to serious threats like severe infections, toxins, or trauma. It would create antibodies to fight infectious proteins, like those found in bacteria. But now, if you're constantly consuming high-starch foods like cereals, pastas, crackers, and burgers, over a period of 5–10+ years, your immune system may start reacting to gluten proteins in the same way by creating antibodies against gluten.
Eventually, your body may start reacting every time you eat gluten, even if it’s not in processed food. If your immune system doesn’t recognize its mistake and continues producing gluten antibodies, then every time you eat gluten, your body will respond negatively.
That’s why, after 10–15 years of consuming junk food, many people find their body can no longer tolerate gluten not because they were always gluten intolerant, but because their immune system was repeatedly exposed to gluten in harmful conditions, and started treating it like a threat.
Up to 80–90% of your immune system is linked to your gut. The traffic of immune cells going through your gut in a single day is much greater than what passes through your bloodstream over your entire lifetime. This means your gut health directly affects your immunity. Once your gut lining is damaged, your body considers itself in a state of threat.
Some people say, “We were never gluten intolerant, but after cutting gluten, our life improved.”
That’s great because by cutting out gluten, people often also eliminate collagen-poor, bakery, fried, processed, and white flour-based foods. This leads to an overall healthier lifestyle, and the body becomes free from inflammatory markers, processed foods, and sugars, making you feel better.
If you want to diagnose a gluten allergy, it can’t be done through a regular blood test. It requires an immunologist and proper food allergy testing, which is done over a period of time to selectively isolate potential allergens. So, before self-diagnosing a gluten allergy, consult a qualified immunologist and get authentic tests done.
Eat mindfully, stay healthy, stay happy. Choose your food wisely and intelligently.