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 Researchers from the U.S. and Italy found that people who claim to
have "wheat sensitivity" do have biological reactions to gluten
proteins in wheat, rye and barley. It's just that the reactions are
different from what's seen in people with celiac disease, which is
also triggered by gluten.
People with wheat sensitivity have been a very difficult group to
identify, because they're mostly all self-diagnosed, said study
author Dr. Peter Green, who directs the Celiac Disease Center at
Columbia University in New York City.
While celiac disease can be confirmed through blood tests and
biopsies, the same wasn't true for wheat sensitivity, Green told
Reuters Health.
"We had no biomarkers or anything to say they had a disease process
going on other than reporting they don’t do well when they eat
wheat," he said.
As a result, people would put themselves on a gluten-free diet and
ultimately feel better.
For the new study, the researchers analyzed and compared the blood
of 80 people who reported wheat sensitivity, 40 people with celiac
disease and 40 healthy people without either condition.
In celiac disease, consumption of gluten triggers an autoimmune
response that damages the small intestine. The patients with wheat
sensitivity had blood tests showing signs of some intestinal damage
too - although it wasn't the same kind of damage that's seen with
celiac disease, and they didn't have the same pattern of antibodies
in their blood that are characteristic of celiac disease.
People with wheat sensitivity also had evidence of a body-wide
immune response, which the researchers didn't see in the people with
celiac disease.
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The results suggest there are identifiable and measurable traits in
people with wheat sensitivity that are separate from celiac disease,
write the researchers in the journal Gut.
The next step is to get a better understanding of what's happening
inside the intestines of people with wheat sensitivity, said Green.
Also, the results should be confirmed in U.S. patients, since most
of the blood samples for the current study came from people in
Italy.
"We’d like to confirm the findings in individuals here, but we need
to see them before they go on a special diet," said Green.
The new results confirm the existence that something's going on in
people with wheat sensitivity, he said.
"It also raises the likelihood that we’ll be able to develop a
test," he added. "Then, we can categorize individuals and treat them
appropriately."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2aAUS2D Gut, online July 25, 2016.
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