Gluten may be guilty – the jury’s out
here is no escaping the fashionable complaint of gluten sensitivity, highlighted by celebrity “avoiders” such as Victoria Beckham and Gwyneth Paltrow. Recently, it was the subject of a cartoon in the New Yorker: two women meet for lunch, one remarks to the other: “I have only been gluten-free for a week and already I am really annoying.”
Retired family doctor Richard Lehman claims some responsibility for this trend, having instigated the first study over 20 years ago investigating the merits of a new blood test (endomysial antibody) in diagnosing gluten-induced coeliac disease. To his considerable surprise, the condition turned out to be 10 times more common than thought, affecting one in a hundred of those tested, and the cause of their unexplained anaemia, skin rashes, mouth ulcers and failure to conceive.
But the numbers who now claim benefit (less bloating, more energy) from eliminating or reducing their consumption of gluten-containing breads, potatoes and processed foods is 15 times greater still – almost one sixth of those interviewed foods in a recent study. This may, for some, be a dietary fad, but can reflect a phenomenon known as Non-Coeliac Gluten Sensitivity in those intolerant of gluten, but without the abnormalities of the lining of the gut characteristic of coeliac disease.
Alternatively, there is considerable overlap between foods containing gluten and fermentable carbohydrates, so it could be that the latter are responsible for the symptoms that improve on going gluten-free. Those who might wish to know more about this rather vexed issue will find a useful review by Professor Benjamin Lebwohl in the British Medical Journal, available
A gut feeling
The conundrum of the woman whose episodes of nausea and sickness resolved on a recent visit to France, and has ceased since drinking only bottled water, has prompted several similar accounts.
A Staffordshire reader prone to episodes of gut discomfort reports that whenever his mother (who lives in Hampshire) comes to stay, she too develops a stomach upset. The water supply in Staffordshire apparently contains naturally occurring fluoride in a concentration (one part per million) comparable to those parts of the country where it is artificially fluorinated. Suspecting this might be the culprit, he (and his mother) have switched to drinking bottled water – “problem solved”.
For those, the majority, where the water is low in fluoride (whether naturally or artificially), retired engineer Derek Jones suggests several possibilities based on his 45 years’ experience in the building industry. The source of the problem could be poor installation of washing machines and dishwashers, particularly the failure to fit “non-return valves” to prevent backflow from contaminating the water pipes supplying them. He also advises checking loft tanks to see if they contain a dead bird (or worse) and sending a sample for bacteriological analysis. “I have always found water authorities to If fluoride upsets your stomach, drinking bottled water is the solution be very helpful in such matters,” he writes.
Cooling cabbage
Finally, further to the (ergonomically designed) Savoy cabbage-leaf remedy to counter the discomfort experienced by breastfeeding mothers, a reader from Falmouth reports this is still favoured by the midwives at Truro’s Treliske Hospital (aka The Royal Cornwall).
“The cabbage leaves are kept cool in the fridge and applied to any swollen, tender breasts,” she writes – commending in addition three further popular Cornish remedies: for hayfever, two teaspoons each of clear honey and cider vinegar in a third of a pint of water; for hiccups, “hold ear lobe or big toe tightly for two minutes”; and for earache, “heat an onion and when cooled wrap in muslin and place by the ear”.
Gluten-induced coeliac disease turned out to be 10 times more common