The Cause of Gluten Intolerance: The Plot Thickens
From my research in gut health, two things that are commonly known to degrade the tight junctions of intestinal barrier and cause leaky gut are gluten and glyphosate (RoundUp). Both cause the up-regulation of zonulin, which leads to increased permeability of the tight junctions. This in turn leads to unregulated diffusion of toxins into the bloodstream. Leaky gut is the common term for this unregulated transmission of things that should not be in the bloodstream.
In the lab, glyphosate is about ten times more potent in its ability to cause leaky gut than gluten. Given this, I’ve been much more concerned about avoiding genetically modified foods (GMO’s) like high fructose corn syrup and soy bean oil which have trace amounts of the glyphosate herbacide than about avoiding foods with gluten. That was, up until last week.
Last week, I learned something very disturbing from an article on Alternet interviewing MIT’s Stephanie Seneff. In the article, Dr. Seneff mentions the growing practice of spraying wheat crops with glyphosate. Unlike GMO corn or soy, where glyphosate is sprayed in an attempt to increase crop yield, farmers spray their wheat days before harvesting in order to kill it.
This discovery is disturbing due to the potential synergy that gluten with glyphosate could have in compounding the zonulin up-regulation. In the article, Dr. Seneff also proposes that glyphosate transforms the gluten into a more allergenic form.
Regardless of the true mechanism, this recent discovery of glyhphosate in wheat products will make me think twice at what I order in a restaurant and that much more grateful for my bottle or RESTORE.
