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Comment by Arete3141 | Hacker News Reader

FWIW, I've been sensitive to gluten for years, but when I traveled in Spain -- I was fine. Then I came back to the US, and tried wheat again. Nope.

I would not be surprised if the way we're processing / spraying our wheat here is giving some folks problems.

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I have read that shorter baking time can have an effect on the gluten and increase people's sensitivity to it (can't find the study right now). Many bakers use methods to shorten baking time to yield larger output.

In Switzerland some bakers have started to go back to the old methods because of this.

Edit:

[1] http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/02/bread-gluten-...

This is my personal best bet. I think if we were to introduce a measure as simple as mechanical compressibility of bread (crust removed), and people with "gluten sensitivity" started eating very low compressibility bread, they'd be fine.

Also I think the FODMAP people are on to something important.

Naturally fermented breads that stay away from commercial yeasts (ie oldfashioned sourdough bread), work out for many people who otherwise struggle with normal commercial bread.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/mar/23/sourdou...

The longer fermentation lets bacteria break down some of the gluten, so it's all round easier on the gut.

I would similarly be unsurprised if there is just some other factor. I saw an article onetime that showed a link between alergies to apples and the range of an unrelated tree. That is, there was some other type of tree that, if present, increased the occurrence of reported allergies to the apple. Whereas the same apple in a location without this tree had fewer allergies reported.

Sadly... my inability to refind this article makes me suspect that, though I may be unsurprised by this idea, I have no evidence for it. So, if anyone can help refute the idea, that would be great! :)

You may be thinking birch trees. I’m allergic to certain raw fruits (cooked or canned ok), beans, and tree nuts (peanuts and cashews ok). I’m told this weird combination is a thing.

I found “Oral allergy syndrome” http://acaai.org/allergies/types/food-allergies/types-food-a...

Thanks for the link! That at least makes it look like I didn't imagine the article. The one I remember was a more direct link between allergies to thing X, but only in the presence of thing Y. With no reported allergies to thing Y.

Holy shit. I've always been allergic to random things like cherries, apples, tomatoes, melon, peaches, etc., but only some of the time and never when it's cooked. It could definitely be some other tree or something that's doing it.

Edit: Just read the other reply. I'm definitely allergic to birch and grass pollen and I've always had hay fever. That solves that mystery.

Definitely seek out more information on this. I'm still halfway convinced I imagined the article I am referring to. :(

That is a new idea, thanks! I was suspecting pesticides or similar, since my allergy is highly batch-dependant and there have been less and less occurrences over time.

I stress that I may have made up the article I'm referencing!

I ultimately take "allergy" to mean, "we don't fully understand the reason."

Regardless, it's an interesting theory that I hadn't considered before. It's harder to imagine how that would work, but not inconceivable.

My wife is from Spain and cannot eat the bread here in the US. She struggled for a long time with a lot of digestive issues. When she goes back to Spain she eats all the bread she wants with no issues. She still doesn't really know what causes the problem because she does not have celiac so she just calls it "gluten-sensitive" but we know it's probably not even related to gluten. Most likely it's just some insane thing you can do to wheat or bread when processing it in the USA that isn't allowed in countries that care more about health than profits.

For your theorie I live in central Europe and don't know a single person with gluten issues. While the Americans in this thread make it seem like every 10th or so has it.

For what it's worth: I am an American and I don't know anyone with gluten issues.

Even more so, some cultures specifically use gluten as a cooking / baking ingredient. E.g.: mock duck.

Something being widespread in a community doesn't mean that it's tolerated by everyone in that community. Milk is common in central Europe, but some people are intolerant to lactose. Tomatoes and red wine are also common, but some people can't have them due to histamine intolerance.

(I also have a central European colleague who has actual celiac disease. That said, I agree that the general gluten panic is way overblown.)

The thread is about gluten. Obviously a lot of commenters have gluten intolerance.

I'd wager half of them does not have diagnosed gluten intolerance.

There are many chemicals in bread one can be allergic or intolerant to. Gluten proteins are but one. Bad lactose intolerance and lactose sweetened breads may be responsible for some reported symptoms. Soy protein or bean protein used in fast mixes. Fructans are another.

I just wrote my story in a comment. The was same was true for me when I traveled to Japan. I couldn't go near gluten for 3 years. I went to a digestive disease research center and was cured in a couple of visits with special antibiotics that target the digestive tract. If you haven't tried that route, it may be worth looking into.

Do you mind sharing where and how you determined the antibiotic regime/dosage you used? If allowed. Did you just look up the general regime for those drugs or did you tailor it? How did you go about repopulating your gut flora post treatment - ensuring that you didn't reintroduce bad bacteria?

The doctor decided the dosage. Regarding repopulating gut flora: That is such a poorly understood topic. The more you read, the more you scratch your head.

After my first treatment, I made yogurt with special starters that contained specific strains of bacteria based on those suggested by the SCD (Simple Carbohydrate Diet). The next time I took a round of antibiotics, which was after symptoms returned a year later, I didn't do anything special to repopulate flora. My symptoms did not return for 1.5 years.

I tend to believe that eating probiotic-containing foods is generally a good thing. It's best if you ferment your own foods, because the bacteria counts are typically much higher compared with store-bought products. Sauerkraut, pickles, kimchi, water kefir, ginger bug, and others are incredibly simple to make.

That said, the various common strains of bacteria are debated and their effect on existing flora is not yet well understood. It's possible that some fermented foods could be bad for some people. Hopefully one day the medical community will have a good grasp on how to effectively prescribe fecal transplants!

I honestly believe that fecal transplants are the way forward; using the macro (a healthy fecal culture) to solve the micro (which strains are good vs bad). There has been evidence to suggest that both body weight and athleticism are impacted by gut flora. Thanks

In my experience bread and other (non-sweet) flour-based products in the US have surprisingly high levels of sugar/HFCS/etc. - especially compared to mediterranean bread products, which additionally contain little to no salt (pane sciocco, pan de pagés).

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