The Gluten Summit - Findings #1

I was online last week when a friend posted an amazing online event - the Gluten Summit.  Each day, Dr. Tom O'Bryan, of theDr.com, interviews gluten experts and leaders in nutrition, gluten-related disorders, & healthy living that we are able to listen to FREE online Nov. 11-17th, and we can also purchase the All Access Package so we always have all the information contained in the summit.  

I wanted to share a few findings with you that I've learned from the Summit:

• Gluten Sensitivity
• "Believed" to be primarily a gut condition
• In Fact: Only 1 in 9 who have Celiac actually have bowel symptoms
• Autoimmune diseases actually have many manifestations
• Can take place in other parts of the body
• Can cause neurological problems
• Many with neurological manifestations and increased antibodies to gluten don't have intestinal damage
• Intestinal Environment
• "60-80% of the body's immune cells line the gut"
• "The gut can be affected by too much or too little of something"
• Coming in to the gut: eating gluten - irritating it
• Lacking a nutrient / dampening agent
• Chemicals Affecting the Gut
• Chemicals are everywhere - 74 billion pounds of chemicals are produced or imported by the US every day (not even including pesticides, pharmaceuticals, food additives, and fuels)
• How can you help your gut?:
• Cut out dairy and gluten
• Eat pro-biotics & Vitamin D & Glutamine
• What are we exposed to?
• What about... Mercury?
• 50% of exposure is from inhalation
• Coal-fired power plants
• Brown Cloud - traveled from China to Western US --> Contaminates environment with Mercury
• Used in vaccinations
• Anti-microbial 
• Knocks out bacteria
• Mercury warnings in lakes and rivers is increasing
• What about... Chlorine?
• Used to kill organisms in drinking water --> also kills commensal bacteria in the digestive tract  --> impacting immune response in intestinal tract
• What else are we exposed to??
• Cosmetics/Products/Sanitizers
• Parabens
• Triclosan
• (Mel's note: there are even more than listed above - google safe cosmetics - you'll find out so much about how most products in our cosmetics are unsafe. I used to research this a lot, but there's so much information out there - the best is to buy organic gluten-free items always (and non-gmo!))
• What does our Immune System do?
• Distinguishes between what is a threat and what is a non-threat
• First defense: microbium, then uses immune cells
• What chemicals do:
• Imbalance the microbial population (1st defense)
• Alters the immune cell function (2nd defense)
• Calm response is no more, and hyper reactions and sensitivities develop
• Bacteria then gets out of balance --> gut permeability --> Molecules pass through the gut into lumen --> body can then have an inflammatory response --> microbiome & immune system altered makes the body more susceptible food-related reactions (i.e. gluten sensitivity) --> after massive exposures to industrial chemicals, people can't tolerate certain foods
• Gluten Proteins
• Are not digested well
• Can alter intestinal microbes
• Can excite the immune response
• Can cause leaky gut
• Bacteria
• Turns the gut immune system on and off
• Directs the immune system on how to respond
• Impacted severely by exposure to chemicals like mercury & chlorine
• Food Sensitivities
• Must be addressed so that people can heal!
• May not be the root of imbalance
• Eliminate chemical exposure! 
• GMOS... (tomorrow's topic - stay tuned!)

Hope you learned something!  I found the best way to do this is in an outline so that it's all laid out.  Tomorrow I'll discuss GMO findings from the Summit.

Register for Free by clicking on the Gluten Summit link above.

Let me know what you think and what you've learned!

with love,

mel