Gluten Allergy Symptoms Encompass 3 Different Conditions

I often see the word gluten allergy symptoms used to describe an intolerance to gluten or a wheat allergy. However, a gluten intolerance and a wheat allergy are two different medical conditions. The term gluten allergy is a bit of a misnomer. Let me explain what that term might encompass and why it isn't a useful way to describe the gluten phenomenon.

Wheat Allergy Symptoms

A wheat allergy is not a gluten intolerance; this is because a wheat allergy is a histamine response more like a traditional allergy, like hay fever or a peanut allergy. When people suffer from a wheat allergy, they are specifically allergic to wheat and not to the gluten which exists in more than just wheat. They are also likely to have a more immediate response to eating something with wheat in it.

Symptoms of a wheat allergy can include an itchy or swollen tongue, an itchy, sore throat, heartburn or indigestion, hives or a skin rash, headaches and kind of foggy mind feeling. There are more symptoms than this, but these are the symptoms that are most likely to occur right away.

Gluten Intolerance Symptoms

On the other hand, a person who has gluten intolerance may be able to eat a piece of wheat bread and not experience an immediate and obvious symptom. Gluten intolerance is an autoimmune disease not a food allergy. When someone has this gluten sensitivity, any kind and amount of gluten he or she eats will trigger his or her immune system to attack the small intestine with certain antibodies.

However, this attack can be gradual. Don't misunderstand here: this is a very serious condition and over time as these antibodies attack the lining of the small intestine (and its microvilli), the patient will develop very serious consequences. While the initial symptoms include gastrointestinal problems like gas, bloating, cramping, diarrhea and constipation, many more severe gluten allergy symptoms will occur in time, including diabetes, arthritis, ataxia and even cancer.

Celiac Disease

Until recently, if you had an intolerance to gluten, you had celiac disease. However, researchers and doctors now understand that you can test negative for celiac disease but still have a significant gluten sensitivity.

Celiac disease is basically a more severe form of gluten sensitivity where doctors are able to verify the presence of specific genes associated with the disease. Other than the context of the diagnosis and its greater severity, celiac disease is essentially the same thing as a gluten intolerance. That is, it is not a food allergy.

So you can see we have three separate conditions here, and none of them are really accurately represented by the term gluten allergy.