Is Gluten Intolerance Hereditary?
Gluten intolerance is an incurable disease that affects 1% of the population. There are different variations of the disease: non-celiac gluten sensitivity, wheat allergy and celiac disease. What sets them apart?
In all cases, the treatment is the same: remove gluten from the diet to avoid symptoms and reverse the possible damage it has already caused. However, these symptoms are what tell us which of the three diseases we have.
What is gluten?
Gluten, glutenins and prolamines are a set of proteins present in grass seeds and, mainly, in wheat. Glutenin is the protein that gives flour elasticity and is responsible for the spongy consistency of bakery products. Hence its importance for the food industry.
In the particular case of wheat, said protein represents 85% of its total protein. In other cereals, such as rye, for example, this percentage is also quite high, but its content is much lower in oats and other cereals. What are the diseases caused by gluten?
Gluten Intolerance and Hereditary Diseases
Non-celiac gluten sensitivity
It shares many of the symptoms of celiac disease, which can cause them to be confused. Both cause diarrhea or constipation, cramps, bone and joint pain, and fatigue. But gluten sensitivity is a disease that does not have a genetic component, and therefore, when testing for autoimmune celiac disease, no biomarkers are found.
The fact that the symptoms are similar made it difficult to identify them, although the treatment is the same: removing gluten from the diet. It was only in 2012 that it was classified as a disease other than gluten intolerance. The adverse reaction to gluten can appear up to 48 hours after ingestion and remain for much longer.
Celiac disease or gluten intolerance
On the other hand, both gluten intolerance and wheat allergy are diseases with a genetic component, so they can be identified through DNA analysis to locate the biomarkers present in each disease.
In gluten intolerance, these mutated genes, present in genetically ‘altered’ people, produce a strong reaction in the digestive system, with serious consequences for children. This mainly affects the intestinal villi, so the absorption of nutrients at this level is practically nil in very advanced cases.
Thus, this leads to growth retardation, rickets, anemia and even sudden changes in mood and behavior. All of this as a result of severe malnutrition due to damage to the small intestine, although sometimes these symptoms can take years to appear.
wheat allergy
Wheat allergy is a genetic disease that causes a strong allergic reaction to wheat-containing foods. Although some symptoms coincide with celiac disease, such as diarrhea and colic, after performing the appropriate genetic tests, the biomarkers do not match those of gluten intolerance.
The specific symptoms of wheat allergy are related, as the name of the disease indicates, to an allergic process. They include: swelling or itching in the mouth, anaphylaxis, difficulty breathing and skin hives.
This allergic reaction is produced by the set of proteins present in wheat and not just by glutenin. And, when identifying genetic biomarkers, it is assumed that family inheritance is directly related to the disorder.
In short…
Celiac disease is, therefore, an autoimmune disorder that produces gluten intolerance, since a genetic exam is performed to identify the disease and it is present in families, suggesting that gluten intolerance is hereditary.
However, this genetic mutation may appear spontaneously and not develop, or its symptoms may appear in adolescence or adulthood. Currently, the mechanisms by which the altered genes that produce celiac disease operate are unknown.
