Is  anyone  out  there knowledgable about gluten intolerance?  I seem to
have become so sometime in my late 20s  or  early  30s.   Is  there  any
theory  on  how this can happen later in life?  Why is gluten so hard to
digest for some people versus other types of protein?  Does anyone  know
of  any  digestive  aid  that  would  help  (I.e. like Lactaid pills for
lactose intolerance, which I may be  also.)   I've  been  trying  papaya
extract  pills,  but am not sure if it helps much except to relieve some
of the bloating.  I read one reference that said it might  help,  and  I
notice  that  cream  of  wheat  (30 second type) has papain added to it.
Maybe it would help if I took a lot of it, but I'm hesitant to take more
than the recommeded dose.  Also, I have heard that cake and pastry flour
is lower in gluten than regular flour, but I have never  read  just  how
much  lower.  It's strange that I can somewhat tolerate a piece of cake,
but pasta is death to me (it has very high gluten content)!  Thanks.

Mark

Gluten sensitivity is believed to be an immunological syndrome which
causes intestinal malabsorption.  In individuals with this problem, the
gluten protein acts as an antigen and stimulates the production of
antibodies against it.  This immune complex formed in the intestinal
walls appears to stimulate a destructive response which damages the
intestine, and leads to malabsorption, and over the long term, a
variety of manifestations of malnutrition.

Although it's not inconceivable that this might have developed later
in life, it's more usual that the problem has been there since early
childhood, but it's become more severe later in life.

It's not really comparable, since the problem with lactose intolerance is
that the sugar isn't being digested but is left for the bacteria in your
lower gut to digest, thereby causing the cramps.  There's no immunological
component to lactase deficiency (or at least not one where the lactose
is the antigen, and the immune response is the cause of the disease--I
don't know the etiology of late development of lactase deficiency.)

The only first-line treatment is to be scrupulous about avoiding
gluten in any and all foods.

It's probably not even a good idea to eat cake made with wheat or rye
flour.

If you haven't seen a doctor already, you really need to.  Pronto.
If you've self-diagnozed, I suppose there's a chance that this is
something else, and it would be a good idea to have this confirmed.
If it IS gluten sensitivity, you should really be under the care of
a doctor who knows this.

--
Steve Dyer