To understand how food and allergies are related to inflammation, it helps to understand how
digestion occurs in the gastrointestinal tract. Every time we eat, the food is first ground up by our
teeth. It then travels down the esophagus to the stomach and is further broken down, by enzy mes
and acids, into a soft paste-like substance. The food then travels into the small intestines where the
nutrients are absorbed. The remainder of the digested food travels into the large intestines and the
most of the last remnants of salt and water are absorbed before the waste is eliminated by the
body. This process can take between 24 and 72 hours depending on the general health of the
intestines.
This description is very basic, and the entire process is far more involved than what I’ve
described here. The point is that when every thing is working in a healthy manner, proteins are
broken into single amino acids and fats are metabolized into fatty acids, and carbohy drates are
broken up into simple sugars. When every thing is in good working order, these nutrients are
properly absorbed, without causing an allergic reaction. However, if the cells lining the intestinal
tract are hy persensitive, there may be a resulting imbalance and a strong possibility that the food
cannot be properly digested.
Food Allergies and Coeliac Disease
As I’ve mentioned, this is an overly simplified explanation. However, the point that I want to
stress is that there is a direct link between food allergies (particularly in this case to gluten) and
many health conditions like asthma, arthritis, eczema, and heart diseases. Since more than 70% of
the cells that support the immune sy stem are located in the lining of the digestive tract, it isn’t
surprising that when food isn’t right for y our needs, y our sy stem will be thrown into a mode of
attack. While many foods are healthy, foods that y ou are allergic to are responded to like toxins,
harmful invaders. Blood flow increases and the intestines become inflamed.
Coeliac disease (or celiac disease) is one of the conditions that can result from the body ’s
inability to stop the inflammation process in the digestive tract. The resulting pain and fatigue are
sy mptoms of the small intestine’s difficulty in absorbing proper nutrition. When this happens they
react to certain food particles as foreign substances. One of the primary causes for the disease is
gluten sensitivity or, in other words, gluten intolerance that can often be remedied with a gluten
free celiac diet.
