Are you wondering why it seems like celiac disease, wheat gluten allergy, and wheat intolerance is on the rise?
So is a group of scientists in the Netherlands. They just wrote a paper that compares today's wheat plants with ones that were grown over 100 years ago.
They wanted to know if celiac is on the rise because of a new trend in wheat cultivation. So these scientists decided to compare our wheat to the wheat grown over a hundred years ago.
Do you know what they found? The scientists from Plant Research International learned that the wheat plants we eat today have been bred to be higher in a certain protein called glia-alpha 9 than the old wheat plants that were grown a century ago.
They looked at many different kinds of wheat that are grown today (about 36 different kinds) and compared them to about 50 different kinds of wheat that were grown 100 years ago.
When the scientists did their tests they learned that the modern plants had more Glia-alpha 9 in them. They believe those plants can actually TRIGGER celiac disease in people that have the celiac gene. So to put it simply, they think that today's wheat is making us sick. This led them to their theory that modern wheat plants with Glia-alpha 9 have led to an increase in wheat intolerance and celiac disease. If you are feeling ill after eating wheat, then you should get tested for a gluten allergy and celiac disease.
This scientific study on wheat may help farmers and seed producers work together to breed a better wheat plant that is lower in Glia-alpha 9. Maybe in the future we can once again see a decrease in people being diagnosed with celiac disease and gluten allergies. Wouldn't that be great?