<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
In regard to GlutImmune, the glutamine powder supplement, I received a
letter from the company stating:
It is derived from an enzymatic process on wheat berries.
We have had no problems with folks with gluten intolerance or Celiac.
Start out slow with any new product.
All wheat contains gluten. The enzymatic process seems to neutralize it
and the reaction sensitive folks have to it.
Wellwisdom
Tel 619-469 8196
Fax 619-469-8142
www.immunepro.com
Here are the responses from our group:
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From what I am told by a friend who is a nutritionist, Wheat Berries
are not wheat, but buckwheat groats, which are made from berries. Have
you ever heard of Kasha? Well, this is from buckwheat groats, which are
the same thing. It is safe for us.
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Wheat berries are basically grains of wheat! I can't imagine anything
made from them out not contain gluten. I'd steer clear of this.
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These people should be imprisoned for statements like that. The wheat
berry is the edible part of wheat, the part that contains the proteins
toxic to us.
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There was someone at the CSA conference in 2000 who was a fanatic on
MSG & any other compounds that was a hydrolyzed protein. .....
Unfortunately, he called everything with free glutamic acids 'MSG' even
though mono-sodium glutamate is a specific chemical structure. In
addition to being confusing, it kind of undermined his credibility, in
my opionion, since science is a very exact art.
You can check out that website at www.truthinlabeling.org
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Whether or not the 'enzymatic process' actually destroys or uses up all
the gliadin proteins is a good question (and probably you'd need a
testing kit to be sure)........
Another question is the shape of the glutamine molecule. Immune systems
respond primarily to the shape of the outside coat of a protein: gluten
happens to have the same shape as some viruses, and our immune system
gets them confused. Oat 'gluten' and rye gluten and wheat gluten are NOT
the same protein, but the shape is close enough that experts feel the immune
system will respond to any of them. 'glutamine' sounds like it is
derived from some gluten protein, but whether the shape is close enough
to the gliadin protein that is a problem in Celiac is a really good
question, and possibly one that only YOUR immune system can answer.
........ ...........On the other hand, a lot of people seem to get good
results from glutamine, so maybe the shape is close enough to gluten
that it acts like a kind of
vaccine or homeopathic remedy, somehow re-training the antibodies or
maybe bonding to them and 'using them up' so they don't cause other
reactions.
Just a wild guess though.
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It's my understanding that gluten is in the berry of wheat, not the
grass!
This would not be good for us. Processing does not *kill* gluten.
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l-glutamine is usually listed as being produced by the 'hydrolysis of
wheat gluten'. Which for us, doesn't sound good.
But, it is also listed as being really good for people's intestines (and
lots of other things). It's usually listed as being gluten-free. And it
is recommended by some gut docs for celiacs. And the clincher is, my
favorite protein drink, by EAS, turns out to have it as an ingredient
(and I've never had a reaction from EAS products).
Other sources are:
SOURCES
Beans, brewer's yeast, brown rice bran, caseinate, dairy products, eggs,
fish, lactalbumin, legumes, meat, nuts, seafood, seeds, soy, whey, whole
grains. Hydrolysis of gluten, beet root or other proteins.
Which means the chemical itself *can't* be the allergen that's a problem
in celiac, or we'd all be avoiding eggs, meat, nuts etc.
--------------------------------
Here are some great articles on glutamine and gluten. Basically it
sounds like 'gluten' is a catchall word for a variety of proteins found
in wheat.
Glutamine is one of the proteins -- and may be THE protein that celiacs
react to. So taking glutamine supplements would not seem, at face value,
to be a good idea:
http://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/test16.html
Since gluten has an abundance of the amino acid glutamine, it is
especially vulnerable to this reaction with transglutaminase. This
abnormally linked molecule is then perceived as a foreign antigen by
the immune system and antibodies to transglutaminase begin to be
produced, inhibiting the normal function of transglutaminase in
repairing damaged intestinal mucosa.
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I guess the best way to find out if glutamine supplements are harmful to
us would be for people on this site to post whether they take glutamine
supplements - if so, is it helpful for intestinal repair and reducing
inflammation? Does it cause reactions? What brand?
Steve - NYC
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