<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> The following is an article that I wrote for a newsgroup thread with the same subject name. Did get a question asking how come not everybody that was eating gluten was fat and why some gluten eaters were thin. Don. Here is the first draft of my current theory on this: The reason why we are so fat here in the US is our gluten consumption. Also note how fat they are in Italy, another place of high gluten consumption (pasta has the most gluten, bread is second). The diet newsgroup readers are raving about low carbohydrate diets that reduce their food cravings. It works whether it is Atkins or the Heller's CAD one. Atkins is supposed to be ketosis, but they're saying they're losing weight even when the ketosis urine test strip isn't changing color. The Hellers' focus more on low-starch, and they do a good job of keeping the gluten out for 2/3 of the day. Low carb diets work. Gluten compromises the brush border of the intestinal mucosa, which then is not absorbing enough *fat soluble* food to operate the body. The small intestine system knows this and gets the stomach system, which does the *water soluble* processing, to go into action and produce appropriate food cravings. Since chocolate, and candy, are the most readily available sugar, the system then learns to crave these items, as they are the ones it is most likely to get rewarded with. A gluten-free diet should reduce these cravings dramatically. Those that are not fat had another system, possibly the brain system, send signals to the stomach to tone down these craves. Each system has its own intelligence and is communicating with the others. All people may have some degree of starch/carbohydrate intolerance, especially since heavy consumption of the grasses didn't start until the agricultural revolution some 10-15,000 years ago. The gliadin fraction of gluten is just the most toxic. Gliadin antibodies are found in about 20% of otherwise normal children and up to 40% of normal adults. Dr. Reichelt says "We all have IgG antibodies to food proteins indicating uptake of immunologically active proteins in trace quantities. ... The IgA antibodies formed in the gut are transported to all mucous membranes in the body and may react with appropriate antigens." On intestinal permeability Dr. Reichelt says "We do however, all take up trace amounts of intact protein after a meal (see eg. Husby S et al (1985) Scand J Immunol 22:83-92) so that a decreased breakdown of fragments of these proteins could easily lead to accumulation." Don <[log in to unmask]>