Got ” glutened”?
Is there a way, to determine if gluten is the reason you aren’t feeling well? A company marketing an at-home kit says there is. Is the test ready for prime time?
The tests currently used to diagnose and monitor celiac disease and exposure to gluten are antibody blood tests. You must be consuming gluten for the body to react and produce the antibodies. These antibodies are not reliably elevated when exposed to small amounts of gluten. For example, if you go to a restaurant and are exposed to enough gluten to cause symptoms, the antibody test results may not go up. They aren’t always sensitive and accurate in response to small amounts of gluten. These tests are also not useful for someone with non-celiac gluten sensitivity.
The Test
This relatively new test has two versions, urine, and stool, and is done at home. But, are they reliable, and why are they even needed?
Having a test to accurately measure whether or not you have just been exposed to gluten can be helpful for the following reasons:
1. Are you really “gluten-free”?
It is often difficult to assess compliance with a gluten-free diet. Persistent gluten exposure is usually unintentional but is the most common cause of ongoing symptoms after starting a gluten-free diet. Exposure may occur no matter how careful someone is, due to cross-contamination or a simple lack of knowledge regarding the diet. If someone is experiencing ongoing symptoms with celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity and is unaware that they are inadvertently ingesting gluten, a test such as this may prevent a potentially invasive and extensive medical evaluation to evaluate the cause of the ongoing symptoms.
2. Getting glutened might be something else. You might just be sick.
Getting “contaminated” with gluten feels different for every person. The symptoms are varied and may mimic many other conditions, such as migraines, the flu or a gastrointestinal infection. The list of symptoms is extensive. Allowing easy assessment of gluten exposure might allow a person to know they are not contagious and might avoid unnecessary trips to the doctor or taking unneeded medications.
3. Don’t blame the restaurant unless you are sure
Anyone with celiac disease or severe gluten sensitivity knows the risks of dining out. Restaurants are fraught with the potential for cross-contamination. But dining out is socially important and should not be avoided simply because of gluten-related issues, as long as it is undertaken carefully.
As I mentioned prior, the symptoms of gluten exposure can mimic many other health conditions. It would be nice to know if your favorite restaurant does not need to be avoided in the future because the migraine you had after dining out was because you were up too late, not the result of cross-contamination.
The same can be said of new or packaged food products. If you happen to get a symptom the day after trying a new product, you want to know if gluten was inadvertently in the product. The symptom may simply be a coincidence or a reaction to something other than gluten. If you could measure the absence of gluten, you eliminate one possible cause. Gluten is not always the culprit.
Are the kits reliable?
- A great summary of the kits’ reliability was done by Tricia Thompson, RD aka “The Gluten-free Watchdog”.
- In a nutshell, the stool kit may be useful in one scenario, but in general, the kits are not completely ready for unrestricted use.
- The present research on the technology has been done in a lab setting, using a different type of test, not the at-home kits.
- The potential for the at-home kits is exciting but more research is needed to fully validate their use for a one-time exposure to gluten.
- The one scenario they may currently be used for is for celiac patients who may be getting repeated gluten exposure ( over more than a week). This still can be useful in certain settings.
- I look forward to further research on the actual product and this exciting technology. The potential is exciting!
