Does anyone understand gluten probs and malabsorption?

[mommahhh]

I don't know that I am gluten intolerant, but there are a few things that make me think it is a possibility. I had various tests, and I had a very low Total Salivary SIgA level. The dr said that could possibly be due to gluten. Also, long-term depression.

However, I'm confused because if I wasn't absorbing well, wouldn't many of my vitamin/mineral levels be low? The only ones that were low were vitamin D, zinc and iron. Everything else (including B vitamins) was fine.

[mamafish9]

Lots of nutrient deficiencies are hard to detect via testing (our bodies work hard to keep a steady level in our blood, so by the time your blood shows deficiency, you are HUGELY deficient). Also, gluten intolerance plays out differently for different people - some get malabsorption issues, some get inflammatory issues, some get building food intolerances. The only way to know for sure if you are sensitive to gluten is to go completely off it for a while and then reintroduce and see what happens (both when you go off and when you go back on).

[provocativa]

there is a lectin in wheat which causes the cells of the small intestine to turn over rapidly, before they make the enzymes to digest other foodstuffs. keep in mind that some gluten symptoms will recede in a week or 2, some take months. as for the vitamin testing, postmodern allopaths have no idea the vitamin levels of a healthy individual on a traditional diet.