“Does it have gluten?” It’s a question that has been asked quite frequently lately. While some ask it because they’d rather avoid gluten to stick to their strict diets, others avoid gluten because it can cause them harm.
Gluten is not a protein, but a protein composite. This means that it is composed of glutenin, gliadin, secalin and hordein, which are proteins. Gluten can be found in a number of things like grains such as wheat, barley, rye, kamut and spelt.
Gluten is not only an important nutritional protein, but also a useful tool to give foods the desired texture and elasticity. Therefore, gluten is found in abundance in products at the grocery store, making it more difficult for students that have gluten intolerance or allergies to wheat.
“I was diagnosed in October 2010,” senior Kevin Replinger said. “I am asymptomatic, so I have silent celiac disease.”
Celiac disease is a digestive condition that creates a negative reaction in the small intestine of a person. When those who suffer celiac disease consume foods containing gluten, damage to the inner surface of the smaller intestine occurs resulting in the inability to absorb certain nutrients. It can cause abdominal pain as well as diarrhea. When it comes to long-term effects, due to lower levels of nutrient absorption, celiac disease causes vitamin deficiencies that deprive the brain, peripheral nervous system, bones, liver and other organs of needed nourishment.
Asymptomatic means that no symptoms for the disease are shown. When Replinger discovered he had celiac disease halfway through sophomore year, he had to adjust his entire life in order to keep himself healthy.
“It required me to better prepare, to make almost every single one of my meals I eat,” Replinger said.
“I had to reduce my meal plan because the cafeteria didn’t have options available. They tried to claim that the Nature’s Edge had a bunch of options, but that’s only if you want to have rice crackers for a meal. The few options they have were inconsistent and you never knew if they were going to be available,” Replinger said.
“Going out to eat in groups is usually eating a salad or a grilled piece of meat and some vegetables. I’m always really careful at the parties I go to, because usually I can’t eat anything they have.”
“If I do, I have to read the label or look up on my phone if something is gluten free,” Replinger said about his social life. “Basically there’s wheat thickener in almost everything.”
Like Replinger, senior Michael Chesnut’s life also changed when he found out in Oct. 2011 that he was intolerant to gluten.
“I just do my absolute best to read labels/ask about everything that I eat,” Chesnut said.
The issue is a complicated one, Chesnut explains: “One thing that is very difficult is that even certain gluten-free items must be avoided because the factory in which it was processed was not gluten-free. Most factories that aren’t gluten-free process gluten and corn products on the same machinery. So lots of corn tortillas and tortilla chips often have to be avoided. It significantly reduces what you can eat.”
Chesnut lost 20 to 25 pounds in the month after he was diagnosed and besides what he eats, a lot of his other habits have changed.
“I wash my hands every time I ostensibly touch anything with gluten in it or on it. I won’t let people drink after me or eat food off of my plate, because their forks or hands are often contaminated,” Chestnut explained.
About the food available in school, Chesnut said he simply doesn’t order food at the cafeteria.
“I have no idea how clean the cooking equipment is,” Chestnutt said. “For example, if a burger is simply cooked on the same part of the grill where a bun was, the food is contaminated. It sounds so melodramatic, but it’s hard to be completely gluten free.”
Gluten intolerance comes in three forms: celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity and wheat allergy symptoms.
It’s not clear to doctors what causes celiac disease. What doctors do know is that some unknown process in the bodies of those who have celiac disease causes the immune system to overreact in response to the consumption of gluten in food. People are not always born with celiac disease or gluten intolerance. Often times this develops and simply shows itself at some point, drastically changing the life of the person carrying the disease.
Scientifically, the human small intestine is lined with small, hair-like projections known as villi. Villi absorb vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that the body needs. Celiac disease damages the villi. Imagine the inner surface of the small intestine like a plush carpet where the little projections of the carpet serve to absorb nutrients that pass by. Instead of the necessary nutrients being absorbed, they are eliminated with stool.
Replinger believes there is room for improvement in terms of having healthy food for people with gluten intolerance on campus.
“Having the cafeteria do a better job of checking the ingredients they put in things,” Replinger said. “For example, they could make their tacos out of corn tortillas. Currently, they’re not safe.”
Replinger explained that wheat can be found in some unlikely places.
“One of the bizarre things that people don’t think about that would have wheat in it is a lot of shredded cheese,” Replinger said. “It has wheat on it because they dust it with flour so that they don’t stick together in the packs.”
Chesnut also thinks the school could be better suited to help people with gluten intolerance, but he is unsure how.
“There are very few ways in which they could,” Chestnutt said. “At least, it seems that way to me. The best thing they could do is put pressure on Sodexo to offer more gluten-free items and to keep a very clean kitchen. But I’m also not that knowledgeable about the relationship between Sodexo and Pepperdine, so I’m not sure if Pepperdine has that type of power.”
Much like what Replinger has done since his diagnosis, “It would require it would require the school to check the labels of everything.”
For more information on celiac disease visit celiacdisease.org.
