With the popularity rising about gluten-free diets more and more questions are being asked if there’s a connection between gluten and disease inside the body. Whether if Gluten-free helps prevent disease, or if gluten is the influence of disease. Specifically many are questioning its role with cancer, since intestinal cancer is of concern for those with celiacs disease.
Can a Gluten-Free Diet Help Prevent Cancer?
What we do know is that gluten-free diets are by nature very healthy diets due to their lack of refined sugar, high quantity of vitamins and minerals, combined with the main contributing factor of no gluten (which helps the intestines absorb more vitamins and minerals). This creates a very healthy lifestyle. It’s very low in carbs, with practically no starches.
With the diet being accepting of meats and dairy the diet can be higher in animal fats, and caloric intake. Raw-vegans will argue against the diet for this reason. However, the dairy, and meat in moderation offer critical B vitamins, like iron, that can be critical for those with celiacs disease – since celiacs are at-risk for anemia.
The great news. A gluten-free diet doesn’t increase your odds of cancer or harm the body. If you do consume a large portion of animal fat there is research that correlates animal fat consumption with disease.
A Gluten Free Diet is Very Similar to the Paleo Diet
In fact if any person, with or without celiacs disease, chose to live a strict gluten-free diet and followed it religiously they would enjoy significant health benefits. The diet is as close as it gets to the paleo diet. Both diets focus strictly on veggies, fruits, meats, dairy, beans/legumes, and seafood.
The core difference between the paleo and gluten-free diet is that the paleo diet requires all the meat and dairy to be grass-fed to help add more phytonutrients to the body. Meaning, a grass-fed gluten free diet is the same diet as the paleo diet.
With the very close similarities, we can learn about some of the potential benefits of the gluten-free diet by taking a deeper look at the research behind the paleo diet:
- This diet can help eliminate diabetes
- It helps with cardiovascular diseases by reducing your chance of getting them
- It strengthens the metabolism, reducing fat in the body
These three studies tell us that if a person dedicates their diet to the gluten-free diet,grass-fed, they’ll have more energy, less fat, and a much lower chance of a cardiovascular disease.
Is Gluten Responsible for Causing Any Particular Cancer?
If a person has been diagnosed with celiacs disease there’s a slight-rare possibility that consuming gluten can increase that individual’s chance of being diagnosed with intestinal cancer.
Other research also shows that you’re higher at risk for lymphoma if you have Celiacs. That’s only a small increase in risk though.
Gluten Can Help Lower the Risk of Cancer Unless You’re Gluten Intolerant
If a person doesn’t have Celiacs disease, or doesn’t show a gluten intolerance, whole grains (the healthier gluten) consumed can help protect the body against cancers and other serious diseases. The American Institute for Cancer Research make claims that whole-grain foods can reduce chronic inflammation in the body, leading to a lower risk of cancer.
Does This Make it So People Intolerant of Gluten Are At-Risk for Cancer?
If you’re not tolerant of gluten there’s no benefit to whole grain foods or any gluten because your intestines will not absorb it into the blood and your immune system will attack it. This can put you at-risk for chronic inflammation so you’ll want to increase the nutrients going into your body from gluten-free foods.
People with a low gluten intolerance typically don’t absorb iron and calcium as well if they’re not living a gluten-free lifestyle. Not only are they not getting any whole-grain into their blood, they’re deficient in iron and calcium. This can lead to a host of numerous health issues like anemia, osteoporosis, and possibly cancer or other serious fatal health diseases. This is why it’s crucial for people with a gluten-intolerance to be able to catch it, and shift their diet.
Lack of Nutrients Can Make it Difficult to Protect Against Fatal Cancers
If you don’t catch a gluten intolerance early – your body may have been lacking some essential nutrients for a while. If cancer did form in the body it relies on the body to gain strength to fight against the cancer. There’s nothing specific that heals or prevents cancer from spreading but the immune system. Paul Kraus, a mesothelioma cancer survivor really preaches the vital importance of doing everything possible to strengthen your immune system when fighting fatal cancers. Medical professionals encourage chemo because sometimes the immune system can’t fight off all the cancer that currently exists in the body, so chemo kills everything in the body hoping the immune system will recover first.
If a person is gluten intolerant and they’re still constantly feeding themselves foods with gluten they’ll notice a stronger vitamin deficiency which will weaken the immune system. The low performing immune system is what will make it possible for cancer to outbeat the immune system, resulting in death. This is why it’s vital to know if your body is accepting the protein gluten because it can be quite deadly.
Being intolerant to gluten does not cause cancer. However, the lack of nutrients absorbed by the blood can decrease the strength of the immune system, resulting in serious illnesses, including cancer. If you’re late in figuring out your gluten intolerance there’s a good possibility your body has been neglecting some good nutrients for a while. Change your diet, change your life, and start preventing disease today.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to be a substitute for the medical advice of a licensed physician. The reader should consult with their doctor in any matters relating to his/her health.