It’s the ingredient that makes pizza dough sticky and keeps pastries from crumbling into a pile. It’s in breads and surprising places like beer, candy and condiments.

It’s in almost everything—but it’s a poison. It causes a violent and obvious reaction in some people.

In others the reaction is different. It’s possible you don’t even know it’s a problem for you. The symptoms can be hidden from you. Your body can work overtime to defend itself against this poison but you might not even know what’s happening.

It’s linked to joint aches and pains, headaches, severe intestinal pain, chronic fatigue syndrome, hormone imbalances, depression, and Rheumatoid arthritis.

This common kitchen staple contains a protein your body can view as poisonous. In defense, it creates antibodies to block the perceived danger.

Your immune system fires the antibodies at this poison to get rid of it…

The offender is gluten and it can send your immune system into overdrive.

That’s where the problem really starts…

Your immune system can fire where you don’t ever want it to—like at your gut or your thyroid. These are the two main hidden victims of gluten poisoning.

It tries to banish the poison but in the process, turns against you. That’s where celiac disease and auto-immune thyroid disease can begin.

With celiac disease, you can’t digest food. You don’t get nutrients you need. It’s difficult to stay nourished. The physical symptoms are severe, sometimes so severe that you can die.

Auto-immune thyroid disease can throw your entire hormone system out of whack. The thyroid regulates all the hormones in your body.

And when you have either one of those diseases, odds are pretty high you have the other.1,2

People who have gluten intolerance or sensitivities tend to have even more immune-system problems that are just as serious.3,4 Diabetes, osteoporosis, and asthma, just to name a few.

True, gluten isn’t a problem for all of us. Just a lot of us.5 It’s estimated that 97 million of us are gluten intolerant and don’t know it. Millions more have auto-immune thyroid disease, also known as Hashimoto’s.

The good news is that going gluten-free helps. Of course, if you’re eating a Paleo-type diet, you don’t have to worry about being gluten free. A Paleo diet is naturally gluten free because it doesn’t include grains.

But gluten can be hiding in anything—like canned vegetables, medications, soy sauce, and even oats. So it’s key to check everything you ingest.

The obvious solution is to take gluten out of your diet. It will give your immune system one less harmful invader to fire at. And it might save you from developing thyroid disease or other serious conditions later on.6

The best way to find out if gluten is harmful to your system is to try an elimination diet. Remove it completely for at least 3 weeks. Once you slowly reintroduce it, you’ll find out pretty fast that it’s a poison. You’ll most likely experience cramps, joint pain, headache, and fatigue right away.

It’s easier to go “gluten-free” than ever before. Read every label and don’t assume that something is gluten free even if it’s “wheat-free.”

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References:
1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19352315
2 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19014325
3 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20103030
4 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/10/13
5 http://www.statisticbrain.com/gluten-celiac-disease-statistics/
6 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10931424