Key Takeaways
- Some foods without gluten can still trigger the same immune reaction, a process called cross-reactivity.
- Dairy, instant coffee, oats, rice, corn, and many gluten-free substitutes like tapioca and potato are on the list.
- Going gluten-free while still eating a cross-reactive food can keep symptoms going.
- Testing through Cyrex Labs can show which foods you're reacting to, so you don't have to guess.
You went gluten-free, or tried to, and you still don't feel well. Many people give up at this point and go back to eating gluten. In this video, Dr. Parsons explains a hidden reason a gluten-free diet sometimes doesn't work: cross-reactive foods.
What Are Gluten Cross-Reactive Foods?
Wheat, barley, and rye contain many different proteins the immune system can react to. Cross-reactive foods don't contain those proteins, but once the immune system becomes confused, it may react to them as if you had just eaten gluten.
Gluten-Containing and Commonly Contaminated Foods
The obvious ones are wheat, barley, rye, spelt, and Polish wheat. Dr. Parsons also points to instant coffee. Coffee itself has no gluten, but something in instant coffee can trigger the immune system to react as if you'd just eaten pizza.
Gliadin Cross-Reactive Foods
Gliadin is one of the many proteins in gluten, and reactions to it can be tested for. Foods in this category include:
- Cow's milk and dairy, including alpha-casein, beta-casein, and casomorphin
- Milk chocolate (it's the milk that causes the reaction, so dark chocolate may be fine)
- Yeast
- Oats
- Millet
- Rice
- Corn
Many of these show up in gluten-free crackers, cookies, cakes, and chips. If you've removed gluten but you're eating gluten-free rice bread and still feel sick, this cross-reaction could be why.
Common Gluten-Free Alternatives
When people go gluten-free, they understandably look for substitutes. But Dr. Parsons notes that many common gluten-free ingredients are also on the list: buckwheat, sorghum, hemp, sesame, amaranth, quinoa, tapioca, teff, and potato.
Other Common Antigenic Foods
Raw egg (both the white and the yolk) and soy round out the list. Cooking changes egg proteins, so a reaction to raw egg may not apply to cooked egg. Raw egg still shows up in places like cookie dough, even gluten-free cookie dough.
How Cross-Reactive Foods Show Up in Real Life
Dr. Parsons shares two patient examples. One woman had chronic migraines from early childhood. Going gluten-free made her migraines less frequent and less intense, but they didn't stop until testing identified a cross-reactive food and she removed it. Another patient, who lives with constant pain that keeps him from working, is reactive to potato, a food he eats regularly. Cutting back hasn't been enough, because he hasn't removed it completely.
When the immune system stays stirred up, Dr. Parsons explains, it stops sending out targeted "sharpshooters" and sends out the whole army instead. That overactivity is how people can end up on the path toward autoimmunity.
Testing for Cross-Reactive Foods
Instead of guessing, Dr. Parsons uses a research-based test from Cyrex Labs to check whether you're reacting to any of these foods. If you're not sure whether you need to be gluten-free in the first place, there's a test for that, too.
If you've gone gluten-free and still don't feel well, The Natural Path Health Center in Fresno can help you find out what's holding you back. Learn more about how we help with gluten sensitivity and gut and digestive issues.
Read the full video transcript
Hey everyone, it's Dr. Mikell Suzanne Parsons, founder of the Natural Path Health Center. I'm talking to all of you people who have either been told you should be gluten-free, or you tried to be gluten-free and you kind of went off the gluten things, and you still didn't feel well, so you're like, "Ah, forget it. I'm just going to keep eating it." Let me tell you a hidden thing that might be tripping you up, and that is what we call cross-reactive foods. We know that wheat, barley, and rye contain a lot of different types of protein that we can react to. There's also a list of foods that don't necessarily contain those proteins, but when our immune system starts to get confused, your immune system may act as if you've just eaten gluten, even though it's something that doesn't normally contain it. That's what we're going to dive into today, because for many of you, this is what's still tripping you up. So our gluten-containing or gluten-contaminated things are obviously rye, barley, wheat, spelt, and Polish wheat. Instant coffee, right? There's no gluten in coffee, but there's something in instant coffee that can trigger the immune system to act as if you just ate the pizza. Gliadin cross-reactive foods: gliadin is another one of those many, many proteins, which we can actually test for. Things that fall into that category: cow's milk, essentially dairy. Cow's milk alpha-casein, beta-casein, casomorphin, all of the dairy things. Milk chocolate, so it's the milk in the chocolate that does it. So if you like chocolate, you can still do dark chocolate and not have a reaction. Yeast, oats, millet, rice, and corn. Now, a lot of these are things that are in gluten-free items: crackers, cookies, cakes, chips. So if you pulled out the gluten, but you're still eating maybe some rice bread that's gluten-free, and you're still feeling sick, it could be because of this gliadin cross-reaction. Now, a lot of people, when you go gluten-free, well, you've got to eat something, and we don't like to feel deprived. So we delve into the gluten-free things: buckwheat, sorghum, hemp, sesame, amaranth, quinoa, tapioca, teff, and potato. Once again, these are in a lot of the gluten-free alternative foods. And then we've got some common antigenic foods. This is raw egg, the white and the yolk. It's raw because when we cook eggs, the protein changes, so our reaction may change. The raw egg thing isn't as popular as it was many years ago, but still, you might be eating raw cookie dough that has raw egg in it, and you're wondering, why am I getting a migraine? It's gluten-free cookie dough. It could also be soy. So here's the trick. If you know you need to be gluten-free (and if you're not sure, there's a test we can run so you have certainty) and you've still been feeling sick, maybe the chips that you're eating have tapioca, or maybe the dairy-free cream cheese has tapioca in it, and you happen to be very reactive to tapioca, and you had no idea. These are the things that will continue to hold your immune system hostage and keep you feeling poorly. This is all research-based and study-based, and Cyrex Labs does the test to show us: are you reactive to any of these foods? So if you come in to see me and you've been gluten-free for a while, I'm going to run this test to see if any of these are getting you tripped up. I had a practice member who had chronic migraines from the time she was very little, and we ran this test. She cleaned up the gluten, got better, but would still get these migraines, even though they were less and less frequent and less intense. She was reactive to one of these cross-reactive foods. Once she was able to identify that, guess what? No migraines. It truly can be as simple as that. Now, unfortunately, some people get so hooked on these foods, and we already feel like we have a life of deprivation when it comes to our food world. I have one patient in particular who has chronic pain, is unable to work, and is in pain 24/7. He's reactive to potato. Guess what? He lives on potato. And even though he's decreased the amount of potato he's eaten, he's still in a lot of pain, because he hasn't gotten completely off. When the immune system gets stirred up, instead of sending out the sharpshooters, it's going to start sending out the army, the navy, the air force, the marines, the CIA, the FBI, the Secret Service. Everyone gets revved up and overactive, and that's how we end up going down that autoimmune path. So for those of you who have maybe tried to lead a gluten-free lifestyle and didn't really see much change or benefit, this might be what's tripping you up. I encourage you to come in. Let's run the test. Let's have certainty, so you can have confidence in the food that you're eating, because your body can heal. It just needs some help. I hope to see you soon.
Dr. Mikell Suzanne Parsons, DC, CCN, DACBN, DACNB
Dr. Mikell Suzanne Parsons, DC, CCN, DACBN, DACNB is a Doctor of Chiropractic, certified clinical nutritionist, and brain wellness expert with 34+ years serving Fresno families at The Natural Path Health Center.
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