# Warning about gluten-free breads!



## tummyrumbles (Aug 14, 2005)

So many people here believe gluten-free will help their IBS symptoms. Gluten-free breads made from potato, corn and tapioca starch are very high in resistant starch. These flours are made from pure starch granules and anyone with chronic gas should be wary of high starch grain foods. As well as being high in resistant starch, grain phytates, which exist to protect the plant, can also inhibit the enzymes needed to digest them.

If you've ever made gluten-free bread, you'll know that it's very dense and heavy. Unless you really are gluten or wheat intolerant, you may be better off eating wheat bread as the gluten creates air pockets and makes the bread lighter in texture and a lot less starchy gram for gram. For those of us with an intolerance to grain starches, wholewheat toast could be a safer food from a gas perspective. RAST tests can identify a true gluten and wheat intolerance, however the wheat intolerance test only tests for certain proteins so you could still have a wheat intolerance even though the test is negative.

Only your own experience can tell you whether a lighter, wheat bread or a heavier gluten-free bread provides less symptoms. (Toast is much easier to digest than bread as the starch has already degraded to dextrin).

Resistant starch and fibre are very healthy for the colon, generally. Resistant starch is very similar to fibre, in that it remains undigested, ferments and degrades to a short chain fatty acid (SCFA) called Butyrate. SCFAs feed colonic bacteria, which while is healthy for the colon, also produces a lot of gas.

Gas can flare up IBS symptoms like constipation and diarrhea, and so a diet high in resistant starch and fibre may not be healthy from an IBS perspective.

Not all resistant starch is harmful for IBSers. Resistant starch in soluble vegetables and fruits like potato, sweet potato, pumpkin and banana are not only low FODMAP but much easier to digest than the resistant starch in grains.

Low FODMAP recipes often include gluten-free bread recipes. The FODMAP science is only concerned with certain complex sugars, the FODMAPs, and does not exclude starch in general. This is why you should never blindly follow any diet. In some instances and for certain foods, high FODMAPs may suit you better than low FODMAPs.


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## myhands2021 (2 mo ago)

*How do you know problems in wheat etc. aren't from glyphosates in everything we practically eat. Everybody blames gluten.*


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