I am always on the lookout for evidence that other grains can be hazardous to gluten sensitives, and here we have a report showing that:
Crypt hyperplasia and villous atrophy were severer in the corn oil-fed group than those of control group, whereas mucosal damage in the perilla oil and low fat diet groups was minimal. In the corn oil-fed group, red blood cell membrane levels of n-3 fatty acids were lower than the control, and the synthesis of leukotrienes was highest among all groups.
If we forgive the poor English (severer?!), what this is basically saying is that, albeit in animal experiments (ugh), giving corn oil as opposed to soya, perilla and lard, caused more mucosal gut damage, more inflammation and more immune reactivity.
The researchers were actually hypothesising that the damage was because of the high level of inflammatory omega 6 in corn oil rather than the anti-inflammatory omega 3. That is clearly part of it – hence the Barrier Plan protocol ensures you get the right ratio of the essential fatty acids as you need some, but not too much omega 6 – but this is also probably to do with the effect of the corn itself too in my view; it’s just that the researchers weren’t looking specifically for that.
Corn oil causes villous atrophy. Ergo, the gluten free diet, in my view, should not include corn if you want the villi to heal. Nuff said.
You can read the abstract for the study here. And other posts about corn here and here.
Source: GFS Blog, March 13.