If you’re not getting well or healing on a gluten free diet, check for cross-reactives, especially corn.
I’m told June is Corn Allergy Awareness Month, so I thought this might be useful. Even though, most people are intolerant to corn, rather than have a classical allergy in my experience. If you need a refresher on the difference between allergy and intolerance, see here.
“Maize is used as an alternative to wheat to elaborate foodstuffs for celiac patients in a gluten-free diet. However, some maize prolamins (zeins) contain amino acid sequences that resemble the wheat gluten immunodominant peptides… analysis indicated that other zeins contain similar sequences, or sequences that may bind even better to the HLA-DQ2/DQ8 molecules compared to the already identified ones. Results concur to indicate that relative abundance of these zeins,…may be of paramount clinical relevance, and the use of maize in the formulation and preparation of gluten-free foods must be re-evaluated in some cases…”
Source
Short answer, then: probably not. The truth of the matter is, as I discuss here, that many coeliacs do not get well on a traditional gluten free diet. They may feel better symptomatically, but there has to be a reason why many coeliacs go on to develop myriad other autoimmune diseases ie. the damage process doesn’t stop.
This is likely, partly at least, because of other cross-reactive gluten foods. Some grains have a structurally-similar amino acid sequence to gliadin, so it would make sense that some bodies will react to those too.
Corn is the biggie. I find corn issues to be pretty common in people with gliadin/gluten sensitivity/coeliac disease. Note that people with NCGS Non-Coeliac Gluten Sensitivity can also be cross-reactive and corn turns up a LOT in these cases.
Corn is designated as a vegetable, but it is actually a grain, by the way.
Cross reactive gluten foods test
We test for cross-reactive gluten foods with Cyrex 4. Read the text there for more on the test, and there’s a useful overview here. These are the known cross-reactive gluten foods – corn should be at the top in my view!
Gliadin Cross-Reactive Foods
- Cow’s Milk
- Alpha-Casein & Beta-Casein
- Casomorphin
- Milk Butyrophilin
- Whey Protein
- Milk Chocolate (Milk) – so far all the above are dairy – the number one cross-reactive food. I don’t believe cocoa itself is cross-reactive, so ‘proper’ dark chocolate should be fine, phew; it is the milk in the milk chocolate that’s the issue here.
- Yeast
- Oats
- Millet
- Rice
- Corn
With corn specifically, in many cases, sadly, it doesn’t seem enough to cut corn out of your diet – which is hard enough as it is ubiquitously used as a gluten free substitute. You need to check meds, supplements and toiletries too. For example, most Vitamin C and citric acid is derived from corn nowadays, as is maltodextrin and most stuff ending in -ose on a label.
Use our free supplement master list for corn, grain and dairy free supplements. We update it as regularly as we can, but things change constantly so do your due diligence. And all the TrulyGlutenFree recipe books and plans such as Adrenal, Candida and Gluten are here.
I hate to say cut more stuff out, but in this case, but if you are positive on Cyrex 4 for corn cross-reaction, it will pay dividends for future health.
See more posts where I discuss or mention corn here.
Retiring, but loads of help still here!
I have now retired from Purehealth, but I have left my site, books, newsletters etc all up so that you can still access all this lovely info from the last 30 years! I won’t be updating it now, but there is a LOT of really good info here still. Check My Favourites page for where to find info, supplements, tests, practitioners, courses and more. Anything I think could help. And Start Here if you’re not sure where to start with your symptom or condition.
Please continue to support me by using the links, which might give me a bit of commission and you some discounts, and you can buy me a coffee here if you feel moved to.
You can still follow me here.
Bless your cotton socks from me. Thanks for all your love, support and fun over the past 30-odd years. I will miss you, Micki x