Hello and welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition's midweek segment called Ask a Nutritionist.

My name is Brittany Vincent and I am a registered and licensed dietitian at Nutritional

Weight and Wellness. On today's show,

I will be answering a couple of questions related to gluten. How do you know if you have a

gluten sensitivity and when should you get tested for celiac disease? Great questions. Very common,

and I think this will help a lot of our listeners out. So first off,

I want to talk about gluten and what it actually is. You know, I think we've all heard the word

gluten and a gluten-free diet has become a lot more common in recent years, but you might not understand

what exactly it is. Well, gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. And if you've ever

baked bread or watched dough stretch, that elasticity comes from gluten. It's what gives bread that chewy texture and why gluten is just so common

in our food supply. But for some people, gluten can cause a lot of issues. So how do you know

if gluten is bothering you? Let's start with some of the common symptoms. In this instance,

gluten intolerance and gluten sensitivity are often used interchangeably, but on today's show,

I am going to refer to it as gluten sensitivity. So one of the biggest clues that you might have, a gluten sensitivity, is persistent digestive issues.

So think bloating, gas, diarrhea, or even constipation.

And they might not happen right after you eat gluten.

And so that's what's tricky about figuring out what is causing your digestive symptoms.

Sometimes it can be a delayed effect.

So I would just keep that in mind as you are trying to pinpoint what your specific triggers are.

And so these type of digestive symptoms, they can occur

because gluten can increase the permeability of your gut. This is commonly known as leaky gut.

So when your gut is more porous than it should be, that allows unwanted things like undigested food particles and

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