Does gluten damage my skin?

The short answer is: probably not! But perhaps you and your skin will benefit from a lack of gluten … You may already have noticed something from the trend of gluten-free diet and wonder if you should also do without gluten?

What is gluten at all?

Gluten is the so-called gluten protein, which is contained in many types of cereals and leads to a cohesion of the dough during the processing of flour.
It is important to distinguish between a disease caused by gluten, an intolerance, and other positive side effects of a renouncement of gluten:

Celiac disease

Only about 1% of the population suffers from celiac disease. This is an autoimmune disease caused by gluten. This leads to inflammation of the intestinal mucosa and the affected persons become ill if you eat even the smallest amounts of gluten.

Gluten intolerance

From this, one has to distinguish the symptom of gluten tolerance. It affects an estimated 6-10% of people. Whether the complaints are actually caused by gluten or another substance is still not clarified. A presumption is that it is a substance in the wheat and it is therefore actually a wheat tolerance. Therefore, there is no reliable test whether one belongs to this group. The complaints range from digestion problems, energy deficit and chronic fatigue to psychological symptoms and also various skin problems.

Positive effects of a gluten-free diet without intolerance

If you do not eat bread, noodles, cakes, pastries, pizza and industrially processed foods (gluten is often hidden in the ingredients list), this can have a positive effect on your well-being, your health and your skin.
For in a single stroke indirectly several unhealthy food is removed from the diet:

• Sugar in cakes and biscuits

• Additives in industrially produced foods

• the unhealthy companions such as bread, pizzas and noodles (Jam, sausage, ham, salami, spreads, carbonarasauce, etc.)

• White flour (less fiber, vitamins and minerals than whole grain products)

• Foods with high glycemic load, which cause a greater increase in the blood glucose level: there is a proven connection with type II diabetes, overweight and acne

What does that mean?

If your digestive problems persist, you should definitely check with a gastroenterologist.
If you want to find out if you are suffering from a gluten intolerance, you can first switch to a healthy gluten-free diet (not everything without gluten is automatically healthy) and then gradually take gluten-containing whole-grain products. So you can determine if you react to gluten in any form.
If you do not have any health problems, you can first make an inventory of your existing diet and remove any unhealthy food.
In a second step, you can switch to full grain products and reduce the share of bread and pasta in your entire diet.
With this, you can already have a lot of positive effects on your health and your skin!