By now we've all heard that consuming breads containing wheat gluten will spike your blood sugar twice as much as table sugar, contributing to insulin resistance and obesity. But did you know about another hidden danger in consuming wheat (as well as barley and rye)? It's called the *Gliadin* protein, which is a component of gluten. Inflammatory foods (like gluten) can degrade the delicate lining of your small intestine, leading to permeability or “leaky gut”. When this happens, food particles are able to slip past the protective mucosal layer, between the cells lining the intestinal wall, and reach your bloodstream. In response, your immune system targets these proteins as foreign particles and begins to attack them. Gliadin protein molecules are strikingly similar to the molecules that make up the thyroid gland. Once your body creates antibodies to Gliadin, the antibodies can mistakenly attack thyroid tissue. From that point on, you have an auto-immune response to gluten, such as Hashimotos disease. Hashimotos comprises 90% of the cases of low (hypothyroid) conditions. *Antibodies Spread Throughout Your Body* Antibodies triggered by gluten/gliadin intolerance travel throughout the whole body: the joints, skin, respiratory tract and brain can all be affected. In fact, for some people affected, no digestive symptoms are seen at all. With a wide variety of possible symptoms, gluten sensitivity may take a lot of effort to uncover. *Causes Immune Response w/Similar Proteins* Once the antibodies for gluten have been created, they can mistakenly attack other proteins too. Certain grains, such as corn, oats and rice, are naturally gluten-free yet their proteins are so similar to gluten that they occasionally still elicit an immune response. *No Middle Ground with Gluten/Gliadin Consumption* And don't think that merely cutting back on bread and other gluten containing foods will solve this problem -- your body can continue the Gluten/Gliadin antibody immune response up to 6 months after you have stopped consuming gluten. . Read about it here: https://thecenterforfunctionalhealth.com/blog/gluten-intolerance-thyroid/