Gluten And Its Impact on Pets
As I stated in my paper in 2009, more and more dogs and cats are becoming sick at an alarming rate. Most commercial pet foods include grains such as wheat, barley, rye or oats. These grains contain gluten that veterinarians John Symens and Roger De Haan, DVM believe to be the trigger for many of our pet’s illnesses. I believe it also causes musculo-skeletal problems and vasculitis in our animals. Musculo-skeletal problems occur in areas of genetic weakness and/or vascular restriction from an injury.
Gluten is in the endosperm of all grain seeds. Each grain has a different type of gluten (prolamine) and different levels of “stickiness”. Gluten is literally ingrained in a lot of the food we humans–and nowadays our dogs and cats too–eat every day. In fact, it’s the gluten content in flour that gives baked goods their characteristic stickiness, elasticity, and structure. In the last fifty years, these very characteristics have become so desirable that plant geneticists and flour producers strove to bump the gluten content in grain flours from 2% to 70% or higher. While this increase in gluten content pleases the bakers, it is very likely contributing to our pets’ worsening health because these same gluten-dense grains are being put into commercial pet foods. To explain how gluten in our pets’ food is detrimental to our pets’ health, let us first discuss what is currently known about gluten ingestion in humans.
There was very little difference between the wheat used in the 1940’s and two centuries before. Hybridization techniques have been used successfully for centuries. Cross two strains of lettuce and you get “super” lettuce. Therefore, no one tested if wheat hybridization would affect human health. Early research showed that wheat gluten proteins undergo considerable structural change with hybridization. In one experiment, 14 new gluten proteins were identified in the offspring that were not found in either parent!
New gluten proteins are created every time hybridization occurs and the modern strains of wheat (Triticum aestivum) express a higher quantity of genes for gluten proteins that are associated with celiac disease and whose chromosome counts are as high as 42. The ancient wheat strains, such as einkorn (which is still grown) has only 14 chromosomes.
As defined by Peter Green MD, celiac disease is a multi-system autoimmune disease in which the major site of injury is the gastrointestinal tract. The injury is initiated by the presence of gluten. Studies at the National Institute of Health (NIH) suggest that as many as one out of every hundred people in the United States and Europe suffer from celiac disease, most of them yet undiagnosed. Well over 200 gluten associated diseases (GUT) have been identified. Why? When we eat gluten several times a day, we are likely to leak some incompletely digested proteins into our bloodstream (“Leaky Gut” syndrome), even when we are in good health. If the leakage continues daily, our bodies will produce excessive quantities of antibodies (IgA and IgG) against gluten, thus making a gluten-containing diet a trigger to start an autoimmune disease and keep it going.
The more sensitive people or animals are to gluten, the more this protein will irritate and inflame the lining of the epithelial wall to a level where holes are created allowing the passage into the bloodstream, i.e., the Leaky Gut – Syndrome. The range and variability of symptoms also suggest that there are many individual differences from one person to the next, especially in what region of the small intestine that is affected by gluten. However, IgA and IgG antibodies can now be isolated and tested in stool samples. There is a difference between “gluten intolerant” and Celiac disease where the person is so sensitive to gluten, that it has become an auto-immune disease.
Sensitivity also depends on the type of gluten. As mentioned above, all grains contain gluten, but wheat gluten is a super carb. It begins digestion in the small intestine not the large and can convert to blood sugar quicker than nearly all other carbohydrate foods, simple or complex.
Let us now discuss what is currently known about gluten sensitivity in our pets.
In 1992, a study by DVM’s E.J. Hall and R.M. Batt, concluded that gluten sensitive Irish Setters, reared on a normal diet containing wheat, exhibited partial villous atrophy, intraepithelial lymphocyte infiltration and increased intestinal permeability. When these Irish Setters were switched to a gluten-free diet, morphological and biochemical abnormalities were resolved, and intestinal permeability was decreased.
In 2000, Vaden et al, concluded daily administration of gluten was associated with a significant decrease in serum globulin concentration in Soft-coated Wheaten Terriers. Garden et al, (2000) surmised few dogs of other breeds have been identified with gastrointestinal gluten sensitivity, and therefore gluten sensitive enteropathy appeared to be breed specific. However, Nedtvedt et al in 2007 found the odds of developing canine atopic dermatitis (CAD) in Boxers, Bullterriers, and West Highland White Terriers were twice as high among offspring from bitches that were not fed home-made/non-commercial diets.
These studies provided valuable new information the epidemiology of CAD and dietary effects of commercial and wheat-based diets.
John Symes, DVM, chronicled his discoveries of his own gluten intolerances and concluded that when wheat replaced corn as the carbohydrate source for pet foods, dogs became gluten intolerant too. In the 1980’s dogs were doing “ok” on dry food with corn as the carbohydrate source. Although a select group of breeds were known for their allergies and immune-mediated diseases such as Poodles, Cockers, Beagles, Boxers, Golden retrievers, Irish setters, and German shepherds, the average dog was
reasonably healthy. When wheat replaced corn, auto-immune diseases and cancer were being diagnosed in younger and younger dogs of all breeds.
The famous 10-year Pottenger’s Cats study (1932-1942) showed the consumption of raw versus cooked meat and various types of milk (e.g., raw, pasteurized, evaporated, condensed) resulted in increasing physical and behavioral deterioration with each generation of cats consuming the most processed foods.
Within three generations reproduction ceased for some groups, and it took four generations to restore their health. Pottenger’s study showed the relationship of the addition of sugar in a diet and the health of cats. The study provides insight of the effect on cats eating prepared foods with glutenous grains, such as wheat, that quickly break down into sugars.
Despite our limited knowledge so far regarding the mechanisms and full impact of gluten on the body, osteopathy provides a way to recognize and treat gluten sensitivity in animals (and humans). Let us first review the osteopathic model of “Hierarchy of Protection” and then how it might fit in with gluten sensitivity with animals. While all somatic systems are important, the osteopathic hierarchy of protection is listed from
vitally critical to less critical:
- Vascular (quality), Lymphatics and Fascia
- Central, peripheral and autonomic nervous system
- Visceral system
- Endocrine system
- Lymphatic system, and
- Musculoskeletal system (the red flag).
In the osteopathic model, the musculoskeletal system is the lowest in the hierarchy and will be sacrificed first to protect the more vital systems. Thus, it is often the first to show distress and is the “red flag” system. In a gluten sensitive animal, the body will first protect around the blood supply as it is the most critical to life. Areas with vascular damage or diminished blood flow might first increase the local concentration of IgA secondary to the “leaky gut”, which will create adhesions and restrict mobility in fascia, tendons, muscles, joint capsules, and neurological tissues–restricted mobility protects blood vessels from strain and rupture.
After conducting informal research on approximately 2,500 dogs and cats I treated in my practice since 2008, I observed a “thirteen-point” pattern of restrictions on the right sides of these animals. I wondered why this pattern was so prevalent, so consistent and restrictive to the body. Now in humans, the cecum area of the colon saw the most damage from gluten because of its specific anatomical position (Home base for Gluten). However, in cats, dogs, and horses the right kidney lies closest to the ileocecal valve, which is likely the reason why the right kidney and the ureter/bladder are most affected by gluten. Thus, the right kidney is the home reflex base for gluten in animals.
“Red flag” symptoms of gluten sensitivity in cats and dogs are usually kidney related: Right side front and rear leg lameness, frequent bladder infections, kidney or bladder stones, frequent urination (urgency)or inability to urinate easily, even kidney disease/failure. As noted with humans, other red flags can occur, and I have listed some in my case studies.
How do we treat a gluten-sensitive animal? For the full treatment regime refer to my AHVMA paper or take my ANT classes. During my ANT classes, gluten manifestations are discussed and get treated with the integrated ventral Fascial lines techniques, manual therapy, functional indirect and vascular protocols.