On Wed, 30 Mar 2011 15:43:02 +1300, Miche wrote:
No. This is not a fact at all. You are believing the sleazy sellers that
make such a claim. Follows is a story of blind testing and more detail on
the differences.
Date: Mon, 5 Dec 1994 14:23:48 PST
Sender: Celiac/Coeliac Wheat/Gluten-free List
From: "Donald D. Kasarda"
Subject: celiac disease-spelt-proteins
Spelt is so close to normal bread wheat (closer than durum wheat, used for
pasta, is to normal bread wheat) that I would guess the chances of someone
being allergic to wheat and not to spelt as being something like 1 in a
million. By allergy, I shall arbitrarily limit my discussion to people who
primarily have respiratory symptoms or who develop skin wheals upon eating
wheat (these are associated with IgE type allergies) as opposed to people
who have gastrointestinal problems, which might result from either celiac
disease (especially involving IgA) or allergy. Allergy may be caused by
proteins in wheat that are different from gluten proteins--at least this is
true for baker's asthma. I have the definite impression that allergy may be
quite variable in any given individual--a person may react strongly one day
and weakly another, hence sometimes giving the impression that he/she can
handle spelt; psychological factors may also be involved. On the other
hand, there is almost no question now that spelt is harmful to celiac
patients. Spelt should be avoided by celiac patients.
Similarity of wheat, rye, and barley proteins: Proteins are polymers of
amino acids. The amino acids are joined together by peptide bonds like
beads on a string. There are 20 different amino acids commonly found in
proteins and the sequence in which these 20 different amino acids appear in
the string is important to determining the type of protein. Wheat, rye, and
barley all have proteins that differ by species; the proteins of barley can
be distinguished from the proteins of wheat, but wheat, rye, and barley
proteins have some considerable similarities in amino acid sequence.
Although a typical gluten protein may have 300 amino acids in its chain, it
has been essentially proved that a 19-amino acid piece of that chain or
string can cause damage in celiac disease. Even smaller pieces may be
active. Some of the key suspect sequences appear in the wheat, barley, or
rye storage proteins. Traditionally, gluten (highly cohesive and elastic)
is found only in wheat and actually is made up of storage proteins, which
provide a source of nitrogen and amino acids for the new plant upon
germination of the seed. A gluten ball is difficult or impossible to wash
from rye or barley, but celiac patients have come to call all toxic
proteins or peptides (pieces of the protein, usually resulting from the
digestive process) "gluten". So when a celiac asks does a grain have
gluten? I translate in my head immediately into, "Does the grain have any
proteins that include any of the suspect sequences." Strictly speaking, rye
and barley have storage proteins with some important similarities in
sequence to the wheat proteins. The situation with oats is more complex.
Most of the proteins do not have similarities, but a small fraction does
have some suspect sequences. If oats holds up as toxic, then it is likely
to be because of these particular sequences. No other plants are known to
have these key sequences, but, of course, the number of proteins sequenced
from various species is not all that large in comparison with the enormous
number of possiblities. The exorphins and the celiac-active peptides appear
generally to consist of pieces having different amino acid sequences.
Donald D. Kasarda
==================
Date: Mon, 3 Jul 95 15:44:46 PDT
From: "Donald D. Kasarda"
Subject: Re: Someone thinks Spelt is Different from Wheat
To: Don Wiss
Don,
As you say, there will always be skeptics. Spelt appears to differ from
ordinary bread wheat mainly in a gene that makes the outer coat adherent
(more like oats) rather than free-threshing. Some people seem to think
this means Spelt is a more primitive wheat than bread wheat, but it could
even be the other way around. On analysis by gel electrophoresis, the
proteins appear to be almost identical to those of certain bread wheat
varieties and as far as gluten proteins are concerned, the
known-to-be-toxic (in celiac disease) alpha gliadin type has been found
both by protein analysis and by DNA analysis in Spelt. However, allergy
probably/mostly involves different proteins from the gluten proteins
With regard to people's judgement as to whether or not they can tolerate
spelt, I will relate a recent experience. An M.D. allergist called me to
ask about spelt because his wife who is allergic to wheat (respiratory
distress and skin weals/rash), but apparently does not have celiac disease,
felt that she could tolerate spelt very well and wheat not at all. The
allergist tended to agree that this seemed to be so. I said I doubted it
(mentioned the 1-in-a-million chance), but figuring that even a
1-in-a-million chance can occur, decided to carry out a blind experiment
with their cooperation. We made six extractions of proteins, three from
different spelt varieties (obtained from the most knowledgeable spelt
research station in the country--in Wooster, Ohio) and three extractions
from whole wheat flour that we purchased in the supermarket. We supplied
the coded samples blind to the allergist and he fed the 6 samples (about 1
per month) to his wife and noted her response. He then supplied the
results to me. When I decoded the results, the times that she reacted were
about 50:50 spelt/wheat and the strongest reaction, requiring a shot of
epinephrine to quell the response, was to one of the spelt samples!
I haven't the slightest doubt about the harmfulness of spelt to celiac
patients, but allergy is a highly variable response and, although I am
doubtful, I would have to allow for a slight chance that ordinary wheat
might have a protein (a non-gluten protein) that some people are allergic
to that has been lost from spelt.
Don
Don.
www.donwiss.com (e-mail link at home page bottom).
