Gluten Sensitivity And Yeast Cross Reactivity- Why Yeast Causes Problems

Dr. Hagmeyer- explains exactly why you may not have experienced better health since embarking on a gluten free diet.

Hey everybody Dr Hagmeyer Here and In today’s short video, I want to share with you another damaging food you could be eating if you have celiac disease, or you have been tested and are gluten sensitive.

I recently started working with a patient from Europe and she emailed me this great question, I am sure that there are many people out there wondering the same thing and so I thought it would be a good idea to shoot a video on this.

One of the questions she asked me was, “can I continue supplementing my diet with Brewers yeast?”

At a glance, that seems harmless enough, Brewers yeast contains proteins, it is high in B vitamins, it has chromium in it…. which can help with blood sugar stabilization. All the things that are important to address when you have a leaky gut, IBS, Crohn’s, Ulcerative Colitis, chronic diarrhea or Celiac.

Brewer’s yeast has been used for diarrhea, the common cold, upper respiratory tract infections. So it would seem that brewer’s yeast or Nutritional yeast is a good supplement. RIGHT?… WRONG!

The Problem with Yeast

If you have a known Gluten Sensitivity, Celiac disease, Diarrhea, Vomiting, then you are going to want to eliminate yeast from your diet or from your supplements because of the potential for Cross Reactivity.

In fact based on the research by Dr. Aristo Vojdani (PhD immunologist) and Cyrex labs, he confirms the problem of yeast and cross reactivity for many of these individuals. (Journal article here)

This is another reason why I am against the so called “gluten free cookies”, “gluten free cereals” and virtually the billion dollar a year food industry that continues to mislead many celiac and gluten sensitive individuals.

Now  If you don’t know what cross reactivity is… then in a nutshell it’s when the amino acid sequence of a protein structure is similar enough to the amino acid sequence of gluten. And because the sequences are similar enough, your body thinks its gluten. So in this case, the sequence of proteins found in brewer’s yeast is similar enough to the proteins found in gluten.

Understanding Cross Reactivity

Our new understanding of Cross reactivity is also perhaps the reason why even after embarking on a gluten free diet, you haven’t noticed much of a difference or you might be saying well it worked for a friend of mine, but it didn’t work for me so I’m going to go back to eating gluten. You don’t want to do that!!! So here is what I have to say to that, It’s not the gluten-free diet “doesn’t work.” It was the application of the diet and this is why it’s important that you work with a doctor who understands this. It’s the fact that you’re still eating cross-reactive foods.

In closing today’s video, I want to leave you with a couple of take a ways.

1. People with gluten sensitivity or celiac disease need to be aware of the many cross reactive foods that can pose a problem. Brewer’s yeast, Bakers yeast is a cross reactive foods for gluten sensitive and individuals who suffer with GI irritation.
2. Eating yeast whether it comes from a dietary supplement, baby formula, or in gluten free beer, gluten free bread products,  can cause your body to create gluten antibodies. (Its bi-directional) meaning you can be doing a great job at eliminating gluten but you are still consuming cross reactive foods that are capable of causing damage.
3. The scientific research is very clear that many people diagnosed with Crohn’s disease or Ulcerative Colitis make antibodies to yeast.  one of the ways Crohn’s and Ulcerative collitis is diagnosed is by a test called ASCA antibodies. That stands for anti-saccharomyces antibodies.
4. If you haven’t already downloaded my hidden sources of gluten you can to that by filling out your name and email in the form on the side of this page.
5. This is a free guide, that will be sent to you in an email. It will show you the many places you could be unknowingly ingesting gluten.

In my next video I will be sharing with you other important aspects of understanding gluten, cross reactivity and testing.