Is Gluten Intolerance Causing Your Canker Sores? (Steps to Find Out)
What is Gluten?
If you get frequent canker sores, it is important to rule out gluten sensitivity. Gluten is a protein found in barley, wheat, and rye. More than three million people in the US have gluten intolerance, and it is estimated that at least 90% are undiagnosed. This is because many people have a mild form of gluten intolerance. Gluten sensitivity ranges from mild symptoms to a more severe form in people with Celiac Disease.
Celiac Disease
Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease where the body attacks its own cells along finger-like projections called villi in the small intestine. For people with celiac disease, the body mistakes the gluten as a threat, and mounts an attack against the protein. During this process, the villi along the intestine suffer collateral damage and this results in many absorption-related complications for people with this disease. Some of these complications include anemia, osteoporosis, infertility, thyroid disease, neurological disorders, and inflammation along the GI tract including stomach and mouth ulcers.
Gluten Intolerance
Non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) is more common and it may be possible that you fall in this category if blood tests for Celiac Disease come back negative. Gluten intolerance is possible if consuming any gluten products give you these symptoms:
- Bloating
- Abdominal pain
- Diarrhea or constipation
- Fatigue
- Skin problems
- Joint and muscle pain
Malabsorption
The malabsorption of important micronutrients could be the reason why people with Celiac Disease and NCGS get frequent canker sores. While it may be more common for people with celiac disease to have recurrent canker sores, this study found that people with NCGS are also at a higher risk for developing them.
Blood Tests
While it is possible to perform a blood test for celiac disease, diagnosing gluten intolerance is not as straight forward. Your doctor may order a series of blood tests to rule out celiac disease. Note that as with any tests, there is a small chance that you may get a false positive for Celiac Disease. It is advisable to have confirmatory tests to avoid unnecessarily cutting out gluten.
Celiac disease is not very common, so it may be more likely that you could have non-celiac gluten sensitivity. If this is the case, you will not test positive for celiac disease.
There are some at-home food sensitivity tests available that test for gluten sensitivity. However, they are not consistently accurate. If you decide to use any of these tests, be aware that they should be used as a guide, and not as a definitive answer.
How To Find Out if You Have Gluten Intolerance
To test for gluten intolerance, try a gluten-free diet for at least four weeks and see if your symptoms improve. For some, the trial period may need to be longer than four weeks to be sure. This is especially true if your canker sores show up every few months instead of every few weeks.
Once your symptoms get better after avoidance of gluten products, you may be tempted to continue a gluten-free diet. However, you may want to re-introduce gluten to your diet and monitor your symptoms. The reason for this is because you want to confirm that you do in fact have gluten intolerance. Not only is cutting out gluten an inconvenience for you, many foods that contain gluten are also rich in other nutrients.
Gluten sensitivity symptoms are generally non-specific so a re-introduction with gluten is recommended. Once you re-introduce gluten and find that your symptoms and canker sores reappear, then it may be possible that you are gluten sensitive.
