To the Editor:

Do you know anyone who is “gluten sensitive” or “gluten intolerant?” Maybe you have this problem yourself. Eating wheat in bread, pasta, or cake creates digestive discomfort or worse.

This problem seems to be affecting more and more people over the past 20 or 30 years. Grocery stores now have gluten-free sections and restaurants have gluten-free items on the menu. This is all to avoid a food — wheat — that people have been eating for millennia.

Ever wondered why? My daughter and I both have this problem. We decided to do some research. And we found that the problem isn’t really gluten at all. Read on.

What is gluten, anyway? It is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. There is no gluten-free wheat. Any gluten-free product is also wheat-free and is made of rice, tapioca, potato starch, and other starchy foods.

There are two types of gluten intolerance. The first is called celiac disease, which is an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks the small intestine when gluten is consumed. This results in severe digestive problems that actually damage the small intestine. A person with celiac absolutely cannot digest gluten.

The other type of gluten intolerance or gluten sensitivity is not nearly as clearly defined. Doctors find that there are an increasing number of people who have digestive problems when they eat wheat, which include bloating, pain, and diarrhea. The doctors have not been able to clearly define how and why this is happening. I believe that the problem is not the gluten in the wheat, but something else entirely.

I read about a woman who discovered she could eat pasta made from wheat grown in Italy, processed into flour, and then made into pasta, all within Italy. I tried this type of pasta and found that I could eat this also. My daughter experienced the same thing, as well as a friend of mine. How could this be?

Based on my research, I believe that the cause of this problem is the presence of traces of glyphosate, the main ingredient in the weed killer, Roundup. For many years, Roundup has been sprayed on wheat crops in the United States and around the world two weeks before harvest in order to dry the crop and ready it to be cut.

This ensures a larger and more robust crop that is all ready for harvest at the same time. Traces of glyphosate remain on the wheat after it is processed into flour.

The only country in the world that bans the use of Roundup two weeks before harvest is Italy. Italy’s wheat is glyphosate-free and I can eat it. Any other wheat makes me sick. Other grains, such as oats, are also treated two weeks before harvest for the same reason.

Now I search for products that are guaranteed to be wholly Italian or that are certified glyphosate-free. Of course, the company that makes Roundup wants to keep selling it, the farmers want to keep using it, and the folks who sell gluten-free products want you to keep buying them.

But the problem is not gluten — it’s the glyphosate in Roundup that is making us sick.

The following article from the National Institute of Health is an excellent source of information on this topic: “Separating the Empirical Wheat from the Pseudoscientific Chaff: A Critical Review of the Literature Surrounding Glyphosate, Dysbiosis, and Wheat Sensitivity,” by Jaqueline A. Barnett, Deanna L. Gibson (2020 September 25).

Susanne Greenberg

Voorheesville