What is gluten?

Many people presume that this is a single ingredient found in the likes of pasta and bread. In fact, gluten is a complex group of proteins called prolamins that are found in wheat, rye and barley.  The main proteins in wheat are gliadin and glutenin and in barley it’s hordein. Gluten is what makes bread and pasta ‘stretchy’. The proteins are very elastic.

Unless you’re actively avoiding gluten, you’re probably consuming between five and twenty grams of gluten every day in the western world.

Why gluten can cause problems

The human body breaks down proteins with protease enzymes in the stomach and small intestines. The result of this process is amino acids. Gluten proteins are extremely resistant to protease enzymes. This means that they are often not completely broken down. If gluten isn’t properly digested, peptides (large units of amino acids) enter the body through the small intestine. For some people, this causes the immune system to respond as if it is being attacked.

Celiac Disease

About 1% of the worldwide population is diagnosed with celiac disease. It is a chronic condition that causes inflammation of the small intestine. Sufferers of Celiac Disease often have a genetic predisposition to it but it is also brought on by environmental factors.

With a diagnosis of Celiac Disease, you have to choice but to eliminate gluten from your diet. The main symptoms of Celiac Disease include weight loss, diarrhea, and malnutrition. Other symptoms include skin problems, osteoporosis and anemia.

The prevalence of Celiac Disease is rising, particularly in the West. Research suggests that wheat breeding over the years might have produced a form of gluten that is more toxic to humans.

Leaky Gut

Leaky gut syndrome means that the bowel is porous. The gut is lined with a layer of cells that form a barrier between the inside of the gut and the person’s body. This mucosal barrier absorbs nutrients and prevents larger molecules and bacteria getting into the bloodstream. When this barrier doesn’t work properly, we describe it as ‘leaky’. This can be caused by food allergies including gluten. Eliminating gluten from the diet can help treat the leaky gut and stop things passing through into the bloodstream that shouldn’t be there. Leaky gut is somewhat of a medical mystery but whilst there’s a possibility of gluten causing this condition, it’s worth taking note.

Wheat Allergy

This is sometimes confused with Celiac Disease but they are different illnesses. A wheat allergy means the sufferer is only allergic to the proteins found in wheat and not other types of gluten proteins e.g. the ones found in rye. Wheat allergy presents itself differently to Celiac Disease in that symptoms are common to other types of food allergies such as swelling, itching, hives, cramps, nausea, vomiting and anaphylaxis.

Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity

Even people without a wheat allergy or without celiac disease can be sensitive to gluten. NCGS means that people have symptoms when they consume products containing gluten. These symptoms could be intestinal or things like headaches, fatigue and aches and pains.

Who else can benefit from a gluten-free diet?

It is not entirely understood but people with many autoimmune diseases find their symptoms improve with a gluten-free diet. Conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Grave’s disease can be improved when gluten is eliminated. Apparently, these autoimmune diseases share some of the same genes as Celiac Disease, which is why sufferers can have similar problems.

Conditions such as IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), IBD (Irritable Bowel Disease), Crohn’s Disease and UC (Ulcerative Colitis) have links with gluten and so a gluten-free diet will help people with these conditions.

Research also suggests that a diet free of gluten can help these conditions:

• Fibromyalgia (a chronic condition that causes pain all over the body)
• Endometriosis (the appearance of endometrial tissue outside of the uterus, causing pain)
• Schizophrenia (a chronic brain disorder associated with delusions and hallucinations)

What does all this information tell us?

The more we read about gluten and the effect it has on the human body, it feels the less we know about it! It really seems like there are a lot of unknowns when it comes to the understanding of the effects of gluten consumption. Gluten has been linked to so many problems. Whether its consumption causes problems all by itself or whether it worsens existing medical conditions, it is certainly an issue for a lot of the global population. If we take a step back and look at all of the conditions that are affected or caused by gluten, it’s clear to see that this is something to avoid. What’s more, the range of conditions is frightening. Schizophrenia and endometriosis are worlds apart when it comes to types of medical conditions yet they both improve with a gluten-free diet. Why would you put something into your body when its effects are so unknown?

Why you should eliminate gluten from your diet

Whether or not you have a pre-existing medical condition that requires a gluten-free diet, you will see the benefits of not consuming gluten. There are many reasons why a gluten-free diet is better for everyone. Let’s look at two of them:

1. By eating gluten-free foods, you are more likely to eat fewer processed foods. This means that you’ll be healthier overall! Many foods that contain gluten are high in calories, sugar and unhealthy fats. Eliminating gluten, therefore, prevents you from eating these sorts of foods. You’ll lose weight, your joints will feel better and you’ll have more energy.
2. Cutting out gluten has no negative effects on your body. Gluten is not an essential nutrient. As long as you have a balanced diet and eat foods that contain healthy grains (that don’t contain gluten), your body is not missing out on any nutrients.

The Clean Label Company

Now you know all about gluten and the problems it causes, you’ll want to eliminate it, right? Well, you can! CLEANLABELCO products contain absolutely no gluten! In fact, they have a HUGE ban list of all sorts of additives alongside gluten! With The Clean Label Company, you can be sure that you are not ingesting any potentially harmful ingredients. Whether you are gluten-free because of a medical need or through choice, it doesn’t matter. You will feel better without gluten as a part of your diet. The Clean Label Company is there for you and can support your gluten-free life! Start feeling better today!

The post Gluten: How This Misunderstood Group of Proteins is Harmful to Your Health appeared first on CleanLabelCo.

Official recommendations regarding sugar

Worldwide governments and health organizations have recommendations with regards to dietary sugars and some are also starting sugar taxes. The truth is, we don’t actually know what quantities of sugar we should or shouldn’t be consuming. For this reason, CleanLabelCo ensure that no sugars are present in our products at all.

Sugar was originally a medication, however due to profiteering and its flavor, it ended up in our food supply in many forms as the major ingredient. “By 1700 average consumption of sugar in the developed world was approximately 4 pounds per annum and this accounted for less than 1 percent of calorie intake. By 1800 this had risen to approximately 18 pounds and by 1900 it was 60 pounds.” However, it wasn’t long after its popularisation that experts began to question the value of sugar for human health. Today we consume a whopping, 227 grams of sugar each day – equating to 81.6 kg per year. Mind-blowing!

The science behind sugar

Sugars are either monosaccharides or disaccharides. Monosaccharides are carbohydrates in their simplest form. They cannot be broken down further. Examples of monosaccharides are glucose, fructose and galactose. These are found in honey and cane sugar as well as dairy products, beans and fruit. Disaccharides are formed when two monosaccharides are joined together and a molecule of water is removed. Examples of these are lactose and sucrose. These are often found in table sugar, sweets, chocolate, dairy products and corn syrup.

Biologically speaking, our bodies need glucose. Glucose is in all foods and is essential to life. The human body uses glucose efficiently and stores it in our muscles for later use. This is why we need to exercise. Saying that, our bodies were designed to feed off natural glucose found in all our common foods but in significantly smaller quantities than we are forcing down our throats today. Our body was not designed to overdose on glucose and we see the results of this overdose in our daily lives and everyday society. Table sugar is one molecule of glucose and one molecule of fructose. Just look at this ratio and you will see that it simply doesn’t make sense. There is no way that we were designed to consume equal amounts of fructose as glucose. This is ludicrous. Fructose is found in honey and stone fruits, which we mostly ate in summer to bulk up fat for the winter. We bulk up fat with fructose, because unlike glucose, our body is very bad and lazy at processing fructose, thus more of it is converted into fat. We were intended to consume fructose in very small amounts, nowhere near the amounts that we are consuming it in today’s world. What happens with this fructose is that it gets stored in our liver, creates a fatty liver and the globules of fat are then pumped out into our veins and blood. Let’s look in more detail at the different types of sugar.

Naturally occurring sugars – monosaccharides

Fructose

Once hailed as the ‘better’ sugar with regards to diabetes because of its inability to stimulate insulin secretion, fructose has played a big role in the rise in obesity and type 2 diabetes. There have been studies to show that when fructose is consumed in excess, it plays a pivotal role in the development of obesity, type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, hypertension, and dyslipidaemia. Many believe that because fructose is naturally occurring, when it is listed on ingredients lists, it is ok.

Glucose

This is also called dextrose when listed in ingredients. Nearly all foods that contain carbohydrates will contain some level of glucose but fruits are usually the highest sources of glucose. Glucose can spike your blood sugar levels really quickly; this can affect you drastically if you are diabetic. The body uses glucose as a fuel for energy. Unhealthy levels of glucose can have a serious effect on the body. An increased intake of glucose leads to obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Galactose

Galactose is a naturally occurring sugar found in dairy products and some fruits and vegetables. It is often used as a filler in certain medications too. Galactose is not an essential nutrient. The body synthesizes most of the galactose it consumes and turns it into glucose.

Naturally occurring sugars – disaccharides

Lactose

Lactose is the sugar found in milk. In order for lactose to be broken down in the human body, the body requires lactase. In mammals, other than humans, lactase activity decreases after weaning. Caucasians continue to consume milk-products throughout their lives, and most have no problem doing so but it is rare for other ethnicities to be able to continue to consume this sugar.

Sucrose

Sucrose is common table sugar. It is produced naturally in plants like sugar beets or sugar cane. It is extracted and refined for human consumption. If consumed excessively, sucrose contributes to the development of metabolic syndrome. It is also responsible for tooth decay and gout.

Added Sugars

Added sugars come in two camps: refined and unrefined. This is often confusing for consumers as they’re unsure which, if any, is healthy or a healthier option. Let’s look at these further.

Refined

Refined sugar has what we call “empty calories”. This means that it has no nutritional value whatsoever. Refined sugar is broken down immediately. It is digested really quickly so it doesn’t give you any sort of ‘full’ feeling after eating it. If you’re consuming high quantities of refined sugar and not burning off the energy it produces, it will get stored in your body as fat, which, in itself, can be problematic. There is also evidence to suggest that consumption of refined sugars is linked to leptin resistance. Leptin resistance can lead to obesity, sleep problems and cravings. What’s more, your brain can become addicted!

Unrefined

Unrefined sugar is found naturally in substances like fruit and honey. Raw, unrefined sugar actually has some nutrients like magnesium, iron and calcium. Sugar cane actually only contains 10-15% sugar! However, we need to be careful not to consider unrefined sugar as healthy. It can still be processed. For example, if an unrefined sugar is in powder or liquid form, it is not in its natural state and has been processed. This means that it is a high concentration of sugar.

Health problems associated with the excess consumption of sugar

We all know that sugar causes health problems. Here are some problems that can be caused by excess sugar intake:

Metabolic syndrome – this is a medical term for a combination of illnesses, which includes diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity. Whilst all of these conditions aren’t great to have on their own, combined together makes them particularly dangerous and put the patient at a greater risk of heart disease and stroke.

Obesity – in a recent nutrition survey, 63% of Australians were overweight or obese. Obesity has increased across the globe in recent decades. The World Health Organization estimated there to be around 1.9 billion adults that are overweight or obese in the world. That’s 13%! Excessive consumption of sugar, in particular, sugar-sweetened drinks, has been linked to weight gain.

Type 2 diabetes – whilst sugar consumption alone does not cause type 2 diabetes, it does lead to weight gain, which increases the risk of developing the disease. A study of 175 countries in 2013 showed that the more sugar there was in the food supply, the more cases of diabetes were found.

Tooth decay – bacteria in the mouth use sugar from foods and drinks to produce an acid that erodes teeth. Excessive consumption of sugar increases the occurrence of tooth decay as it provides more opportunities for the bacteria to produce the decay-causing acids.

Gout – fructose is the key ingredient when it comes to gout flare-ups. Gout occurs when painful crystals build up in the joints. The crystals come from high levels of uric acid, which is produced when the body breaks down fructose.

The Clean Label Company – CleanLabelCo

Now you know all about the different types of sugars and how they affect your body, you’ll want to avoid them, right? Well, there’s good news! CleanLabelCo products contain absolutely no sugar of any kind! In fact, they have a HUGE ban list of all sorts of additives alongside sugar! With The Clean Label Company, you can be sure that you are not ingesting any potentially harmful ingredients.

The post Sugar: Sweet, Tasty, and Killing You Slowly appeared first on CleanLabelCo.

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” ― Hippocrates 

The world is an amazing place, with so much to see and do, every one of us should embrace it all on a daily basis. Finding true enjoyment in life is wonderful, but we need to be healthy to do that, and a big part of our health is what we eat.

Knowing what we eat

However, there is a problem with that. How many of us actually know what we eat today? The food we buy doesn’t always tell us, in fact, food packaging has become an artform in its ability to mislead us about what is contained inside the packaging. That is where the clean label trend comes in, to create short, transparent, easy to understand, easy to pronounce ingredient lists. Clean label means no more chemical names that you don’t understand, no more E numbers that you will never really know what they stand for. No more compounds that you can’t even pronounce and insurance that the processes used are safe and most importantly no nasty processing aids were used in the ingredients. The public never gets to see any information about processes and what processing aids were used. This is alarming. Just real information that allow you to make informed choices.

CleanLabelCo are a plant-based start-up that have taken the idea of clean label and refined it to give consumers sugar free food as it always should be, just as nature intended. Following clean label trends, ingredients are not hidden behind historical common standards, regulations or testing procedures. Instead, they offer transparency for all products, understanding that ultimately, as a food producer, the health of consumers is the most important thing they do.

CleanLabelCo go further, and they have their own Clean Label protocols that support consumers in their desire for natural, healthy food without all the additives.

•    No ingredients that have be made using harsh toxicity processes.                                                   
•    No ingredients that are known to be linked to health-related diseases.          
•    No ingredients that have potential high risk to be linked to health-related diseases or discomfort.
•    No ingredients that cause discomfort after consumption.
•    No ingredients that have derived from GMO or farming using pesticides.
•    No additives or sugars.
•    No ingredients that are produced in facilities that produce animal products.

Everything is not always as it seems

In addition to its protocols, CleanLabelCo also has a ban list of ingredients that sound natural and good, but really are not. They ban food additives and ingredients that can be harmful, are highly processed or cause discomfort after eating, or any combination.

“It is the dose that makes the poison”; (Paracelsus, 16th century polymath). This mind-set has influenced food testing and regulations since the early 1900s.

There are over 6000 food additives in regular, daily food that is designated to be generally recognized as safe (GRAS), yet many are questionable, with concern about them coming from ongoing medical studies. Science shows us that just because a chemical didn’t prove harmful to mice in a lab test, it doesn’t mean that it is safe for humans to increasingly consume.

In addition, environmental degradation, the type of processing and materials used can change toxicity levels too, while our individual DNA can be altered by carcinogens, and it doesn’t get mended when it replicates, which can lead to mistakes or mutations.

This ban list includes Carrageenan Gum, made from seaweed and found in a range of products including infant formula. Carrageenan Gum is a substance that our bodies cannot fully digest, and has been linked to inflammation, causing ulcerations and bleeding, and even gastrointestinal cancer.

Here’s the thing, you are probably wondering how an ingredient like that gets into food in the first place. This is not new information. The potential issues with Carrageenan Gum have been known since the 1960’s.

CleanLabelCo have banned many such substances, and more are added as science catches up with reality. We are learning all the time, science is showing us that where testing on mice may not have shown adverse effects, this does not mean that everything is fine for us. By ensuring the sugar free products from Clean Label adhere to these rules, these are products you can enjoy for their taste, with peace of mind about the contents.

•    No Emulsifiers
•    No Hydrogenated Fats
•    No Artificial Flavours
•    No Colouring Agents
•    No Stabilizers and Gums
•    No artificial or Processed Sugars
•    No ‘Natural Flavours’ that are Used to Hide All Kinds of Substances
•    No Acids
•    No Solvents
•    No Vegetable Glycerine
•    No Methylcellulose

CleanLabelCo Differentiation

What you end up with is good, safe, sugar free food that you can eat with confidence. As a plant-based start-up, focusing on genuinely safe, natural ingredients and complete labelling transparency provides consumers with safe, healthy food that gives peace of mind.

Don’t be fooled by labels, follow the clean label trend and know exactly what you are eating. In the long term. Your health will thank you for it.

The post The Clean Label Revolution is Your Route to Better Health appeared first on CleanLabelCo.