Cyrex Gluten & Wheat Intolerance Testing

Could Gluten Be Causing or Provoking Your Health Issues?

Would you like to know if wheat and/or gluten are causing or contributing towards your unwanted health symptoms? Many people who are gluten-intolerant do not experience digestive problems, but their intolerance manifests in other parts of the body such as brain, thyroid or joints. Sometimes your gluten-related symptoms may be delayed by hours, days or weeks, making it hard to pinpoint the cause.

Have you assumed you don't have gluten intolerance?

Have you ever shrugged off the possibility of gluten sensitivity by saying:

• “I don’t have any digestive problems” ?
• “It’s not wheat or gluten, it’s IBS”?
• “I’m only a little intolerant to gluten”?
• "A little gluten won't hurt me - everything in moderation"?
• "My doctor says I don't have coeliac disease, so wheat/ gluten can't be causing my symptoms."

Did you know that gluten produces digestive symptoms in only a minority of those who react to gluten? It's even possible to have coeliac disease without obvious gastrointestinal symptoms. Most people who react to gluten have symptoms beyond the gastrointestinal tract, and they often don't realise that gluten is the culprit. Some people are under-par for years or decades before they finally connect the dots.

Huge range of manifestations in response to gluten

In addition to coeliac disease, IBS and other gastrointestinal disorders including "leaky gut", Gluten-Reactivity may manifest in a whole range of health symptoms in a range of organs in your body. This may include your skin (eg dermatitis, psoriasis) and/or your brain (eg. fatigue, brain fog, gluten ataxia, schizophrenia, depression, autism), as well as your muscles, your joints, your thyroid, and beyond.

Cyrex Array 3X: Cutting-edge gluten testing

Did you know that wheat contains multiple different proteins and peptides, any number of which your immune system may or may not react? Cyrex Array 3X, the latest comprehensive gluten testing available to us here in the UK and Europe, now tests for more antibodies to gluten peptides, gluten opioid peptides, lectins, and gluten-related transglutaminase enzymes than any test previously available. This means that Cyrex Array 3X may uncover something that would be missed in conventional tests for gluten-sensitivity or coeliac disease.

Conventional testing for Gluten Sensitivity has until now only been against one component of wheat, alph-gliadin. Through extensive research Cyrex Laboratories have pinpointed the twelve components of wheat that most often provoke an immune response.
This new test greatly expands the parameters of gluten sensitivity testing, catching many of those who may have previously tested negative because they don’t react to the alpha-gliadin. A ‘false negative’ occurs when the test results says a condition is not present, when in reality there is a problem.  Many forms of standard testing for coeliac disease or gluten sensitivity do not include the right markers or enough of the right markers.  Using Cyrex Array 3X allows for more accurate results with fewer ‘false negatives’.

Cyrex Array 3X: Wheat/Gluten Proteome Reactivity and Autoimmunity:

The test is recommended for those of you who have:

• Non-responsive intestinal complaints including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and colitis
• Chronic, multiple system complaints, including chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia
• Depression, any type of auto-immunity or autoimmune disorder, neurological conditions including ADHD, Parkinson’s, and dementia such as Alzheimer's Disease.
• Chronic anaemia  and skin conditions such as rosacea, eczema, acne and psoriasis and/or canker sores
• Brain fog, headaches or migraines
• Hormone issues including infertility and PMS
• Lyme Disease
• Other elusive complaints and conditions for which no diagnosis or solution has been given.

Is Cyrex Array 3X a standalone test?

Array 3X looks exclusively at mutiple peptides of wheat, gluten and tissue transglutaminase but does not measure immune reactions to any other foods. Often by the time people test for gluten/wheat intolerance, they are also reacting to other foods as well, and may have lost gut barrier integrity AKA "leaky gut" and/or developed SIBO. In many cases, people develop "cross-reactivities" between gluten and other commonly consumed foods (see Array 4).  Whilst Array 3X can be ordered in isolation, it is ideal for patients to use their Cyrex blood draw to maximum benefit, and include other relevant Cyrex Arrays where possible.

Consider the following tests and combination of tests:

• Cyrex Gut-Food Combo: Arrays 2, 3X and 4 - for gut barrier, wheat, gluten and common food intolerances

• Cyrex Comprehensive Food Sensitivity Triad: Arrays 3X, 4 and 10 - for wheat, gluten, other common food intolerances and 180 more foods and food forms.

• Leaky Gut and Irritable Bowel / SIBO Screen: Array 2 and Array 22 - for gut barrier proteins, lipopolysaccharides and bacterial cytotoxins (implicated in SIBO and loss of gut barrier integrity)

More info on Cyrex testing for food intolerances here

Cyrex Array 3X: Wheat/Gluten Proteome Reactivity & Autoimmunity

Advanced Comprehensive Test for Wheat and Gluten Intolerance

Sensitivities to wheat/gluten are notoriously hard to identify using standard medical tests for Coeliac Disease and genetic tests for susceptibility. Many patient are advised that they can safely consume wheat if their coeliac test results are normal. Yet many of these same people report noticeable symptom improvements when they reduce or exclude dietary wheat. Still more individuals are suspicious that this ubiquitous substance may be mediating their health issues, yet cannot justify dietary exclusion without proof. This apparent paradox is understood by Cyrex Laboratories, who have developed advanced testing methods to include many more markers of immune reactivity to wheat/gluten, thus ensuring that fewer patients slip through the net of mis-diagnosis.

Cyrex Laboratories are recognised in the Functional Medicine Community as hosting what is, arguably, the most comprehensive gluten testing facility available worldwide. Due to the multi-facetted approach of Array 3X, gluten sensitivity and/or wheat intolerance is commonly identified in many patients where other tests have missed it.

"This is the test that changed the industry ...

...and it just got better! Cyrex Labs is thrilled to introduce the Array 3X"

Array 3X markers in more detail

Cyrex Array 3x measures the following:

Cyrex Array 3X tests for IgA and IgG antibodies to the following:

Opioids

Gluten can have a drug-like opiate effect on an individual. 

Opioids may act like Heroin: Cyrex Array 3x screens for antibodies to the opioids produced from wheat called Gluteomorphins and Prodynorphins.  Antibodies to gluteomorphin and prodynorphin can indicate that gluten is affecting your brain.  Some people have enzymes in their digestive tract that break gluten down into opioids that act like heroin or morphine.  Embarking on a gluten-free diet can sometimes cause awful withdrawal symptoms in such people. 

Opioids disrupt brain function: Another problem with opioids is that they disrupt brain function by attaching to receptor sites normally meant for neurotransmitters.  Neurotransmitters are brain chemicals that help dictate our personality, moods, behaviour, bodily function, and more. This opioid effect on neurotransmitter receptors explains why gluten plays a role in so many cases of brain-fog, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, anorexia and migraines in adults; in addition to ADD/ADHD, autism, or behavioural problems in children.  Autistic children placed on a gluten-free diet, can become  so desperate for a gluten-opioid “fix”, that there has been report of a child eating the binding out of books to get it!

Lectins

Cyrex Array 3X also includes testing for antibodies to the wheat lectin Wheat Germ Agglutinin (WGA).  WGAs are lectins or carbohydrate-binding proteins with a capacity to bind to many cells and tissue antigens.  Lectins can bind to cells involved in the immune system and induce toxic damage, inflammation and autoimmunity.

Enzymes

Array 3X includes testing for antibodies to enzymes:  Tissue Transglutaminase- 2, 3 and 6 and Gliadin-Tranglutaminase Complex.

Transglutaminases are a family of enzymes that form protein polymers, like scaffolding, which are vital in the formation of barriers and stable structures such as gut barrier tissue.  Specific enzymes are necessary to help digest gluten; if your body produces antibodies against these enzymes, you may develop symptoms of ill health if you continue to eat gluten. Antibodies may appear in serum before the clinical onset of symptoms, before you realise that something's wrong.

Gliadin-Transglutaminase IgG can assist with diagnosing Coeliac Disease.

Tissue Transglutaminase-2 (tTG2) is commonly recognized for being an effective diagnostic test for coeliac disease.  Transglutaminase is an enzyme in the digestive tract targetted in an autoimmune attack triggered by gluten. tTG2 antibodies indicate gluten is attacking gut tissue through an autoimmune attack.

Tissue Transglutaminase-3 (tTG3) is expressed mainly in the epidermis (relevant to skin disorders) and the brain, as well as in the placenta.

Tissue Transglutaminase-6 (tTG6) is expressed in neural tissue.  tTG6 may be involved in the pathogenesis of gluten reactivity-related neurological dysfunction.