Alejandra Stivaletta, MD: "If you're feeling fatigue or bloated, your gut may be reacting to gluten and you don't even know it."

Gluten is present in almost everything: bread, pasta, pastries, and processed snacks . This protein, present in cereals such as wheat, barley, rye, and some types of oats, is identified by physician and educator Alejandra Stivaletta as the cause of numerous digestive symptoms in some people . The doctor went viral on social media with a video shared on her TikTok account in which she warned that its consumption could be behind symptoms such as fatigue, inflammation, migraines, or skin breakouts in certain people.

"If you have inflammatory symptoms and can't find the cause, your gut is probably reacting to gluten without you knowing it ," explained the doctor, who has accumulated thousands of views on social media.

Stivaletta explained that gluten contains a fraction called gliadin, and "that's where the problem lies." The body can't always completely break down this protein, generating fragments called gliadin peptides. In some individuals, gluten can trigger immune or inflammatory responses that extend beyond the digestive system.

The specialist distinguishes three profiles of affected people. There are those who suffer from celiac disease, those who have non-celiac gluten sensitivity (intolerance), with the same symptoms as celiac patients, and a third group who, even without showing clear digestive symptoms, could develop chronic intestinal inflammation . According to Stivaletta, the latter can lead to intestinal hyperpermeability, which would allow toxins or poorly digested proteins to pass into the bloodstream and affect other parts of the body such as the brain, joints or thyroid .

The doctor also warns that the problem is not limited to gluten itself, but is exacerbated by modifications to modern wheat, which contains a much higher concentration of this protein than in the past and is present in many of the foods we consume daily.