WHY GLUTEN AND DAIRY BLOCK HEALING IN ANTI-INFECTION PROGRAMMES

If your health has plateaued despite the best supplements, detox plans, and protocols, it’s time to look at what’s still on your plate. When patients struggle to make progress after months of effort, one pattern shows up again and again: gluten and dairy are still sneaking in.

These two food groups are among the most common triggers for inflammation, immune confusion, and bacterial imbalance. Removing them isn’t a fad—it’s a foundational step in helping the body heal. For more information, please read on …

🌾 Why Gluten Gets in the Way

1. It fuels gut inflammation and permeability.
   Gluten proteins—especially gliadin—trigger the release of zonulin, a compound that loosens the gut’s tight junctions. This creates “leaky gut,” allowing bacterial fragments and toxins into the bloodstream and setting off widespread inflammation.
   

2. It keeps the immune system on alert.
   Even in those without coeliac disease, gluten can provoke low-grade immune activation, keeping inflammatory messengers like IL-6 and TNF-α constantly elevated. The result? Ongoing fatigue, pain, and poor infection control.
   

3. It disrupts the microbiome.
   Gluten-heavy diets often favour pro-inflammatory bacteria while reducing beneficial microbes like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria—making it harder for the gut to regulate immune and antibacterial function.
   

4. It confuses immune recognition.
   Some gluten fragments resemble bacterial proteins. This “molecular mimicry” can mislead the immune system into attacking its own tissues or failing to distinguish between friend and foe. This is known as autoimmunity (e.g. in Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Pans/Pandas, and other autoimmune conditions).
   

5. Modern wheat adds insult to injury.
   Today’s hybridized wheat contains higher gluten levels and may carry glyphosate residues, both of which further irritate the gut lining and inflame the microbiome.

6. It is also high in lectins - natural plant defines compounds that irritate the gut. Gluten belongs to a family of lectin-rich proteins designed to protect grains from pests. In humans, these lectins can bind to the gut lining and immune cells, aggravating inflammation and damaging intestinal integrity. Over time, this can lead to poor nutrient absorption, immune over activation and a gut environment that favours bacterial imbalance and chronic inflammation.
   

When gluten is removed, the intestinal lining can regenerate, bacterial balance can reset, and the immune system can finally focus on repair instead of defense.

🥛 Why Cow’s Dairy Also Holds You Back

1. It’s highly immunogenic.
   Cow’s milk proteins, especially A1 beta-casein, can act like inflammatory triggers. Once digested, they form casomorphins—opioid-like compounds that interfere with immune signaling and can perpetuate inflammation.
   

2. It promotes mucus and congestion.
   For many, dairy increases mucus production in the respiratory and digestive tracts, creating the perfect environment for bacterial persistence and sluggish detoxification.
   

3. It disturbs the gut barrier.
   Pasteurized cow’s milk can contribute to gut inflammation and permeability, particularly in those already dealing with microbiome imbalance. This worsens bacterial toxin load and immune overactivation.
   

4. It contains natural growth factors.
   Dairy carries IGF-1 and other hormones designed for calf growth. In adults, these compounds can stimulate bacterial biofilms and inflammatory tissue changes—counterproductive in chronic infection work.
   

5. It adds metabolic stress.
   Lactose and certain milk fats can spike insulin and inflammatory markers, particularly in those with insulin resistance or chronic fatigue syndromes.
   

6. It’s often contaminated and altered.
   Conventional milk may contain antibiotics, hormones, and oxidized fats that the immune system must constantly process—adding to overall inflammatory burden.

When dairy is removed, mucus clears, inflammation subsides, and the gut environment becomes less hospitable to bacteria and yeast overgrowth.

When Gluten Isn’t the Only Problem: Cross-Reactors and Hidden Exposures

Even when gluten has been fully removed, some people continue to react because of gluten cross-reactive foods. These are foods with proteins that the immune system can mistake for gluten—such as corn, oats, rice, dairy, coffee, and even certain seeds. For those with strong immune sensitivity or autoimmune conditions, these cross-reactors can trigger the same inflammatory pathways as gluten itself. If you’ve been strict with your diet but progress has stalled, testing or temporarily removing potential cross-reactors can be key to breaking through the plateau.

🔥 Why Even Tiny Exposures Matter

For individuals with autoimmune or inflammatory conditions, small gluten exposures can cause outsized reactions. A crumb, splash of soy sauce, or shared cutting board can be enough to reignite immune activity for days or even weeks. Remember that the main job of the immune system is to detect invaders and that viral particles are so small they can only be seen by a powerful microscope. Image how a piece of gluten the size of a baby’s fingernail can look like the Titanic to the immune system which then reacts accordingly.

The immune system has a long memory—once sensitized, it doesn’t need much provocation. This is why true gluten elimination must be complete to allow the gut and immune system to calm, repair, and finally move into healing mode.

🌱 The Bottom Line

If you’re on a healing program and not seeing progress, start by tightening up your diet.
No protocol can succeed if gluten and dairy are quietly fueling inflammation behind the scenes.

Removing them may feel challenging at first, but the rewards are often profound—clearer skin, calmer digestion, sharper thinking, less pain, and a body that finally begins to heal instead of defend.

There is a stable datum in dealing with conditions that affect the brain - anything that causes body inflammation increases brain inflammation.

Healing doesn’t start with more treatment.
It starts with what’s on your plate.

More information on gluten and cows’ dairy:

Scientific article: The cow and the coronary: epidemiology, biochemistry and immunology by Margaret Moss and David Freed (2003) Int. J. Cardiol.

Online article: Anti-Cancer Diet (What Doctors Don’t Tell You).

Youtube video: No Gluten, No Dairy (Dr Sarah Myhill)

Youtube video: Is gluten bad for you? (Dr Berg)

Online Blog: Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Suzanne Jeffery (www.goodhealthclinic.co.uk) on 28th January, 2025.

If you need to tighten up your diet and are having difficulty doing so, please get in touch with the Good Health Clinic on goodhealthclinic@outlook.com to request a free 30 minute Enquiry Call or book an appointment. Please note that an Enquiry call is not a consultation but an exploratory call to see if this is a clinical approach you wish to pursue.To your very good health, 

Suzanne Jeffery (Nutritional Medicine Consultant)

M.A.(Oxon), BSc.(NMed), PGCE, GNC, BSEM, MNNA, CNHC

The Good Health Clinic at The Business Centre, 2, Cattedown Road, Plymouth PL4 0EG

Tel no: 07836 552936/ Answer phone: 01752 774755 

Disclaimer:

All advice given out by Suzanne Jeffery and the Good Health Clinic is for general guidance and informational purposes only.  All advice relating to other health professionals’ advice is for general guidance and information purposes only. Readers are encouraged to confirm the information provided with other sources.  Patients and consumers should review the information carefully with their professional health care provider. The information is not intended to replace medical advice offered by other practitioners and physicians. Suzanne Jeffery and the Good Health Clinic will not be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, exemplary or other damages arising therefrom.