Can Consuming Gluten After Exercise Affect Recovery?

THIS LITERATURE REVIEW HIGHLIGHTS recent research on the relationship between gluten and exercise recovery. Studies have shown that gluten causes an elevation in cytokine activity in certain population samples and various individuals. Prolonged elevations in cytokines, can shift the balance of cytokine activity from anti- inflammatory to pro-inflammatory. This shift causes a mimicking of a catabolic or chronic inflammatory state. In the post exercise state, there is an elevation of cytokine activity that helps promote healing. There is a fine line between recovery from tissue breakdown and the tissue breakdown from the catabolic state induced by chronic inflammation.