Gluten is just one of those buzz-words that everyone uses, but few people actually know what it is. Gluten is the main structural protein complex of wheat, barley, rye, and triticale, which makes it a very common ingredient of our food There are four reasons a person might have a gluten-free diet: Celiac disease, wheat allergy, gluten sensitivity, and believing that gluten is bad for everybody and everybody would be healthier without it. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that is triggered by gluten. People with celiac should avoid gluten. Wheat allergy is a hypersensitivity reaction to wheat. People with wheat allergy should avoid wheat, but not necessarily gluten. The main proteins in wheat that can cause allergic reactions are albumin, globulin, gliadin and gluten with the most common culprits being albumin and globulin. So, people with a wheat allergy typically can have other grains that contain gluten such as oats, rye and barley. It can be difficult, however, to find barley and rye products that don’t have cross-contamination with wheat, therefore, people with a wheat allergy often find it easier to follow a gluten free diet. Gluten intolerance (short for non-celiac gluten intolerance) was concluded to might exist by a 34 patient randomized study that was a published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology in 2011, but no clues to the mechanism were elucidated. We all know what happened next. People started self-diagnosing and the market can always be counted on to respond to the demand, no matter if its based on sound evidence or not. But follow-up, placebo controlled, and more sophisticated studies found no evidence of specific or dose-dependent effects of gluten in patients with non-celiac gluten sensitivity. It seems the nocebo effect (the fact that simply thinking something might hurt you is sometimes enough to cause the expected symptoms) following the gluten-crusade that has been run the last few years, is adequately explaining the rising number of people reporting a reaction to gluten. As for the fourth category, as always, the burden of proof lies on the side thats making the claim. Unless theres scientific evidence that gluten is simply horizontally, across the board, bad for everyone, we really have no reason to accept that claim. People who pretend they know this to be true, from personal stories and/or gut feeling, are simply following a fad and not science. And while many people will want to use the standard big pharma, big corporation, science is bought etc slogans, I should remind you that the gluten-free industry that has popped up out of nowhere in no time has actually a lot to lose when the gluten-free fad passes. (Although, I recognise that people who do need a gluten-free diet have now a greater variety of products to choose from and that is definitely good). In conclusion, most of you dont have to worry about gluten. Eat a happy balanced diet of variety and use the time you spend looking for gluten in the ingredients to do something fun or simply take a nap. And remember; Question thoroughly, assert with caution! ~Tania
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 12:20:50 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015