GLUTEN FREE DIETS: Reality or Fad?

italian-breadWhat Is Gluten?

Gluten is the plant protein found in several grains – it’s in wheat, rye, and barley, and often in oats –

In the last 10 years lots of people have stopped eating foods containing gluten . They feel much, much  better when they don’t eat gluten.  Let’s look at some of the motivations behind it.

Gluten intolerance

Some people become very ill when eating gluten because they have Celiac Disease.  Celiac disease is a condition that damages the lining of the small intestine and prevents it from absorbing parts of food that are important for staying healthy. The damage is due to a reaction to eating gluten protein.

The disease can develop at any point in life, from infancy to late adulthood and people who have a family member with celiac disease are at greater risk for developing the disease. The disorder is most common in Caucasians and persons of European ancestry. Women are affected more often than men.

This disorder isn’t that common, fortunately — only about 3 million Americans have been diagnosed with  it– but a great number of them may go  undiagnosed with symptoms ranging from bloating, gas, all sort of pain to disabling fatigue and depression.  While self diagnosing test kits are found online, blood tests, and eventually biopsies, are needed for a definitive diagnosis, but only a fraction of sufferers ever get to that diagnostic tool

 Sensitivity to gluten  Let’s just tell it as it is : this is a medical gray area. Many problems (from skin allergies to ADHD to Autism) have been blamed on Gluten sensitivity but there are no tests for  it . Therefore many people resort to elimination diets for self diagnosis, that is going gluten free for a few weeks just to see if symptoms improve and  then slowly re-introducing  gluten back into the daily diet.  If old (or new) symptoms  return, then sensitivity to gluten should be seriously considered and researched.

List of Gluten Free grains ( as published by gluten-free-today.com)

• Amaranth

• Arrowroot

• Corn

• Buckwheat

• Bean Flours

• Millet

• Nut Flours

• Potato

• Quinoa

• Brown Rice

• Wild Rice

• Soy

• Sorghum

• Tapioca

• Tef

A Partial List Of Gluten Free Foods:

Fresh meats, poultry and game
Fish and shellfishChicken Cacciatore
Vegetables
Fresh herbs
Fruit
Dried fruit
Nuts
Cheese (not cheese spreads)
Milk
Dried beans
Vegetable oils
Almonds
Rice, ground, long or short grain
Rice cakes/crackers
Rice flour
Yeast
Cream of tartar
Sugar
Tamari soy sauce
Yogurts
Cider vinegar
Wine vinegar
Flax seed
Corn Tortillas
Corn tacos
Popcorn (check any coating)
Homemade soups
Jam
Honey
Molasses
Tea
Fruit juice
Gluten free beer
Wine

Reality or fad?

According to an article in the WallStreet Journal (March 15, 2011) quoted  and/or paraphrased below, “a new study in the journal BMC Medicine shows gluten can set off a distinct reaction in the intestines and the immune system, even in people who don’t have celiac disease. …”For the first time, we have scientific evidence that indeed, gluten sensitivity not only exists, but is very different from celiac disease,” says lead author Alessio Fasano, medical director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Celiac Research….. “Patients have been told if it wasn’t celiac disease, it wasn’t anything. It was all in their heads,” says Cynthia Kupper, executive director of the nonprofit Gluten Intolerance Group of North America.…The growing market for gluten-free foods, with sales estimated at $2.6 billion last year, has made it even harder to distinguish a medical insight from a fad”

In spite of the fact that little is understood about this alarmingly spreading problem, it is clear that gluten—a stable staple of human diets for the last documented 6,000 years of history —triggers an immune response in some individuals

The article continues citing  some perplexing facts ” The incidence of Celiac disease is rising sharply—and not just due to greater awareness. Tests comparing old blood samples to recent ones show the rate has increased four-fold in the last 50 years, to at least 1 in 133 Americans. It’s also being diagnosed in people as old as 70 who have eaten gluten safely all their lives……”People aren’t born with this. Something triggers it and with this dramatic rise in all ages, it must be something pervasive in the environment,” says Joseph A. Murray, a gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. One possible culprit: agricultural changes to wheat that have boosted its protein content. ”

Conclusions

While it might be tempting to assume that the Gluten Sensitivity/Allergy epidemic is just a fad, spurred on by greedy and unscrupulous advertisers ( which admittedly exist and prosper), there are many reasons to consider the possibilities of a real and sharp increase of  Gluten sensitivities as well as the documented rise in the incidence on Celiac Disease. Common sense and serious allergy self-test  according to experienced dietitians’ directions might provide more clues and solutions for some

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