Gluten FEAR: Should You Go Gluten-Free?
By: Nicole Nichols,
SparkPeople Blogger
1/29/2010 10:40 AM
: 199 comments
: 69,123 Views
It's blamed for a host of ailments: headaches, digestive distress, weight gain, poor immune function, hormonal disruption, and even behavioral problems in children. But does gluten, the natural-occurring protein found in wheat, barley, rye and some oats, really the cause of all these health evils? Many health-conscious consumers believe so.
Oprah Winfrey tried a 21-day "cleanse” in 2008 where she eliminated meat, dairy, sugar, caffeine—and gluten—from her diet for three weeks. Grocery shoppers are seeing more food packages plastered with "gluten-free" logos on their faces, too. And specialty stores like Whole Foods offer gluten-free shopping lists and place little flags next to the gluten-free products on their shelves. As it turns out, gluten-free is a booming business. That's great for people who need to avoid gluten, but what about the rest of us?
We're all getting the message that gluten must be bad for us—why else would Oprah avoid it and our foods need to be "free" of it? Gluten-free foods are all the rage these days, but is gluten-free (or wheat-free, for that matter) the way to be or is it just another food trend?
Here are the real facts about gluten-free diets and gluten sensitivities, starting with the basics.
What is Gluten?
Put simply, wheat (all types, including durum, einkorn, faro, kamut, semolina and spelt), barley, rye and certain processed oats all contain a protein called gluten, and all foods made from these grains (most flours, cereals, breads, pastas, crackers and cookies) contain gluten, too. For a pretty comprehensive list of gluten-free and gluten-containing foods, download this PDF. Not all grains contain gluten, however: Amaranth, arrowroot, buckwheat, cassava (manioc), corn, flax, indian rice grass (montina), Job's tears, millet, finger millet (ragi), potatoes, quinoa, rice, sago, sorghum, soy, tapioca, tef (teff), wild rice and yucca are naturally gluten-free. Oats are gluten-free, but the processing of oats usually contaminates them with other gluten-containing foods, so only oats that are specially labeled as gluten-free are safe for people with sensitivities.
What makes foods that contain gluten so desirable (besides the nutritional benefits of protein) is its texture. What makes bread so elastic and chewy? Gluten. What gives bread structure so it can rise before it is baked? Gluten again. This protein also helps bread retain its shape and acts as a binder, thickener, and stabilizer—not only in bread, but also in many processed foods, including ice cream, ketchup and salad dressing, and other products like toothpaste and medicines. (Unfortunately, for people with gluten sensitivities, you won't always find the word "gluten" on an ingredients label.) Because of all of these properties, gluten can often be found in meat analogs (vegetarian meat substitutes like seitan, veggie burgers and other faux meats) and specialty diet foods that are designed to be higher in protein. Because gluten is cheap, rich in protein and has so many great properties, it's found in a plethora of processed, fast food and restaurant foods—you know, the kind of foods we probably shouldn't be eating a lot of anyway. That doesn't mean that gluten itself is bad for you (it occurs naturally in many health-promoting whole grains), but it does mean that it's hard to avoid if you really need to.
Why Avoid Gluten?
Some people, from alternative health practitioners to some mainstream integrative doctors, blame gluten and wheat for a variety of health problems, such as depression, fatigue, weight gain and behavioral problems. It's true that people with gluten intolerance and celiac disease (present in 1% of the American population) may experience a wide array of symptoms or nutritional deficiencies that could lead to these problems. But this is not the case for gluten in general, nor is it true for everyone else who eats it. None of the theories that gluten directly causes health problems in the other 99% of the population have ever been proven. You may hear some convincing stories, though: your aunt who gave up gluten and finally lost 50 pounds, or a stranger who blogged about feeling more energetic and less depressed after going gluten-free. Many people might feel better, experience less digestive distress or actually become healthier by giving up gluten-containing foods, but that doesn't necessarily mean that gluten itself was causing those problems in the first place. In addition, personal experience is not the same thing as a well-designed research study; as you probably learned in high school science class, correlation does not prove causation.
It's impossible to know whether giving up gluten (or wheat) itself may have improved one's health or if those improvements resulted from a combination of factors. For example, a person who adopts a gluten-free diet will suddenly avoid most (if not all) processed foods, fast foods and restaurant foods. These foods are also notoriously high in fat, sodium and calories and low in nutrients anyway. A gluten-free diet also involves cooking more meals at home and eating more unprocessed foods like fruits and vegetables. Certainly, these healthful dietary practices would result in many positive health outcomes. But can you attribute the health, weight, or mental improvements directly to gluten itself? Can you blame the gluten in your Big Mac for the health problems you've faced in the past (rather than the Big Mac itself)? No. Gluten-free diet or not, we could all benefit from eating more fresh, unprocessed foods, cooking more at home, and dining out less often. A multitude of factors are at play here.
In the article "Putting the Healthy into Gluten-Free," published in the trade magazine Today's Dietitian, Registered Dietitian Earline Griffith commented, “I am seeing people who don’t need to be on a gluten-free diet choosing gluten-free products because they think [they’re] healthier. It’s kind of comical, as it is healthier to eat conventional 100% whole grain products rather than [ones that are] processed.” So why avoid gluten if you don't need to? Or more importantly, what's the big deal if you want to eat a gluten-free diet anyway?
Downsides and Challenges of a Gluten-Free Diet
Giving up gluten is not easy to do. It involves a complete overhaul of one's diet, cooking techniques, kitchen set up (crumbs inside a toaster could contaminate your gluten-free bread, for example) and eating habits. And it's not without its downsides. People who need to avoid gluten due to celiac disease and people who are simply avoid because they think it's unhealthful can run into a variety of problems.
Gluten Sensitivity and Celiac Disease
Gluten sensitivity is an umbrella term for a collection of medical conditions in which a person experiences adverse reactions to eating gluten.
According to the Celiac Disease Foundation, fewer than 1 out of 133 people (less than 1%) in the United States have celiac disease (also known as celiac sprue, nontropical sprue, and gluten-sensitive enteropathy), a condition in which the body cannot handle gluten. This condition is even less common worldwide (1 out of 266). Unlike allergies, which can develop over time, celiac disease is a genetically determined condition, the cause of which is still unknown.
When a person with celiac disease consumes gluten, an autoimmune reaction occurs in the small intestine, resulting in damage to the surface of the small intestine and painful stomach bloating, cramps, gas, diarrhea, and constipation. Fatigue, weight loss, and malnutrition are common symptoms, too. Celiac disease may also present itself in less obvious ways, including irritability or depression, stomach upset, joint pain, muscle cramps, headaches and migraines, anemia, skin rash, mouth sores, dental and bone disorders and tingling in the legs and feet. However, because these symptoms are common to many other conditions and can range in severity, celiac disease is often overlooked or misdiagnosed, as irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia. If you exhibit any of these symptoms, talk with your doctor to discuss them and get tested.
Screening for celiac disease involves a simple blood test that your doctor can perform. A complete panel (antigliadin antibody (IgG and IgA), tissue transglutaminase (tTG IgA), anti-endomysial antibody (EMA), and total serum IgA) will yield the best results. The gold standard of celiac disease diagnosis is an intestinal biopsy. Because of a known genetic component, it is recommended that family members of a diagnosed celiac be tested, even if asymptomatic; people with other autoimmune diseases are at a 25% increased risk of having celiac disease, says the Celiac Disease Foundation.
Individuals whose test results do not exhibit the markers of celiac disease, but still experience similar symptoms when eating gluten, may have gluten intolerance. Intolerance to gluten may develop or worsen over time, but there is no research to show that individuals with gluten intolerance will develop celiac disease. It should be noted that gluten intolerance has not been well researched, but it is generally accepted that gluten sensitivities do exist in varying degrees for some people. While people with celiac disease need to avoid gluten to prevent unwanted symptoms and additional damage to the intestines, some people with gluten sensitivities may tolerate varying amounts of gluten without negative effects. It is recommended (and beneficial) that people with gluten intolerance and celiac disease both work closely with their health care providers to manage their symptoms and prevent complications.
Going Gluten-Free
Just 1/8 teaspoon of wheat flour can prevent healing and exacerbate symptoms, according to some studies. So people with celiac disease need to avoid gluten permanently. Within days or weeks of abstaining from gluten, inflammation in the small intestine will begin to subside. There is no cure for celiac disease, but you can effectively manage it through strict dietary changes and the adherence to a gluten-free diet.
The following resources, selected by SparkPeople's Head Dietitian, Becky Hand, may be beneficial for people who must follow a strict gluten-free diet.
WEBSITES
SparkPeople.com cannot provide gluten-free meal plans because it is a multifaceted disease that requires individualized attention and nutritional education. We recommend that anyone with celiac disease meets with a Registered Dietitian to receive the necessary education, individualized meal planning and supplementation necessary to avoid symptoms and prevent nutritional deficiencies. Your dietitian can advise you on how to best maintain the nutritional quality of your diet and help you come up with gluten-free baking, cooking and shopping tips.
Once you are familiar with your gluten-free diet and the special gluten-free food products on the market, you are ready to combine this information with the tools and assistance at SparkPeople. You can use SparkPeople's general meal plans and make appropriate substitutions with gluten-free products or track your own foods as recommended by your Registered Dietitian. Upload your gluten-free recipes to your SparkRecipes cookbook to analyze, save and track your favorite recipes while monitoring your calories and nutritional intake. And post often in our gluten-free SparkTeams for support and tips from other members.
This content has been reviewed and approved by SparkPeople nutrition expert, Becky Hand, Licensed and Registered Dietitian.
Sources
Celiac Disease from Harvard Health Publications
Gluten (for information about gluten's properties) from Wikipedia.com
The Gluten-Free Diet: An Update for Health Professionals by Carol Rees Parrish, R.D., M.S. accessed from University of Virginia (Virginia.edu)
Gluten-Free Diet Information Sheet from the Vegetarian Society (VegSoc.org)
Gluten-free diets gaining in popularity by Kim Painter from USATODAY.com
Gluten Sensitivity from the Gluten Intolerance Group (gluten.net)
Gluten Sensitivity (for information on the definition of gluten sensitivity) from Wikipedia.com
The Gluten Sensitivity Spectrum by Danna Korn from GlutenFreedom.net
Putting the Healthy into Gluten-Free by Sharon Palmer, RD from TodaysDietitian.com
Understanding Celiac Disease by John Libonati and Cleo Libonati, RN, BSN from TodaysDietitian.com
Oprah Winfrey tried a 21-day "cleanse” in 2008 where she eliminated meat, dairy, sugar, caffeine—and gluten—from her diet for three weeks. Grocery shoppers are seeing more food packages plastered with "gluten-free" logos on their faces, too. And specialty stores like Whole Foods offer gluten-free shopping lists and place little flags next to the gluten-free products on their shelves. As it turns out, gluten-free is a booming business. That's great for people who need to avoid gluten, but what about the rest of us?
We're all getting the message that gluten must be bad for us—why else would Oprah avoid it and our foods need to be "free" of it? Gluten-free foods are all the rage these days, but is gluten-free (or wheat-free, for that matter) the way to be or is it just another food trend?
Here are the real facts about gluten-free diets and gluten sensitivities, starting with the basics.
What is Gluten?
Put simply, wheat (all types, including durum, einkorn, faro, kamut, semolina and spelt), barley, rye and certain processed oats all contain a protein called gluten, and all foods made from these grains (most flours, cereals, breads, pastas, crackers and cookies) contain gluten, too. For a pretty comprehensive list of gluten-free and gluten-containing foods, download this PDF. Not all grains contain gluten, however: Amaranth, arrowroot, buckwheat, cassava (manioc), corn, flax, indian rice grass (montina), Job's tears, millet, finger millet (ragi), potatoes, quinoa, rice, sago, sorghum, soy, tapioca, tef (teff), wild rice and yucca are naturally gluten-free. Oats are gluten-free, but the processing of oats usually contaminates them with other gluten-containing foods, so only oats that are specially labeled as gluten-free are safe for people with sensitivities.
What makes foods that contain gluten so desirable (besides the nutritional benefits of protein) is its texture. What makes bread so elastic and chewy? Gluten. What gives bread structure so it can rise before it is baked? Gluten again. This protein also helps bread retain its shape and acts as a binder, thickener, and stabilizer—not only in bread, but also in many processed foods, including ice cream, ketchup and salad dressing, and other products like toothpaste and medicines. (Unfortunately, for people with gluten sensitivities, you won't always find the word "gluten" on an ingredients label.) Because of all of these properties, gluten can often be found in meat analogs (vegetarian meat substitutes like seitan, veggie burgers and other faux meats) and specialty diet foods that are designed to be higher in protein. Because gluten is cheap, rich in protein and has so many great properties, it's found in a plethora of processed, fast food and restaurant foods—you know, the kind of foods we probably shouldn't be eating a lot of anyway. That doesn't mean that gluten itself is bad for you (it occurs naturally in many health-promoting whole grains), but it does mean that it's hard to avoid if you really need to.
Why Avoid Gluten?
Some people, from alternative health practitioners to some mainstream integrative doctors, blame gluten and wheat for a variety of health problems, such as depression, fatigue, weight gain and behavioral problems. It's true that people with gluten intolerance and celiac disease (present in 1% of the American population) may experience a wide array of symptoms or nutritional deficiencies that could lead to these problems. But this is not the case for gluten in general, nor is it true for everyone else who eats it. None of the theories that gluten directly causes health problems in the other 99% of the population have ever been proven. You may hear some convincing stories, though: your aunt who gave up gluten and finally lost 50 pounds, or a stranger who blogged about feeling more energetic and less depressed after going gluten-free. Many people might feel better, experience less digestive distress or actually become healthier by giving up gluten-containing foods, but that doesn't necessarily mean that gluten itself was causing those problems in the first place. In addition, personal experience is not the same thing as a well-designed research study; as you probably learned in high school science class, correlation does not prove causation.
It's impossible to know whether giving up gluten (or wheat) itself may have improved one's health or if those improvements resulted from a combination of factors. For example, a person who adopts a gluten-free diet will suddenly avoid most (if not all) processed foods, fast foods and restaurant foods. These foods are also notoriously high in fat, sodium and calories and low in nutrients anyway. A gluten-free diet also involves cooking more meals at home and eating more unprocessed foods like fruits and vegetables. Certainly, these healthful dietary practices would result in many positive health outcomes. But can you attribute the health, weight, or mental improvements directly to gluten itself? Can you blame the gluten in your Big Mac for the health problems you've faced in the past (rather than the Big Mac itself)? No. Gluten-free diet or not, we could all benefit from eating more fresh, unprocessed foods, cooking more at home, and dining out less often. A multitude of factors are at play here.
In the article "Putting the Healthy into Gluten-Free," published in the trade magazine Today's Dietitian, Registered Dietitian Earline Griffith commented, “I am seeing people who don’t need to be on a gluten-free diet choosing gluten-free products because they think [they’re] healthier. It’s kind of comical, as it is healthier to eat conventional 100% whole grain products rather than [ones that are] processed.” So why avoid gluten if you don't need to? Or more importantly, what's the big deal if you want to eat a gluten-free diet anyway?
Downsides and Challenges of a Gluten-Free Diet
Giving up gluten is not easy to do. It involves a complete overhaul of one's diet, cooking techniques, kitchen set up (crumbs inside a toaster could contaminate your gluten-free bread, for example) and eating habits. And it's not without its downsides. People who need to avoid gluten due to celiac disease and people who are simply avoid because they think it's unhealthful can run into a variety of problems.
- Misdiagnosis and self-diagnosis. Reading about the symptoms of celiac disease online and then deciding your have it is not the same as medical diagnosis from your doctor. Many people assume they have gluten intolerance when the symptoms they experience could actually be caused by other serious conditions that giving up gluten will not solve. Only a doctor can test for and rule out other conditions. If you think you have a sensitivity to gluten, see your doctor first. By avoiding gluten before you've actually been tested for celiac disease, you could mask the markers of the disease. Like an allergy test that exposes you to an allergen to see if your body develops a reaction, you have to have eaten gluten for these markers to show up when you are tested. People who may have celiac disease but start a gluten-free diet before diagnosis or testing may receive a false negative on their test results.
- Nutritional deficiencies. People who follow gluten-free diets, especially without instruction or supervision from a registered dietitian or doctor, may develop vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Because so many healthful and nutritious foods contain gluten, it can be difficult to get those same nutrients when eliminating these foods from your diet. You may also fall short of meeting your body's needs for carbohydrates, the preferred fuel source for exercise, brain activity and so much more.
- Cost. An increasing selection and variety of specialty products make it easier to enjoy your favorite foods and still eat gluten-free. But it is going to cost you more than standard products, especially if you're buying processed foods that are gluten-free. You may expect to pay two to three times as much for gluten-free breads or crackers, for example.
- Gluten-free doesn't mean healthy. Gluten-free foods are not always nutritious. Just because a cookie or bagel is gluten-free does not mean it's healthful, low in calories or nutritious. Many gluten-free packaged foods are highly processed and are best avoided.
- You can't trust every label. As mentioned above, the word "gluten" will rarely appear on a food package or nutrition label. Some foods can legally be labeled as gluten-free but still contain gluten. In addition, food manufacturers can change their products at anytime without warning. The wheat-free pretzels that were on your safe list may suddenly change, and unless you're reading labels every time you shop, foods that were once gluten-free might suddenly contain gluten. This doesn't even get into the list of other products and medications that contain gluten.
Gluten Sensitivity and Celiac Disease
Gluten sensitivity is an umbrella term for a collection of medical conditions in which a person experiences adverse reactions to eating gluten.
According to the Celiac Disease Foundation, fewer than 1 out of 133 people (less than 1%) in the United States have celiac disease (also known as celiac sprue, nontropical sprue, and gluten-sensitive enteropathy), a condition in which the body cannot handle gluten. This condition is even less common worldwide (1 out of 266). Unlike allergies, which can develop over time, celiac disease is a genetically determined condition, the cause of which is still unknown.
When a person with celiac disease consumes gluten, an autoimmune reaction occurs in the small intestine, resulting in damage to the surface of the small intestine and painful stomach bloating, cramps, gas, diarrhea, and constipation. Fatigue, weight loss, and malnutrition are common symptoms, too. Celiac disease may also present itself in less obvious ways, including irritability or depression, stomach upset, joint pain, muscle cramps, headaches and migraines, anemia, skin rash, mouth sores, dental and bone disorders and tingling in the legs and feet. However, because these symptoms are common to many other conditions and can range in severity, celiac disease is often overlooked or misdiagnosed, as irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia. If you exhibit any of these symptoms, talk with your doctor to discuss them and get tested.
Screening for celiac disease involves a simple blood test that your doctor can perform. A complete panel (antigliadin antibody (IgG and IgA), tissue transglutaminase (tTG IgA), anti-endomysial antibody (EMA), and total serum IgA) will yield the best results. The gold standard of celiac disease diagnosis is an intestinal biopsy. Because of a known genetic component, it is recommended that family members of a diagnosed celiac be tested, even if asymptomatic; people with other autoimmune diseases are at a 25% increased risk of having celiac disease, says the Celiac Disease Foundation.
Individuals whose test results do not exhibit the markers of celiac disease, but still experience similar symptoms when eating gluten, may have gluten intolerance. Intolerance to gluten may develop or worsen over time, but there is no research to show that individuals with gluten intolerance will develop celiac disease. It should be noted that gluten intolerance has not been well researched, but it is generally accepted that gluten sensitivities do exist in varying degrees for some people. While people with celiac disease need to avoid gluten to prevent unwanted symptoms and additional damage to the intestines, some people with gluten sensitivities may tolerate varying amounts of gluten without negative effects. It is recommended (and beneficial) that people with gluten intolerance and celiac disease both work closely with their health care providers to manage their symptoms and prevent complications.
Going Gluten-Free
Just 1/8 teaspoon of wheat flour can prevent healing and exacerbate symptoms, according to some studies. So people with celiac disease need to avoid gluten permanently. Within days or weeks of abstaining from gluten, inflammation in the small intestine will begin to subside. There is no cure for celiac disease, but you can effectively manage it through strict dietary changes and the adherence to a gluten-free diet.
The following resources, selected by SparkPeople's Head Dietitian, Becky Hand, may be beneficial for people who must follow a strict gluten-free diet.
WEBSITES
- American Celiac Disease Alliance
- Canadian Celiac Association
- Celiac Disease Center
- Celiac Disease Foundation
- Celiac Sprue Association
- Gluten Intolerance Group
- GlutenFreedom.net
- 125 Best Gluten-Free Recipes by Donna Washburn and Heather Butt
- The Best Gluten-Free Family Cookbook by Donna Washburn and Heather Butt
- Cooking Gluten-Free by Karen Robertson
- Gluten-Free Baking by Rebecca Reilly
- Gluten-Free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide by Shelley Case, RD
- The Gluten-Free Gourmet series by Bette Hagman
- Incredible Edible Gluten-Free Foods for Kids by Sheri Sanderson
- Let’s Eat Out! Your Passport to Living Gluten and Allergy Free by Kim Koeller and Robert La France
- Waiter, Is There Wheat in My Soup? By LynnRae Ries
- Wheat-Free, Gluten-Free cookbook series by Connie Sarros
- Wheat-Free Recipes and Menus by Carol Fenster, Ph.D.
SparkPeople.com cannot provide gluten-free meal plans because it is a multifaceted disease that requires individualized attention and nutritional education. We recommend that anyone with celiac disease meets with a Registered Dietitian to receive the necessary education, individualized meal planning and supplementation necessary to avoid symptoms and prevent nutritional deficiencies. Your dietitian can advise you on how to best maintain the nutritional quality of your diet and help you come up with gluten-free baking, cooking and shopping tips.
Once you are familiar with your gluten-free diet and the special gluten-free food products on the market, you are ready to combine this information with the tools and assistance at SparkPeople. You can use SparkPeople's general meal plans and make appropriate substitutions with gluten-free products or track your own foods as recommended by your Registered Dietitian. Upload your gluten-free recipes to your SparkRecipes cookbook to analyze, save and track your favorite recipes while monitoring your calories and nutritional intake. And post often in our gluten-free SparkTeams for support and tips from other members.
This content has been reviewed and approved by SparkPeople nutrition expert, Becky Hand, Licensed and Registered Dietitian.
Sources
Celiac Disease from Harvard Health Publications
Gluten (for information about gluten's properties) from Wikipedia.com
The Gluten-Free Diet: An Update for Health Professionals by Carol Rees Parrish, R.D., M.S. accessed from University of Virginia (Virginia.edu)
Gluten-Free Diet Information Sheet from the Vegetarian Society (VegSoc.org)
Gluten-free diets gaining in popularity by Kim Painter from USATODAY.com
Gluten Sensitivity from the Gluten Intolerance Group (gluten.net)
Gluten Sensitivity (for information on the definition of gluten sensitivity) from Wikipedia.com
The Gluten Sensitivity Spectrum by Danna Korn from GlutenFreedom.net
Putting the Healthy into Gluten-Free by Sharon Palmer, RD from TodaysDietitian.com
Understanding Celiac Disease by John Libonati and Cleo Libonati, RN, BSN from TodaysDietitian.com
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Comments
When I got off gluten, I did exactly what happens to Celiacs who get off it (and the OPPOSITE of people who claim it's a healthy 'diet'):
I gained weight -- quickly! I've never gotten off that layer of fat. My first year was spent eating no 'specialty' foods (gluten free snacks). I have to admit, I've begun sampling some of the fare out there. Most aren't 'as good' tasting and that's fine (who needs to eat cookies and cakes anyway) but they are more expensive!
The freedom from swollen (my feet regularly swelled from a size 6.5 to an 8) joints (not only feet), mouth ulcers, ROSACEA, thin, thin, thin 'hair' (you could always see lots of scalp and I'm a woman) -- never mind all those years of debilitating gut pain?
I never got the IBS/diarrhea symptom (went the other way) but mostly, it's the symptoms I mentioned above. It's TMI but I'm sharing because all those years mean I did MORE DAMAGE to my gut.
I have chronic gut problems but they ARE so much better since I'm 2 years into my diagnosis. I wish this knowledge had gone public when I was a child. I'd never heard of it before. - 4/9/2013 2:11:40 PM
Once gluten was elimintated from their diet, they both became much healthier- and GAINED WEIGHT because their bodies were finally able to process their foods. According to their doctors, this is normal and generally expected from people with gluten sensitivity once it has been elimintated.
My own doctor and dietician said that it is highly unlikely that gluten allergy would cause weight gain. The inflamation that is caused by gluten in sensitive individuals prevents nutrients from entering the body, among other things.
Personally, I think people who try diets like this without medical reason are simply jumping on the next 'fad diet" type of people. Now, if it gets you to eat healthier and cook more, then bully for you! But really, we should be doing that ANYWAY, not because of an allergy or disease. - 4/6/2013 4:02:50 PM
I also am going to college and, as I take more chemistry classes (I love science!), I am learning that besides being completely amazing, our bodies are very delicate, at times. I can't help but marvel at how modern processing and modification of everyday foods (fruits, grains, vegetables, and the animals we consume) has changed the very structure of those foods. Chemicals are added to make plants grow taller and fuller, more disease-resistant, and harvestable in traditionally non-peak times of the year. Even though certain items historically have seasons, with genetic modification, it is now possible to grow them year-round.
Corn, wheat, and soy are the most common ingredients of foods. All of them have been genetically altered at an alarming rate and mass produced for decades. Most of the genetic content of foods now is man-made versus organic. Since we have only been mass-consuming these food products for the last generation, there is no credible way to evaluate any long-term affects, such as on our health and the health of our children.
I have adopted the theory that, perhaps, we are not so much allergic or intolerant of the gluten itself, but to its genetic counterpart. I mean, our bodies were designed to consume fresh meats, grains, fruits, and vegetables...that's the way they grew and we ate them naturally. We have been genetically used to "organic" foods for thousands of years; yet, now, the majority of what we eat, if not from a box, is not organic -- it has been genetically engineered, injected with enhancements, treated with pesticides, etc.
I don't know if gluten itself, which is a naturally occurring protein from naturally grown grains, is the actual culprit. All I do know is that when I eat organic foods, I do not encounter as many problems. It is just something to think about. - 10/24/2012 1:33:10 PM
My point, though, is that this dietician is being cautious. She has to be. Her information is very thorough and accurate. If you want somebody to say, "Go ahead, give it a try," then refer to a doctor. They are legally the only ones who can give you the green light.
Thank you for the wonderful information. - 5/2/2012 9:30:07 PM
In fact, regarding nutrients, if a person has celiac disease or gluten intolerance, but continues to eat wheat, it makes it more difficult to absorb nutrients due to inflammation. These folks are more prone to Anemia & other vitamin deficiencies. Going gluten-free would dramatically improve their health.
I'm a self-diagnosed gluten intolerant person. I've been tested for celiac disease twice, both times the results were negative. I was told to eat wheat anyway, as this author recommends. I got sicker & decided to try gluten-free... What do you know, my migraines, IBS, foggy brain, and fatigue went away within days. Then, as I kept it up over a few months, my urticaria (lifelong skin condition) cleared up, and my thyroid levels are improving instead of getting worse. Hmm. If only I had taken the author's advice, I'd be still popping 5 pills a day and be on the road to illness.
Seriously, get tested for celiac by all means, but of you are negative and still suspect gluten to be an issue, then take it out of your diet for a few weeks and reevaluate. If there's no difference in how you feel, then maybe you are ok to continue eating it. If, like me, your health improves, what an awesome discovery! I never thought I'd feel healthy again... But now I feel free. :) - 3/4/2012 11:10:24 AM
I began to do my own research online and ended up with the gluten free articals. I decided to give it a try because i was so tired of being sick every time i ate...which included sever bloating, heart burn to the point of chest pain, extreme constipation... nothing over the counter helped with symptoms. There was nights i would go to bed thinking wow this pain is so sever i may not wake up in the morning!
I called my doctor explained what i had decided that i couldnt afford test for gluten problems so i was going to try the gluten free diet on my own. He agreed that if gluten was my problem i would see improvement and my body would eventually start being healthy enough to retain the nutrients i was eating and my labs would improve. Within a few days of going gluten free i was 100% better! No chest pain no abdominal pain no digestive problems what so ever!
I will say again that if you can afford to go to the doctor then by all means do it but in my case that wasnt an option to pay for extensive tests and i just could not continue to live with the pain a day longer.
I could probly afford to get the testing now for gluten problems but it would mean returning to a diet that includes gluten to get it to show up on a test and im not willing to go threw the pain to get a medical diagnosis that i already know the out come of.
- 12/16/2011 11:06:00 AM
I went gluten free on the suggestion of a friend with Sjogren's who had found it to be helpful. Within a few weeks my pain levels had gone way down. A few weeks more and my asthma was completely gone.
I know gluten is the cause because every time I go into denial and let myself indulge, I end up feeling much much worse.
Had I consulted a doctor beforehand I would have been warned against the attempt. I did not have the classic symptoms of celiac disease.
Doctors don't know everything. What they know now about gluten intolerance (separate from celiac) is knowledge gained from patients who ignored their advice and demonstrated the connection between gluten and their symptoms by their own personal experimentation.
There is no reason to try it if you are already healthy. But if you are suffering from conditions in which inflammation plays a major role, it is well worth the effort to try it. You do not have to be celiac to benefit from a gluten free diet. - 10/15/2011 3:32:02 AM
I find it odd that someone would warn people away from temporarily trying a GF diet to see what happens to their bodies, but it's your blog, and if that's what you feel the space should be taken up with, more power to you... I guess... if anyone's spreading fear, it sure sounds like this article is, not the people who suggest that it's worth a try to see how you feel. Since most Americans don't go 24 hours without consuming gluten from the time they're babies, they would have no way of knowing how it affects them (or doesn't). Lots of people are less well than they could be but don't know it.
One of the statistics that wasn't mentioned in this article is that 97% of the people with celiac disease are undiagnosed and consuming gluten without realizing the damage it's doing. I was one of them until 2005. Never would have occurred to me that it was possible to be well, but it was. I thought it was the way everyone felt.
Try it, don't try it, give us meal plans, don't give us meal plans. But don't be afraid to see what happens if you go GF and don't be afraid to eat gluten if you'd rather not stop (unless you've been diagnosed, because that's dangerous). - 9/15/2010 12:45:07 PM
Take it from me, Gluten DOES NOT hurt your average person. In fact, it's a good thing to have in your system. If I could eat gluten I absolutely would.
Unless you have a sensitivity DIAGNOSED BY YOUR DOCTOR there is no reason to cut out gluten.
The only problem was that I GAINED weight afterwards because I was actually getting nutrition from my food instead of it just rushing through my damaged system.
My wife makes incredible bread and pie and I miss those a lot. You just can't make them very well without gluten. But I have been learning for a few years ad found that for most things I can substitute oat flour or rice flour and it works out just as well. (I make them myself by grinding up the grains in the blender rather than buying the expensive milled flours.)
- 5/21/2010 10:23:26 AM
GF and wheat free eating doesn't mean you have to miss out on good nutrients. in fact, I probably eat a much more diverse diet now I'm wheat free. I now eat whole grain flours blended from different grains. I also can't have dairy very much as it bothers me, but there are so many great options with soy and nut milks.
For some people, wheat free really is better. And the diagnosis of celiac requires a biopsy, how many people really want to commit to that? I say don't eat what makes you feel sluggish and bad. And you won't know unless you try living without it. I'm happier and healthier without the wheat. - 5/13/2010 7:41:43 PM
Case in point, while shopping this weekend, I passed by some gluten free cookies. I stopped to look, just to see what was in them. Besides the obvious change in flour (I beleive it was tapioca flour), there was tons of sugars (including high fructose corn syrup), saturated fat, preservities, and within 10 calories per same size serving of a name brand cooke with gluten. I know we all preach "moderation", but unless you have CD or a senstivity to gluten you can't convince me that the gluten free cookies are a better choice, or even a good choice.
I think for most, a critical eye, some education, and common sense goes a long way. - 3/22/2010 11:44:00 AM
I think that there is a huge portion of people avoiding gluten because it is the trend right now, if you do indeed have any health issues you feel might be related to gluten please see your doctor and get an official diagnosis, cutting gluten out of your life is not a cure all and I'd like to add is that being allergic and being intolerant to something are totally different reactions.
I've used spark for years and lived my gluten (and many other allergies) lifestyle just fine by tracking my own food. If you are at all like me you need to make most foods from scratch and its unrealistic for a free site like Spark to be cater to all of our needs. I LOVE SPARK and its part of my gluten free life. - 3/7/2010 9:33:48 PM
Do I need a doctor to tell me what not to eat? I get depression, GERD, nausea and severe diarrhea if I eat gluten, and I don't have any of those symptoms if I *don't* eat gluten, with no other changes in my diet. That's more than enough for me! And unlike the scare comments in the article there are *no* essential nutrients I miss out on by giving up gluten grains. Goodness gracious. How did humankind survive for over a million years without gluten grains?
The again I don't eat "gluten-free" products either, as most of them contain other ingredients I don't care about either, but I basically never eat any processed or prepared foods. I make it myself so I know what I'm getting. :-) But really, gluten-free is not that hard, is perfectly healthy, and has untold benefits for many people who may not even realize they have a gluten issue as symptoms are often so subliminal. I went to multiple doctors and had all the tests in the book, only to be told they could find nothing clinical wrong with me and I would need to be on Zantac and Xanax the rest of my life. I had to find gluten-free on my own to heal myself and get off medications. - 2/23/2010 11:58:27 AM
Doesn't it make more sense to just eat a healthy diet, with more veggies and fruits, more whole grains, less processed foods, more fiber? I think if more people would just eat this way it would solve a lot of health problems - and alleged problems. - 2/16/2010 12:23:49 PM
sharon - 2/6/2010 2:01:45 PM
There are so many other dangers to being diagnosed with celiac disease besides food. Prescription drugs, personal care items, every day things that those without this disease would not begin to think of. As I type, I am pretty sick from a reaction to a drug - substituted by my pharmacist - that contained gluten. Come to find out that even my own pharmacist will only watch for active ingredients, not inactive. Of all the dirty rotten little...I digress. I took two doses, I have been sick for a week and will be sick for another until my system can begin to pull out of it.
Two of my four children have been provided with the blood antibody test and turned up negative with very very low numbers (mine were off the chart). One of them feels better without gluten, the other did not even try to go without as far as I know.
Six months after my blood diagnosis (I have since had a biopsy), a full blood panel was performed showing that the only vitamin I was not getting enough of was vitamin D - well DUH, I live in Seattle. Just over a year later, my vitamin D is up to low normal level. I just try to eat balanced meals, regular food without breads and grains. Rice is still good, beans and legumes are awesome. I don't take supplements unless the doc says I need to.
The only reason food is more expensive is because only certain brands (and sub-products within brands) are guaranteed gluten-free. Pasta and bread are more expensive because you pay for that specialty item; it is a little cheaper if you make it yourself, but not much. The taste cannot be beat though! To feed myself a pretty normal diet, I spend between $60 - $80 per week. That really is not bad. If I buy more packaged foods, meat more than twice a week, and buy bread mix for the bread maker, of course that hits the high mark. It's hard, it takes learning, but it's not rocket science. I knew nothing in the beginning and survived, I think I'll make it.
Spark has a fairly large community of people with gluten issues that would greatly benefit from articles that do not follow the most current magazine issue available as one checks out from the grocery store. Although there are some good resources and valid points provided here, there is nothing like what I found in Scientific American September 2009, which was an up-to-date account of what is happening right now in the world of research on the upper gi directly related to celiac disease. No, the article did not mention Oprah, fad diets, or anything else related to pop culture; nor did it harp on about "the evils of". It was well balanced. Probably why I took it seriously.
Not once did this Spark article mention that those who cannot digest gluten properly can actually destroy their intestine over time and that will remove their ability to absorb nutrients. Really...let's talk about the evils and dangers, not about what actually happens. If it feels good, do it. There is one article out there that says gluten is a derived grain, not ever naturally occurring, crossbred from some other plant. We weren't even meant to have gluten in the first place!
The rest of you who eat gluten have 1000x the food to select from grocery store shelves that anyone trying to avoid the stuff does. It only seems easy if it doesn't make you sick, it is when a tiny little microbe of the stuff makes you ill and WHAM - those grocery store shelves would start to look like the Sahara Desert.
Trust me.
Folks who need low-sodium, low-fat, low-cholesterol, sugar-free, and whatever else dietary needs gets that no problem. The medical community is willing to aid and assist those with more "common" ailments that have strict dietary regimens without argument. From special diet to prescription drugs to lab tests to maintenance visits with the doctor. Just try requesting anything related to celiac disease or gluten intolerance. You will sprout Medusa hair on three heads. They will sprout a third arm with a hand shaped in the form of a "DENIED" stamp.
Again, you will just have to trust me. - 2/5/2010 6:44:50 AM
- 2/5/2010 12:52:06 AM
- 2/3/2010 8:16:44 PM
Last month I chose to do a cleanse like the one that it states Oprah did, even though I didn't know anything about what she did, I do not follow her. I just wanted to get back to eating more natural foods, veggies, fruits, nuts, etc. I been eating steel-cut oats and brown rice for my carbs, and yogurt, soy milk, legumes for protein. It is great! I haven't been craving sugar or caffeine as I did constantly before. I feel healthy and have lost 20lbs already! Its almost unreal. . I ate pretty healthy before, wheat bread and all, but taking it a step further has been so much better for me. So I am planning to stick with it, slowly adding organic/kosher animal products, and maybe some whole wheat products by the end of the year
Now I can't speak for everyone, but I see absolutely no reason to not try a GF diet! I don't understand why this author would discourage it! Nutritional deficiencies is bull... What God gave us to eat has plenty of nutrition. Not everything that say GF is healthy... thats true. Thats why I have been avoiding processed food alltogether. Cost... really. I went to a Hispanic supermarket and bought enough veggies and fruit to last me for over a week for less then $20. Again if your not buying processed crap, your fine! - 2/3/2010 3:54:23 PM
An up front fact about me -- I was diagnosed with Celiac disease a few years ago. At the time, I didn’t know what gluten was, nor did I care. I had lots of unrelated health complaints, but no intestinal or digestive disorders. Then, I hurt my foot and went in for an x-ray. The good news was, no break. The bad news was, I had bullet holes in my toe bones. My doctor was stumped and sent me to endocrinologist who ran, among other tests, a Celiac Panel. My test results were so bad that, combined with the demineralizing of my bones and a patch of dermatitis herpetiformis (another stealth symptom of Celiac disease), she diagnosed me with Celiac Disease. So, gluten is off the menu permanently in my case, and even if they found a “cure” for Celiac Disease tomorrow (and I hear they are working on one), I don’t know that I’d ever eat gluten again and here’s why.
While gluten does make baked goods fluffier and that creamy soup a little thicker, the farmers producing those grains have a little secret. Here’s a direct quote from Celiac.com: “Even if you were consuming the same amount of grains today as you did last year or 10 years ago, you would be ingesting more gluten. That’s because bio-engineers continually work to improve gluten and make it a larger and more potent part of edible grain. It is estimated that today’s wheat contains nearly 90 per cent more gluten than wheat did from a century ago.”
Doctors are also seeing links between gluten consumption and illnesses. In fact, a review paper in The New England Journal of Medicine listed 55 diseases that can be caused by eating gluten, including osteoporosis, irritable bowel disease, inflammatory bowel disease, anemia, cancer, fatigue, canker sores, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and almost all other autoimmune diseases. Gluten is also linked to many psychiatric and neurological diseases, including anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, dementia, migraines, epilepsy, and neuropathy. There is also a possibility that gluten consumption may be linked to autism. Interesting side note, on my last trip down the gluten-free baking aisle at Whole Foods, the woman next to me was collecting ingredients to bake cookies for her autistic son. She said that since she’d eliminated gluten from his diet, his symptoms had improved dramatically.
The incidence of Celiac Disease has increased 400 percent over the last 50 years, and the number of people with other types of autoimmune disorders is also increasing at an alarming rate. And while there might be a genetic component in some Celiac cases, there is none in mine. In a family numbering well over 100 members (if you include second cousins, etc.), I am the only one with the disease, and I was not diagnosed until I was 50. So, my advice to anyone reading this who has not been diagnosed yet with gluten sensitivity or Celiac Disease, think twice about gluten. After all, how do you imagine your body will react in the long term to all of that extra gluten in all of those genetically modified grains?
- 2/3/2010 12:58:28 AM
Remember if you are worried you may have celiac disease you should get tested before you eliminate gluten from your diet. - 2/2/2010 9:50:05 PM
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