The Reality Behind Gluten-Free Diets You Pretend to be Aware of

Going gluten free has become a popular lifestyle in the past decade, but nutritionists and dietitians are expressing their concerns regarding this growing trend. For some unknown reason, there seems to be a common misconception out there that gluten is dangerous and that it is best to avoid it at all costs. This common misconception has resulted in a 63% increase in gluten-free foods sales from 2012-2014. While the popularity of so called clean diets and healthy eating would be considered a positive turn in our obesity-ridden world, we can’t help but wonder if avoiding gluten has any true health benefits. The reality of going gluten-free may actually be much different than what most people believe which we explain in this article.

The gluten-free diet origin
The gluten-free diet came to be after the discovery of gluten intolerance in celiac disease patients. This happened in 1952 when Dutch physician Willem Karel Dicke identified gluten as the trigger of celiac disease in children. Celiac disease is a serious autoimmune disorder that causes the small intestines to become inflamed after gluten ingestion. This can lead to nutrient malabsorption because the intestinal villi become atrophied from long-term inflammation. Some of the health consequences of celiac disease malabsorption are infertility, loss of bone density, neurological disorders, and even cancer. The only known cure for celiac disease is a gluten-free diet.

Gluten sensitivity
While celiac disease is a legitimate autoimmune disorder that develops in genetically predisposed individuals, non-celiac gluten sensitivity is a self-reported sensitivity to gluten that actually has no scientific basis. One recent study found no relationship between gluten and uncomfortable bowel symptoms in those who reported gluten sensitivity. The subjects were placed on a high-gluten, low-gluten, or control diet containing whey protein for 1 week and the scientists measured markers of inflammation and immune reaction in the subjects and found no evidence that gluten specifically caused the uncomfortable symptoms in these subjects.

Gluten-free does not equal healthy
While gluten does cause significant damage to the intestines of celiac disease sufferers, this is actually due to their genetic predisposition to the disease. Furthermore, wheat breeding which is a modern day practice resulted in higher gluten content in wheat that our genetic makeup may not be very well adapted to. In other words, modern day wheat contains too much gluten which is unhealthy. However, avoiding gluten at all costs is not the answer to this problem as explained in a study on the effects of a gluten-free diet on the gut microbes in healthy subjects. The study which was published in Gut Microbe involved 10 healthy subjects, mean age 30 years old who ate a gluten-free diet for one month. After analysis of their fecal microbiota, scientists found a decrease in healthy bacteria and a rise of bad strains of bacteria, including E.Coli, in their intestines. The scientists explain that this happens because good gut bacteria rely on polysaccharides from wheat to survive.

Malnutrition from going gluten-free
Besides causing poor gut microbiota, avoiding gluten can lead to other consequences due to a lack of fiber, iron, riboflavin, calcium, folate, and other nutrients that are usually obtained from wheat. Carbohydrates from wheat products are at the top of the human food pyramid according to most expert nutritionists. Depriving the body of essential foods can lead to poor health due to malnutrition. Furthermore, studies have shown that processed gluten-free foods commonly contain large amounts of fats, salt, and sugars. Besides this, celiac disease sufferers tend to compensate for the lack of carbohydrate intake following a gluten-free diet by eating large amounts of fatty foods. Unfortunately, this poses other unrelated health consequences such as coronary artery disease, diabetes, and obesity.

The problem is not gluten
As we can see from the aforementioned examples, the problem with modern day food is not in gluten but the way we cultivate, process, and consume food. Whole wheat bread contains less gluten and is denser in nutrients and fibers making it a healthy option for those who want to limit gluten intake. Gluten is nothing more than a type of protein responsible for dough elasticity. Gluten was also found in one study to lower serum triglyceride levels suggesting cardioprotective benefits. So the problem may not lie in gluten but in the amount of carbohydrates you consume or with the quality of food you eat, i.e. whole wheat vs. refined grain products.  
The gluten-free diet is a life-saving diet for celiac disease sufferers. The rise in celiac disease in the past hundreds of years may be due to agricultural changes that are going way ahead of our genetic makeup. However, the modern day fad of going gluten-free is oversimplifying the problem of modern day nutrition. Gluten is unfairly scrutinized as an unhealthy ingredient of wheat-based foods which may result in poor dietary choices of people who wish to adopt a healthy diet.

References:
https://www.glozine.com/lifestyle/health/overeating-healthy-eating-plan-sabotage-your-diet.html
http://www.mintel.com/press-centre/food-and-drink/gluten-free-foods-surge-63-percent