Should We All Go Gluten-Free?
Fueled in part by recent bestselling books that warn of the evils of gluten in our diets, a significant proportion of our population is now either avoiding foods that contain gluten or eliminating gluten entirely from their diets, and these numbers continue to grow. The gluten-free trend—and the accompanying multibillion-dollar industry it has created—stems from the spreading belief that eating foods containing wheat or other gluten-laden grains may not only result in weight gain and obesity, but can also lead to a long list of ailments ranging from depression and anxiety to arthritis and autism. This may be true for certain people, but is it true that all of us would be better off if we were to go gluten-free?
Supermarket aisles are now lined with gluten-free foods and restaurants are now catering to gluten-free diners. Going gluten-free may be the biggest health trend of the past decade, but there’s confusion over whether gluten is problematic for everyone or just those with certain medical conditions. It’s clear that some people must avoid it for health reasons, such as those with celiac disease or an intolerance. However, many in the health and wellness world suggest that everyone should follow a gluten-free diet — regardless of whether they’re intolerant or not. This has led millions of people to give up gluten in hopes of losing weight, improving mood, and getting healthier.
What is Gluten?
Gluten is a group of proteins found in the following grains: wheat, barley, rye, and triticale (a hybrid of wheat and rye). It helps foods hold their shape by forming a glue-like substance. This means that bread, crackers, pasta, bagels, wraps, breakfast cereals, and baked goods often contain gluten. Other lesser-known foods with gluten may include condiments, sauces, beer, processed soups, chips, energy bars, hot dogs, ice cream and many fried foods. In some foods, where you would not expect gluten, wheat might be used to thicken the food item, or as a binding agent. Yogurt can contain wheat! In some cases, naturally gluten-free foods may contain traces of gluten due to cross-contamination. For example, oats can be contaminated if grown alongside wheat or processed on the same machinery. Thus, eliminating gluten from the diet takes effort and vigilance. In addition to avoiding wheat, rye, and barley, you may need to remove “low gluten” grains, like spelt and kamut, from your diet, as well as avoid most processed foods since they may contain hidden gluten in their ingredients, like caramel color, baking powder, citric acid and numerous others.
A gluten-free diet has traditionally been used to treat celiac disease because gluten causes inflammation in the small intestines of someone with the disease. Eating a gluten-free diet helps people with celiac disease control their signs and symptoms and prevent complications.
But is Gluten Bad for You?
People are often confused about the difference between food sensitivities and food allergies. Food sensitivities occur when you have difficulty digesting a particular food. You may not even be aware that this food is causing issues at first and you may have symptoms such as intestinal gas, abdominal pain, constipation, or diarrhea among others. Sensitivities involve the digestive system and can wear away at the cells and tight junctions in your intestinal lining leading to leaky gut. Allergies, on the other hand, activate the histamine response and can have immediate, sometimes life-threatening symptoms. Because of the dramatic rise in the number of people being diagnosed with gluten sensitivity, health care professionals are now connecting the dots between gluten and these GI issues.
Gluten is considered inflammatory because it contains high levels of anti-nutrients, which are proteins that can bind with and interfere with the absorption and digestion of nutrients in your gut. This can cause an immune response in your body, also leading to systemic inflammation. In addition, the wheat we have been eating for the past 30 years is called dwarf wheat, and is nothing like the wheat our grandparents ate or even the wheat we ate as children. Dwarf wheat is a hybridized product with extra added sugar, gluten proteins, and certain pesticides, making the gluten products we eat more likely to increase the inflammatory process.
Gluten does not cause problems for everyone, but people who suffer from the following conditions may benefit from avoiding foods with gluten:
As mentioned, celiac disease is an autoimmune disease. Your body attacks itself whenever you digest gluten. This causes the villi in your small intestine to fall off, which prevents you from absorbing essential nutrients. If you continue to eat gluten with this condition, you may experience nutrient deficiencies, anemia, osteoporosis, infertility, and lymphoma of the small intestine.
Wheat allergy is more common in children but can impact adults as well. Those who are allergic to wheat have an abnormal immune response to specific proteins in wheat and wheat products.
Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS) is seen in a large and growing population of people worldwide who report symptoms after eating gluten, even though they don’t have celiac disease or an allergy to wheat. NCGS is diagnosed when a person does not have either of the above conditions yet still experiences intestinal or other symptoms — such as headache, fatigue, and joint pain — when they consume gluten. There are several studies concluding that gluten may cause or worsen other autoimmune conditions, such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, type 1 diabetes, Grave’s disease, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Gluten has also been tied to bowel diseases, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Lastly, research indicates that gluten-free diets may benefit people with other conditions, such as fibromyalgia, endometriosis, schizophrenia, cancer, and other serious chronic diseases.
Removing gluten from the diet may help lessen inflammation and promote a healthy immune system. Gluten is a foreign protein to human physiology and is the cornerstone of leaky brain, causing inflammation. Science has made some amazing discoveries about the blood-brain barrier in recent years, most importantly that it can become just as permeable as our gut lining. When gluten is introduced to the body, it turns out to be inflammation that degrades this important barrier, according to recent studies. Currently, there is no specific test for gluten intolerance or sensitivity. Eliminating gluten is the only way to get the process started.
Often, when one eliminates gluten, symptoms improve. Some feel that improvement in symptoms can also be attributed to eating more healthy whole foods like fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Processed food is now known to be high in sugar and chemicals that also increase inflammatory conditions, so limiting them is also a healthier choice whether or not one is gluten sensitive.
Not Everyone Needs to Eat a Gluten-Free Diet
Some experts claim that unless you have gluten intolerance, a wheat allergy, or celiac disease, there are no benefits to eating gluten-free. Following a gluten-free diet will not make you healthier. It may have the opposite effect if you don’t eat a diverse and balanced diet. Therefore, following a gluten-free diet may pose some risks. Gluten-free doesn’t inherently mean healthy. In fact, removing foods with gluten from your diet can result in nutritional imbalances, since bread and certain wheat products contain much needed iron, selenium, manganese, phosphorus, copper, and folate. For this reason, some dietary experts claim that a gluten-free diet increases your risk of mineral and vitamin deficiencies directly resulting from the low protein content and high fat, refined carb, and salt content of many gluten-free products
When choosing gluten-free foods, beware that many processed products out there are higher in sugar, fat and calories than the regular gluten product. It is never a good idea to trade in one form of junk food for another – so gluten-free cupcakes, cookies, chips and candies are not any better for you than those with gluten – they are still junk food with unhealthy ingredients and also may be twice the cost of the regular counterpart. It is wise to read your labels carefully.
If you suspect that you have problems with foods with gluten, you should consult your health care practitioner before going gluten-free. Eating gluten-free to diagnose and treat your symptoms without guidance from a doctor or good nutritionist can result in more significant problems down the line.
What Foods are on a Gluten-Free Diet?
A gluten-free diet is a diet that eliminates all foods with gluten. It includes only gluten-free foods such as:
Gluten-free whole grains like quinoa, buckwheat, sorghum, and rice. Alternative flours may be used such as almond flour, chickpea flour, coconut flour, and lentil flour. All fruits and vegetables, legumes, nuts, and seeds are allowed. You may also have eggs, fresh meat and fish, dairy products and plant-based oils and spices.
It is important to remember that while some people must eliminate gluten from their diet, gluten is not a problem for everyone and eliminating it may result in other health issues. As in all things health related, if you have concerns, talk with your doctor about testing for celiac, sensitivities and/or allergies.
It is important to remember that while some people must eliminate gluten from their diet, gluten is not a problem for everyone and eliminating it may result in other health issues.
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