Gluten free is the hottest health craze, with almost every wheat product in the market now having a gluten-free alternative. Breads, pastas, cakes, and even condiments are being made gluten-free.
But is it all hype?
According to the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, “[a]bout 1 percent of the American population suffers from celiac disease”, where your body actually can’t consume gluten.
An equal and possibly slightly larger percentage of Americans are gluten-intolerant, where gluten can cause digestive discomfort and IBS-like symptoms.
However, many people consuming gluten-free products neither have Celiac’s nor are they gluten-intolerant.
Daniel Leffler, director of research at the Celiac Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said that between 2 million and 3 million Americans report maintaining a gluten-free diet, and about 10 percent of that group has celiac disease.
Leffler states that this creates a paradox of sorts: “Most people who are on the gluten-free diet don’t have celiac disease, and most people who have celiac disease don’t know that they have it and don’t eat gluten-free.”
Also, eating gluten free for awhile and then returning to gluten can cause cramps and severe dietary problems, so those who aren’t gluten-intolerant and don’t have Celiac’s in effect create a gluten intolerance within themselves.
There’s a palpable backlash among restaurants as well, who are receiving more requests than ever for gluten free meals but are unable to produce them.
For the hundreds of thousands of Celiac’s sufferers and gluten intolerant, gluten-free isn’t a fad, but a lifestyle.
In a way it’s welcoming to see more gluten-free products on the market. But in a way it’s also difficult to cope with intolerant bandwagoners who claim an allergy to gluten who don’t have one.
