The newest weight-loss craze is to eat “gluten-free”. Gluten is a wheat by-product, and those who cannot digest gluten have a condition called Celiac’s Disease. Others are simply gluten-intolerant.
However, if 1% of the population has Celiac’s, and up to 30% of the population is trying to eat “gluten-free”, the numbers simply don’t add up.
That means that 30 times the number of those who actually have the disease, regardless of diagnosis, are following a gluten-free diet.
But is cutting out gluten actually causing weight loss?
According to Bridget Benelam of the British Nutrition Foundation:
many gluten-containing products, such as cakes, biscuits, croissants, pancakes, muffins, jam tarts and pies, are high in calories, so cutting them out can help with weight loss, especially if you tend to eat a lot.
But this has nothing to do with avoiding gluten and everything to do with reducing calories.
In effect, you’re simply losing weight because you’re cutting normally-bad foods out of your diet, not because you’re eating gluten-free.
not the devil?
And problematically, most gluten-free items you purchase at the market are actually worse for you:
It’s not just calories that are often higher in gluten-free products – they often contain more fat, sugar and/or salt to improve their flavour or texture.
It’s similar to the low-fat craze a few years back. Low fat items are also low in taste, and as a result, they were often higher in sugar, sodium, and other additives to make up for that loss.
That led to a product that was more unhealthy than the original product, and the pendulum swung back to eating healthy-fat items.
Also, by skipping out on products with gluten, you’re likely causing yourself digestive distress:
Some gluten-free products are made with refined grains rather than whole grains and contain less fibre.
Low fibre intakes are linked to constipation, which can cause bloating, stomach cramps, sickness and loss of appetite.
And lastly, you’re missing out on crucial vitamins.
A recent German study revealed that gluten- free diets are more likely to be deficient in iron, magnesium, folate and thiamin.
We’re still learning a great deal about how diet affects our system. I’ll end with the following by someone who knows about the subject of diet and intolerances the best:
“No-one should ever diagnose themselves with an intolerance or allergy,” says Sarah Sleet of Coeliac UK.