The gluten-free fad has been taking over grocery stores by storm, with many people saying they suffer from gluten sensitivity, gluten intolerance or think going gluten-free is generally healthier. Unless you have the rare celiac disease (and we’re no way discrediting its severity), gluten intolerance and the health benefits of going gluten-free is a bunch of nonsense. Here are four reasons why.
The scientist who helped publicize gluten sensitivity has discredited gluten intolerance.
In 2011, Peter Gibson, of the Monash University of Melbourne, published a study which found gluten caused gastrointestinal distress. Since, his research has largely been cited as evidence of gluten’s irritating effects on the body. However, Gibson would later come to question his own research, leading him to conduct a new study to determine if gluten-intolerance really did exist.
Gibson studied 37 individuals who identified as gluten-intolerant, participants who claimed that eating gluten triggered their digestive problems. The subjects meals were controlled, and any other potential digestive irritants (such as lactose and nitrates), were removed from their diet. The study, published in the journal Gastroenterology in 2014, found whatever was causing the participants digestive problems wasn’t their reaction to gluten. Furthermore, he found that if people believed the food contained gluten that would make them sick, even if it didn’t actually contain gluten, it would.
Going gluten-free can be bad for your health.
Many people believe that a gluten-free lifestyle is synonymous with a healthy one, but there is little evidence to substantiate this belief. In 2013, a study published in Nutrients showed that a gluten-free diet can often contain more carbohydrates, more fat and is lower in protein and fiber. This should come as no surprise, as though who suffer from celiac diseases, and are forced to avoid gluten, typically have micronutrient deficiencies, according to a 2012 study in The Official Journal of the British Dietetic Association.
Another study, published in 2012 in The Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, found that a gluten-free diet isn’t any healthier than a traditional diet.
Gluten-free foods are overpriced.
Eating gluten-free foods doesn’t come cheap. In 2014, CBS reported that eating a gluten-free diet costs twice as much on average. And according to a 2008 study from Dalhousie Medical School, gluten-free foods cost (at least at the time) 242% more.
Gluten-free might be a scam.
Dr. Oz, a leading and trusted voice on health, has gone so far to call gluten-free a scam.
“The most overrated superfood are gluten-free foods, which I really think are a scam in many settings. Not because these are bad people making bad products — most of us don’t need them.”
[Image via Brenda Willey/Flickr]
4 Reasons Going Gluten-Free Is Nonsense is an article from: The Inquisitr News
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