This is about non-celiac related gluten fear. What is all this alarmist talk over the past few years about gluten? Is gluten just another dietary villain?

I don’t care for this guy, but this is the type of information given to the public –that if you eat foods containing gluten, you’re doomed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/gluten-what-you-dont-know_b_379089.html

Quote :

"Gluten Sensitivity: One Cause, Many Diseases A review paper in The New England Journal of Medicine listed 55 "diseases" that can be caused by eating gluten. (iv) These include osteoporosis, irritable bowel disease, inflammatory bowel disease, anemia, cancer, fatigue, canker sores, (v) and rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and almost all other autoimmune diseases. Gluten is also linked to many psychiatric (vi) and neurological diseases, including anxiety, depression, (vii) schizophrenia, (viii) dementia, (ix) migraines, epilepsy, and neuropathy (nerve damage). (x) It has also been linked to autism.(ix)"

1/19/2012 12:00:19 PM

Quote :

"non-celiac related gluten fear."

it's the atkins fad of 2010-present.

1/19/2012 12:03:31 PM

BobbyDigital nailed it. Give it another year or two and people will have moved onto the beet diet or something.

1/19/2012 12:19:28 PM

^^at least atkins had hard science supporting it.

1/19/2012 12:36:04 PM

Funny that, because our ancestors ate things with gluten in them for thousands of years and seemed to do just fine. Now I do believe that some people are gluten sensitive or have celiac disease, and they have a legitimate medical need to have an altered diet, same with people with phenylketonuria, diabetes or IBD.

I'd argue overly processed, high fat, low-nutritional-content food, sitting on our fat asses, and being exposed to high levels of stress and environmental toxins is what's killing us.

Instead, we should be advocating for a balanced diet of reduced meat, lots of fruits and veggies, beans, legumes, some dairy/fats, exercise, less stress, etc. Less processed, more whole everything.

I've also seen gluten free being used as another cover for eating disorders in some vegan/raw food/juicing circles.

1/19/2012 12:47:43 PM

I've been wondering about this lately too.
Is gluten sensitivity the new autism?

1/19/2012 1:03:57 PM

It was underdiagnosed before, and now that it's being diagnosed much more everyone thinks it would benefit them. My doctor only tested me for celiac because I asked him to, and he couldn't come up with any other ideas to explain my symptoms. Then when it was positive he told me not to do the diet because it was too much trouble. Yes, really. Doctors were and many still are that ignorant.

The problem with educating the county on this and trying to get heads out of asses is that lots of people will jump on board the diet, half ass it, and think it's useless when it isn't. They just can't follow the diet because they're dumb and weak willed and don't have the disease.

All these idiots just make it harder for me. I can't eat out anymore except for a couple places because most restaurant staff think everyone that's gluten free is on a fad diet, when for me it's a matter of shitting my guts out for days and having to take zantac for a month if they use the same prep area for my food and gluten stuff without cleaning it up first. I tell them this and beg them to tell me if they don't want me to order food (I'm 100% fine with having a glass of water and eating at home later) and I still have a 50/50 chance of getting sick if I go to a new restaurant.

1/19/2012 2:30:27 PM

I love how my rice pudding now says gluten free on it even though it's always been gluten free

1/19/2012 2:31:54 PM

i'm going along the lines of what lewoods said above. i was misdiagnosed with a gluten allergy a few years ago (my mom has celiac and when i started to have problems the doctors found this to be an easy solution). i went gluten free but nothing changed - besides still having all my stomach issues, i didn't lose any of the weight that i had gained from this (then) unknown allergy.

people who go on "gluten free" diets aren't going to lose any weight if they are not intolerant to gluten to begin with. plus, most go gluten free and then buy gluten free items like pasta and rice and bread - unless you have an allergy, you might as well buy the regular stuff. it's a hell of a lot cheaper and it's not going to make a difference unless you truly are allergic to it.

1/19/2012 2:35:26 PM

Quote :

"It was underdiagnosed before, and now that it's being diagnosed much more everyone thinks it would benefit them. My doctor only tested me for celiac because I asked him to, and he couldn't come up with any other ideas to explain my symptoms. Then when it was positive he told me not to do the diet because it was too much trouble. Yes, really. Doctors were and many still are that ignorant. "

This may be one of the few times I really agree with you... doctors are sorely misinformed on celiac it would seem. Half of my family has it, I was exhibiting symptoms, I have the gene, and the blood test was positive, and he still didn't want to do the endoscopy to confirm.

1/19/2012 2:38:53 PM

I technically don't have celiac because the doctor didn't want to refer me to a specialist and I didn't want to wait for and pay for the scoping. But when the bloodwork is positive and the diet helps that much, I don't see any reason to do the biopsy. In almost every other country, the bloodwork results are all you need to be considered celiac, and I think that's the standard that will slowly start to become more common in the US.

I'm lucky that I had to do a lot of cell culture work for my degree, so preventing cross contamination was easy for me to get used to. I pretty much have to prepare all my food using the equivalent of sterile procedure.

1/19/2012 2:47:57 PM

Yeah, my gastroenterologist was not happy I requested the endoscopy, because my symptoms "just weren't severe enough to be celiac."

My Dad on the other hand, has celiac and no symptoms. Which his doctor told him was worse, because he had no idea of the damage he was doing to his body, etc.

1/19/2012 2:50:08 PM

serious question... so prior to the last few years, what did all these presumably undiagnosed people do? just feel like shit 24/7? Or is it more prevalent now because of diets consisting of processed food and high in sugar?

1/19/2012 2:52:54 PM

This came up recently with a CrossFit friend. You add Paleo to that mix, it's even more annoying as fuck. Don't paint the diet for what it really is. If you're on it to look good naked…fine. Just like CrossFit is not the, be all end all of fitness programs, Paleo (our ancestors didn't eat grain blah blah blah) is not a superior diet either. But don't dare call it a "diet" you'll get stoned. But CrossFit/Paleo should be another discussion on its own.

Anyway, my experience is this.

When I was in college I was always constipated, all the time. A few years after I graduated, I tried figuring out what was wrong with me. Went to the GI and like 90% of the population I was diagnosed with IBS. Even got a upper and lower endoscopy and unproven hydrogen breath test. I was put on Xifaxin which is actually a drug for traveler's diarrhea but proven affective for people with IBS. This drug made me even more constipated over time, although it relieved my symptoms of bloating and gas in a short time.

None of this worked, so I thought about my diet. What could be in my diet that could possibly make me feel this way. And one thing I put my finger on was, whole grain foods. My source of carbohydrates daily, was wheat-based products either from pasta or bread. So I decided to cut out wheat-based foods for two weeks. Relied on rice/fruits as my source of carbs.
The bloating and constipation went away. And I didn't feel as sluggish anymore.
I went back to my GI doctor and asked Ab test for Celiacs. But it came up negative. Could it be that I needed to "challenge" my body to find circulating antibodies? Remember at this point I was off anything gluten.

So when I results came back negative, I decided to gradually put wheat back into my diet. What I noticed was, if I have a small amount, I'm OK. But if I have a large amount, say a large sandwich or large bowl of pasta my symptoms came back. Couldn't shit for days. That's why I thought, hmmm "I'm gluten sensitive then?"

[Edited on January 19, 2012 at 3:02 PM. Reason : ....]

1/19/2012 3:02:01 PM

To the people with true celiac, is it diarrhea alone? Can it be constipation too? Or both?


I don't know what my underlying problem is then. Could be something else that I need to explore.



[Edited on January 19, 2012 at 3:04 PM. Reason : ...]

1/19/2012 3:03:55 PM

^^ My aunt was diagnosed with celiac almost 10 years ago. Before that, she would have constant diarrhea, and would frequently just basically crap herself. It manifests in different ways. One friend would just go to sleep almost immediately, others feel sick, or have swollen joints. It basically eats away at the lining of your intestines, and can cause cancer if it's not controlled.

1/19/2012 3:05:14 PM

A lot of people probably felt like shit 24/7 for a long ass time because of bad eating habits more then gluten. Eat a giant BK meal and have a sedentary job? Yeah your stomach is going to growl and you'll be food sleepy. The solution is usually durrr I need COFFEE to live.

That being said I think a lot of people probably have some kind of reaction to gluten. But you could say that about a lot of things. And unless you just test yourself by going grain-free for a week and notice a huge difference, I wouldn't worry too much.

Going gluten free shouldn't magically make you lose weight. It keeps you away from a lot of bad foods (pasta/bread) which is probably really good for you and may help, but a lot of gluten free substitutes are just rice and potato, which are just other white grains, similar empty calories, etc.

I think if you avoided grains/sugar foods altogether you would probably lose weight, simply because there aren't that many other things that you can turn to. I tried that once for 2.5 weeks as an experiment, the only time I ever dieted, it was awful.

1/19/2012 3:22:43 PM

Actually, going gluten free for those with celiac or an intolerance, will make you put on weight, because your body is finally able to digest and absorb nutrients. Untreated celiac is a malabsorbtion issue that can cause malnourishment and serious weight loss.

[Edited on January 19, 2012 at 3:25 PM. Reason : ]

1/19/2012 3:24:52 PM

Is gluten sensitivity one of those things that only whiny, neurotic women have? I only ask because those are the only people I've ever heard of having a gluten allergy. Oh, and their smothered, overly mothered, "asthmatic" "autistic" "ADHD" children.

1/19/2012 3:35:45 PM

1/19/2012 3:36:54 PM

I don't have a gluten allergy but when I went on a pretty strict paleo diet for a while I felt probably the best I have ever felt. I would keep doing it but it is too damn inconvenient and I don't think the benefits outweigh what a pain in the ass it can be.

1/19/2012 3:59:13 PM

Quote :

"Is gluten sensitivity one of those things that only whiny, neurotic women have?"

If we're talking about people that don't have a legit issue like Celiac, then I'd say them and hipster guys are the top offenders.

1/19/2012 5:20:04 PM

For every gluten free product you don't eat, I'll eat 3 products with gluten.

1/19/2012 5:28:30 PM

^^Yeah, sort of my point. Depending on what science you believe somewhere between .06 and .95% of the population actually has some kind of celiac disorder. How is that enough to actually cause that much of a shift in things like consumer product labeling and the creation of new fad diets. I'm betting that it's the new dietary villain of week.

1/19/2012 5:50:15 PM

Quote :

"To the people with true celiac, is it diarrhea alone? Can it be constipation too? Or both?"

It can be either one or both. I'm not technically celiac, but depending on how much I am exposed to it can cause either one. Some people also gain weight when they are celiac, since the deficiencies trigger a "OMG, store ALL the calories" response from the body.

Recently I've started reacting to corn as well, so now eating is really annoying.

1/19/2012 5:53:31 PM

when narcan (naloxone) detaches wheat exorphins from our morphine receptors the same way it detaches narcotics.....something is wrong.

when people say "bread is my crack" they really mean it.

4/3/2012 9:35:30 PM

I think gluten is more similar to lactose. It has a widely different effect on different people, and the advice isn't that good.

We have bigger problems
- trans fat
- HFCS/refined sugar quantity in our diet
- portion size and calorie density
- lack of fiber

Gluten could be eliminated and we wouldn't be any worse for it. Given an option it would probably be better to do without.

4/3/2012 10:16:27 PM

My girlfriend's cousin has a son who is supposedly "gluten sensitive." To make this one of four children feel "normal" the whole family switched to a gluten free lifestyle. If that is what they want to do then fine, but now when they go to grandma's house they bitch and whine about grandma not making a gluten free meal.

Boy i can't wait for my gluten free easter lunch Sunday

4/4/2012 12:29:35 PM

You sure as hell do not need gluten to have a delicious meal. I limit my gluten more out of coincidence and I enjoy my diet quite a bit. Also, we have a place near us that serves a lot of gluten free items, one being their chocolate cake, and everything is absolutely incredible.

4/4/2012 12:37:12 PM

All of our family holidays are gluten free now (half the extended family has celiac), and it's not really any different.

Gluten free living isn't as scary/hippy as people make it out to be.

4/4/2012 1:25:36 PM

Quote :

"Boy i can't wait for my gluten free easter lunch Sunday"

haha only thing I could really see being an issue is no yummy French bread. Your ham and accouterments should be mostly unaffected

4/4/2012 1:42:18 PM

Grain based foods just tend to be shitty for you.

High in calories, low in nutritional value, easy to process and make addicting.

Cutting them out is a great way to lean up, given a balanced diet in protein/fats and the right amount of activity.

4/4/2012 1:48:05 PM