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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – A recent survey said 65% of people believe a gluten-free label means the food is healthier. That simply isn’t so. Twenty-seven percent thought avoiding gluten assisted in weight loss. It simply doesn’t work. You may lose weight initially because you cut down on bread, pasta, cereal, cake and cookies. You are eliminating calories by eliminating foods. It’s the lack of calories that is making you slimmer, not the lack of gluten.
In fact, gluten is not harmful for those who do not have a medical reason to avoid this protein found in wheat, rye and barley. Nonetheless many people believe that a gluten-free diet is a way to better health. According to a 2013 consumer survey by the NPD group (https://www.npd.com/perspectives/food-for-thought/gluten-free-2012.html), 30% of American adults say they are trying to reduce or exclude gluten from their diets.
Currently there is a preoccupation with gluten and an underlying feeling that it is a toxic substance for the entire population. Research scientists and physicians, Antonio Di Sabatino and Gino Roberto Corazza (http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1132649) are concerned that gluten-free eating is becoming a social health problem rather than a medical health problem. They list 3 reasons not to self-prescribe a gluten-free diet.
- 1. Eliminating gluten before you are tested for gluten sensitivity or celiac disease can make a diagnosis very difficult. Without the presence of gluten it is impossible to detect antibodies in your body that point to or rule out celiac disease.
- 2. If a person truly has celiac disease and has self-diagnosed they can be doing harm to their body because they may not fully understand how to avoid gluten in all of its forms. They may still be drinking beer or getting gluten by cross contamination of foods. Some diet adjustment may eliminate immediate symptoms but underlying issues can still be causing problems. A person with true celiac disease needs to be monitored for anemia, bone disease, and other autoimmune diseases. Women need to be counseled about fertility and complications in pregnancy. Celiac disease is genetically linked, putting children and other relatives at risk as well.
- 3. Eating gluten-free is expensive. Some gluten-free foods cost over 200% more than traditional foods. That is a lot to pay for something you may not need.
Many gluten-free foods are made with refined flours – white rice, milled corn and tapioca starch. Look instead for gluten-free foods made from buckwheat, teff, amaranth, millet, quinoa, whole corn, brown rice or gluten-free oats. Unlike refined wheat bread, pasta and cereal, refined gluten-free foods may not be enriched or fortified with B-vitamins and iron because fortification is not required by law. Look for gluten-free enriched foods.
Gluten-free baked goods do not have the same texture or mouthfeel as foods made with gluten. Some manufacturers add fat and sugar to improve the taste and texture. This may help the appeal of gluten-free baked foods but it does not enhance their nutrition profile.
Not all products are labeled correctly. I recently tasted a beer that was labeled “crafted to remove gluten” followed by an asterisk and small footnote that read, “Product fermented from grains containing gluten….The gluten content cannot be verified.” For someone with celiac disease this beer would cause problems. Those who work in the gluten-free food business would caution that any food with a gluten declaration should not be marketed without a verification of the actual gluten content. Sadly, for the consumer this is not always the case.
As the market for gluten-free foods expands, anticipated to top $10.5 billion by the end of 2013, more and more substitutes for traditional foods are appearing. Food manufacturers are marketing gluten-free foods to consumers with the hope that they will associate “gluten-free” in the same way they look for “natural” or “organic.” These low gluten foods are often low in fiber and whole grains, lacking in vitamins and minerals, or high in fat and sugar. The gluten-free brownie of today is much the same as the fat-free cookie of yesterday – both are cloaked in a “health halo” whose actual health benefits are questionable. You’d be wiser and healthier to ditch the gluten-free strawberry toaster cakes and eat fresh strawberries which are naturally gluten-free.
© NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc.
Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and the author of the nutrition counter series for Pocket Books with sales of more than 8.5 million books.
Look for:
The Most Complete Food Counter, 3rd ed., 2013
The Calorie Counter, 6th Ed., 2013
The Complete Food Counter, 4th ed., 2012
The Diabetes Counter, 4th Ed., 2011
The Protein Counter, 3rd Ed., 2011
The Ultimate Carbohydrate Counter, 3rd Ed., 2010
The Fat Counter, 7th ed., 2009
The Healthy Wholefoods Counter, 2008
The Cholesterol Counter, 7th Ed., 2008
Your Complete Food Counter App: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/your-complete-food-counter/id444558777?mt=8
For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to: www.TheNutritionExperts.com.
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