Exploring the Gluten-Free Diet

Gluten-Free diet is gaining a lot of popularity and is being touted as the diet for better health, more energy, weight loss and a cure for certain disorders. Sticking to a gluten-free diet requires a lot of effort from reading food labels to identifying restaurants that serve gluten-free foods. Does it really pay in terms of health and our general well-being? Lets explore!

Gluten and Gluten-free diet:

Gluten is a kind of protein found in wheat and related grain products. It develops during kneading or fermenting process of dough (sometimes aided by the addition of certain ingredients). Gluten makes the dough elastic and stretchy. It provides structure to the final cooked product and makes it chewy.

A Gluten-free diet is prescribed as a nutrition therapy to manage celiac disease and gluten-intolerance. Celiac disease is an inherited autoimmune disease, in which the person's immune system attacks the small intestine, in response to gluten. The small intestine becomes inflamed and damaged. A damaged small intestine greatly impacts nutrient absorption leading to other problems such as malnutrition, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

Gluten intolerance is an inability to digest gluten in foods. The symptoms range from minor abdominal discomfort to diarrhea and other complications.

For both these disorders, the best treatment available is to follow a 'gluten-free diet', as is with any other food allergy or food intolerance.

Myths/Beliefs associated with gluten-free diet and why it may not be good for all of us

Gluten-free is being implicated in weight loss plans, in detox diets and what not. Some of the common phrases (that I have come across) associated with the so called benefits of a gluten-free diet,

"Gluten-free equals healthy". Not necessarily. 'Gluten-free' food products are not always healthy because they might have sugar, sodium and fat added, to simulate the texture and flavor gluten would normally impart in these products. Many of the gluten-free products are not fortified with additional vitamins and minerals such as iron and vitamin A, that many regular cereals and breads are fortified with. A gluten-free diet could lead to deficiencies in iron, vitamin B12, magnesium, folate, fiber that are found in regular breads, cereals and other fortified grain based products.

"Gluten-free helps to shed pounds". This is a misconception. A gluten-free diet is not a 'no-carb' or a 'low calorie' diet and is not very effective as a weight loss strategy. There is no established scientific evidence that gluten-free diet could to lead to weight loss in the general population. In fact, research shows that some gluten-free products actually have more calories than the corresponding gluten-containing products.

Gluten-free diet is a fad diet... except for people who have any kind of gluten-related disorders. For others in general, there is no real health benefit from avoiding gluten in your diet, and certainly not for weight loss.

Additional resources on gluten-related disorders and gluten-free diet:

Celiac Disease

Gluten-free and Celiac Resources

Does my Child need a gluten-free diet?

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Srilekha Karunanithi of Kirkland is a Master's student in Nutritional Sciences at University of Washington who is training to become a Registered Dietitian. Her master’s program focuses on the influences of diet on health and how positive dietary changes help in the control and prevention of many diseases.