Gluten Interest

The trend of going gluten-free continues to grow, and the food industry has answered this demand with new replacement ingredients and enthusiastic labeling.

But the benefits of cutting out the protein, found most often in wheat and other grains or used in refined form as a thickener, have been controversial.

People who suffer from celiac disease are incapable of digesting gluten, and eating even a little bit can make them very sick. Non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) causes similar symptoms in some older adults and can be diagnosed with testing.

Many consumers have embraced gluten-free diets as a path to better health without such testing, however, and there is no medical evidence that children suffer from NCGS.

Now, a doctor tracking the gluten-free trend is warning parents not to put their children on such diets – unless they suffer from a diagnosed condition like celiac disease or wheat allergy.

Kids on Diets

Gastroenterologist Norelle Rizkalla Reilly, director of the Celiac Disease Center's pediatric program at Columbia University, wrote in the Journal of Pediatrics that removing gluten from children's diets could increase other health risks, due in part to higher fat and sugar replacement products.

"Increased fat and calorie intake have been identified in individuals after a [gluten-free diet]. Obesity, overweight, and new-onset insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome have been identified after initiation of a [gluten-free diet]."

Glutinous wheat flour and other products by law are fortified with folate, thiamine, and iron - a benefit lost to gluten-free kids.

Reilly adds that according to a 2015 survey of more than 1500 American adults, 35 percent reported "no reason" as explanation for selecting gluten-free foods, the most common answer in the survey.

A recent Gallup poll showed that one in five Americans try to include gluten-free foods in their diet.

Fodmaps

Meanwhile, a growing body of research points to a new culprit for NCGS and irritable bowel syndrome symptoms – a group of carbohydrates with a long name that is mercifully shortened to "fodmaps."

These carbs are present in wheat and other foods that gluten-free diets could be accidentally removing.

The same researcher who wrote a study that sparked the gluten sensitivity craze, Peter Gibson of Monash University in Australia, found that people who report gluten sensitivity see even better results by following a diet that is low in fodmaps.

Those carbs tend to cause water retention and fermentation in the gut, which causes gas and bloating – and leads to irritable bowels.

The research was completed in 2013, but low-fodmap diets have only started to become popular in the U.S. as an alternative to going gluten free.

Read More:

• The Harm In Blindly ‘Going Gluten Free' (The Atlantic)
• Gluten-Free Food Not Healthier For Kids Without Celiac Disease (Tech Times)
• More Options to Treat Irritable Bowel Syndrome (Wall Street Journal)
• Is FODMAPs The Next Diet Trend? (Food Network)