In the News: People without Celiac disease shouldn't eat gluten-free

I have been planning on doing a post on the topic of gluten-free diets. I was glad to see this article in the news on the subject.

The gist of the article is that for people that do not have Celiac disease, a gluten-free diet is not recommended. The diet hasn't been shown (beyond personal testimonials) as a benefit for the general population and people are missing out on important nutrients by excluding whole grain wheat products.

                                    

I can't throw gluten-free completely out the window, even though it currently reeks of a fad diet. 

Sometimes it's hard to see facts and fiction through all the hype. Throw hope in the equation and you get some true die-hard followers. So many people swear their gluten-free diets make them feel better or make their child with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have improved behavior. It's hard to argue against that.

I can't find any actual research that  support gluten-free diets for weight loss, gluten sensitivity or even treatment for ASD. There hasn't been much research on so far. (That should tip you off that something is a fad if there hasn't been any time for any research to be done on it.) There are a few articles that have shown it doesn't help: here and here and here

In a few years, there may be research to show there are people with gluten sensitivity and they do benefit from reducing gluten from their diet.

I'm not trying to convince any people doing a gluten-free diet that they should stop. If there are any body doing that, I'm sure I've thoroughly ticked them off.  I just want to prevent the average person that has heard the "gluten-free" hype and feels like gluten is somehow evil  and something they are supposed to avoiding. Gluten-free food is quite expensive and I'd rather you spend your money on fresh fruits and vegetables.