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When Gluten-Free Is Not a Fad

Messages
296
Gluten intolerance is “fake”—at least according to many recent news stories. But what does scientific research have to say on this topic? Is going gluten-free just a crazy fad? Is gluten intolerance over-hyped as the media claims, or is it a legitimate condition that may be even more common than currently recognized?

Read the rest of the article here: http://chriskresser.com/when-gluten-free-is-not-a-fad
 

Helen

Senior Member
Messages
2,243
Gluten intolerance is “fake”—at least according to many recent news stories. But what does scientific research have to say on this topic? Is going gluten-free just a crazy fad? Is gluten intolerance over-hyped as the media claims, or is it a legitimate condition that may be even more common than currently recognized?

Read the rest of the article here: http://chriskresser.com/when-gluten-free-is-not-a-fad

Dr. Richard Deth´s ( also called the dean of methylation) point about casein and gluten is well worth considering I think. This abstract is just one of his articles were he talks about the possible effects on cystein and glutathione.
http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/meeting_abstract/27/1_MeetingAbstracts/1075.1
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
It never ceases to amaze me the way doctors dismiss patient reports. I really like gluten products, but if I eat too much of them, my gut spasms and I get neurological symptoms like tingling, brain fog, cold sweats, and muscle weakness. I have no emotional investment in being gluten-free... I'd really like to not be! I was never a 'huge' bread person, but crusty french bread? Cupcakes? Yes, please!

I haven't seen the data claiming there's 'no such thing' as gluten intolerance, though I've heard it repeatedly through word of mouth. It really doesn't matter to me at this point. I feel crappy when I eat it... so why should I eat it? End of discussion.

...and if it's not?....

Here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25701700

-J
 
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Messages
15,786
I haven't seen the data claiming there's 'no such thing' as gluten intolerance, though I've heard it repeatedly through word of mouth.
I think one of the recent ones (a year or two ago) was using other common IBS triggers as the "control" diet, when switching each group between gluten and gluten-free. I also doubt they're very careful about choosing patients with more objective symptoms like diarrhea or swelling. Or they might be too careful, and deliberately select for people with very mild and vague symptoms.

I get visible full-body swelling if I eat gluten or several other foods that I started reacting to after getting ME, despite testing negative for standard allergies. It makes it very easy for me to refute the gluten-intolerance denialists :cool:
 
Messages
15,786
Yeah, well, I have been trying to be stoic about it, my sister bakes wonderful stuff with potato starch, almond and coconut flour, but I want to be free again and just have a Saturday breakfast in a favorite bakery :meh:
Inflammation sux :aghhh:
Have you tried some serious digestive enzymes? I can get away with a fair bit of cheating when taking Creon 150.
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
@Gondwanaland - hahahaha. Oh, dear. "The density of a black hole and the dryness of a desert". That was the only part I was irritated with, because there are hundreds of gluten-free foods that are delicious in their own right. I genuinely like this, for example. I think that, with any 'health food' or regime, it's best to eat the things that never contained what you wanted to avoid in the first place. That's how you don't end up with foods that tried really, really hard to taste like that thing they do not contain, and miss by a mile. :)

-J
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
You're very welcome @whodathunkit ! I've been trying a bunch of stuff lately! I recently tried gluten-free donuts... They turned out really awesome. You can easily make them without eggs or dairy, too.

(Maybe this will be a blog post or a new thread, because I'm not sure this is what people came for, but very quickly...)

I used vanilla soy yogurt instead of sour cream, earth balance spread for the shortening, and cashew milk. :) I accidentally used two eggs, so I added about a quarter-cup more potato starch and millet flour... they are delicious. <3

-J
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
This is a very good article on non-celiac gluten sensitivity (ie gluten intolerance):

Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity Research

It details how Dr Alessio Fasano in 2011 demonstrated that in gluten intolerance, only the innate immune system attacks gluten that is ingested, but that in celiac disease, both the innate and the adaptive immune system attack the gluten.

This double immune attack in the case of celiac creates a more severe disease, and as we know, in celiac, the villi of the intestines are attacked and destroyed by the immune response.


Fasano says that gluten intolerance may affect about 6% to 7% of the population, though other researchers have come up with higher figures.
 

Kyla

ᴀɴɴɪᴇ ɢꜱᴀᴍᴩᴇʟ
Messages
721
Location
Canada
yep, reporting on "gluten intolerance as a myth" was awful.
If you read the actual study most of the negative articles were citing, this wasn't even close to the conclusion the authors put forth.
They actually were trying to show that the culprit was FODMAPS (which is a category that includes gluten).

You can read a good interview with the study author here:
http://glutendude.com/interviews/does-non-celiac-gluten-sensitivity-exist/
He emphatically states that they did NOT disprove NCGI.

I would also add that that particular study excluded anyone with either Celiac gene...which is upwards of 30% of the population in most countries.

I don't know why the gluten-free thing seems to rile people up so much.
I have biopsy-confirmed Celiac and I STILL get accused of being a fad-dieting orthorexic hippie on a regular basis ;)
 
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15,786
can you tell me more about these digestive enzymes and where to get them? I'd love to eat gluten or rice at parties sometimes :p
My ME/SEID specialist, Dr de Meirleir, prescribes them for me. My Dutch pharmacy supplies it, and my basic Dutch health insurance pays for it, even though the Dutch system typically excludes a great many drugs.
 
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15,786
I don't know why the gluten-free thing seems to rile people up so much.
Seriously. If people want to avoid a food because it makes them feel better, for whatever reason, I don't see why other people get so fussed. I suppose a few might use it as a control mechanism, to dictate where they and their friends go to eat, etc, but that's an entirely different issue.
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
Yeah, well, I have been trying to be stoic about it, my sister bakes wonderful stuff with potato starch, almond and coconut flour, but I want to be free again and just have a Saturday breakfast in a favorite bakery :meh:
Inflammation sux :aghhh:

Second time I'm reading through this, and I read it as, "Information sux!"

HAHAHA, yes, sometimes ignorance is bliss!

-J
 

sarah darwins

Senior Member
Messages
2,508
Location
Cornwall, UK
Just a note for anyone who hasn't discovered it for themselves yet. The Genius brand is now doing a frozen, pre-made gluten-free puff pastry, widely available in supermarkets here in the UK (most of the supermarkets here now have a small 'free from' section in the frozen foods area).

I've tried the puff pastry twice now, and it's awesome. The texture isn't perfect (yet), but it's close. I've used it to make spanakopita, which I've long made with puff pastry instead of filo, and which is one of the pastry dishes I missed most when I went gluten-free. I've also just baked some plain which we ate with raspberries and yogurt as a sort of impromptu tart. And lo, it was good.

Needs rolling out, of course, for which some sufferers may need help, but you can be fairly rough and ready with puff pastry and it still tastes the same. I only discovered it recently (and nearly wept when I saw it!) so I have more experimentation to do. But as an occasional thing to satisfy those patisserie cravings ... OMG. Thank you, Genius.