The claimed benefits of the diet are improved health, weight loss and more energy. But this is anecdotal; more research is needed before anything is confirmed or negated.

In fact, the current scientific thinking is that for people not sensitive to gluten, a gluten-free diet (GFD) generally offers no proven health benefits. It can even lead to nutritional deficiencies (iron, fiber, B vitamins) and a higher intake of sugar/fat if one consumes enough processed GF products.

Plus, research shows no improvement in heart health with a gluten-free diet. And going gluten-free can be more expensive.

A gluten-free diet completely cuts out products made with wheat and some other grains (the list is below).

These can be hidden ingredients; e.g., soy sauce contains wheat although plain soybeans and tofu do not. If you’re buying processed edamame, check the label. Tamari is the gluten-free version of soy sauce.

The benefit of going gluten-free for those who aren’t sensitive is that it often encourages eating more whole, unprocessed foods, which is healthy. But the benefit comes from those foods themselves, not the absence of gluten.

Here’s what the Mayo Clinic has to say about it, plus their parameters for a gluten-free diet.

Below:

> The symptoms of gluten sensitivity.

> Who discovered gluten sensitivity.
 
 
WHAT IS GLUTEN

Gluten is a protein that helps foods keep their shape (e.g., a loaf of bread, a strand of spaghetti). It’s found in grains such as wheat, barley and rye as well as crosses of these grains, such as triticale (a highly-nutritious mix of wheat and rye).

People who are sensitive to gluten have discomfort (see the symptoms below). Celiac disease is a serious autoimmune disorder where even a microscopic crumb of gluten can trigger internal damage.

There is also wheat allergy, a classic food allergy, similar to a peanut or shellfish allergy. The symptoms are milder (hives, skin rashes, swelling, nasal congestion) and people with a wheat allergy, while avoiding wheat, can usually safely eat barley and rye.
 
 
THE GLUTEN FREE DIET

Many naturally gluten-free foods can be a part of a healthy diet:

 
 
Prohibited Grains

Grains that can’t be consumed:

 
 
SYMPTOMS & WHAT TO DO

While The Nibble is not qualified to provide healthcare advice, we pass this along from the Mayo Clinic:

If you suspect you have a sensitivity, it is generally recommended to consult a doctor to test you, before removing gluten from your diet. If you stop eating gluten before being tested, the results may come back as a false negative.

Consult your healthcare provider if you experience the following, which are the most frequent signs and usually occur shortly after consuming gluten:
 
 
Gastrointestinal Symptoms

 
 
Non-Digestive (Systemic) Symptoms

These are known as “extraintestinal” symptoms that affect the rest of the body:

 
 
Psychological Indicators

There is an increasing amount of research linking gluten sensitivity to mood-related changes:

[2] There are countless gluten-free recipes, plus good mixes, for bread, cakes, cookies, pastries and pies (photo © Taylor Kiser | Unsplash).

[3] There are many shapes of gluten-free pasta. Here’s the recipe for this dish (photo © DeLallo).

[4] A tasty breakfast: oatmeal, sliced almonds, and maple syrup. Be sure the oats are gluten-free (photo © K8 | Unsplash).

[5] A mix of nuts and dried fruits is a yummy—and better-for-you—snack (Freepik Photo).

[6] Macarons, made with almond flour, are always gluten-free (photo © Keila Hotzel | Unsplash).

[7] Dr. Willem Karel Dicke of the Netherlands is widely credited with identifying that wheat (and specifically what we now know as gluten) was the key dietary trigger. There’s more about him below (photo © Utrecht University/Catalogus Professorum).

2nd Century: Aretaeus of Cappadocia, one of the most celebrated of the ancient Greek physicians, described a condition consistent with celiac disease (“koiliakos”), 18 centuries before gluten was identified. Little is known of his life but that he was ethnically Greek, born in the Roman province of Cappadocia, Asia Minor (modern day Turkey), and most likely lived in the second half of the second century C.E.

19th Century: Samuel Jones Gee (1839-1911), an English physician and pediatrician, gave a classic modern clinical description of celiac disease in 1888, and noted that diet mattered—even though the specific culprit was not yet known.

20th Century: Willem Karel Dicke (1905-1962) a Dutch physician (photo #7), is widely credited with identifying that wheat (and specifically the protein we now know as gluten) was the key dietary trigger. As early as 1936, he noticed that children with celiac syndrome improved when wheat was removed from their diet, and he was the first to develop the gluten-free diet. He was considered for the 1962 Nobel Prize in Medicine, but his untimely death that year made the discussion moot as the prize is not awarded posthumously.
 

[8] Most ingredients are gluten free (photo © Khloe Arledge | Unsplash).
________________
 
*Oats are naturally gluten-free. But they may become tainted during production with wheat, barley or rye. This is known as cross-contamination. Oats and oat products labeled gluten-free have not been cross-contaminated. But there’s another protein in oats called avenin that people with celiac disease may have a reaction to. Consult your healthcare professional.

†There are different varieties of wheat, all of which contain wheat gluten: couscous, durum, einkorn, emmer, farro, graham, kamut, spelt, wheat bran, and wheat germ.

Wheat flours have different names based on how the wheat is milled or the flour is processed. All of these contain gluten:
> Enriched flour with added vitamins and minerals.
> Farina, milled wheat usually used in hot cereals.
> Graham flour, a coarse whole-wheat flour.
> Self-rising flour, also called phosphate flour.
> Semolina, the part of milled wheat used in pasta and couscous.
 
 

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