Turns out that "gluten sensitivity" you have - may be a figment of your imagination.
Hey guys, Tara here for Dnews - to talk about one of the most popular trends in the world
right now - the gluten-free diet!
Now you've probably seen this video that went viral a few weeks ago.
It features late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel asking a bunch of self-described gluten-free
people on the street, what gluten actually is - and no one seems to know the answer.
It's a funny video, but it also highlights the ignorance surrounding the gluten-free
trend.
Now before we get into this, it should be noted that celiac disease - which is an autoimmune
disorder triggered by the consumption of gluten - is very much real.
No one is trying to deny that.
Science has unequivocally proven it.
But the problem arises, when people who don't have celiac disease - attribute their problems
to gluten.
Which is happening more and more, and especially here in America.
The gluten-free trend has been around for a while, but it exploded in 2011 - when a
professor at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia - published a study linking gluten
to gastrointestinal distress in patients without celiac disease.
Well now, three years later, the same professor has stepped out again, with an even more rigorous
study - that appears to debunk his original findings.
In the second study, they looked at 37 patients with self-reported gluten sensitivities but
who were confirmed to not have celiac disease.
They provided patients with every single meal for the duration of the trial - so they could
be sure to eliminate any and all potential dietary triggers.
First, they fed them a baseline diet, that was low in FODMAPs - which are short-chain
carbohydrates that are poorly absorbed in the lower intestine.
They then separated the patients into three groups - some with high-gluten diets, some
with low-gluten diets, and some with gluten-free diets.
None of the patients knew which diet they were eating - yet somehow, all of them reported
a worsening of gastrointestinal symptoms over the course of the trial.
So, they repeated the study.
And this time, they had patients on either a high-gluten diet, a gluten-free diet, or
the baseline diet - which is low in FODMAPs.
And STILL, almost all of the patients continued to report an increase in symptoms.
This means that gluten couldn't possibly be the culprit - leading researchers to believe
that the real cause is psychological.
Patients expected the diets to make them sick, so they did.
Interestingly, almost all of the subjects reported an improvement in symptoms when they
were fed the low-FODMAP diet - making that a much more likely cause of distress, than
gluten.
It just so happens that FODMAPs occur mostly in bread products - which would explain why
people who eliminate gluten from their diets - and thus, bread - might see a reduction
in symptoms.
Either way, this study effectively negates the existence of non-celiac gluten sensitivity
- and reminds us that the gluten-free trend that's become so popular the past few years
- has been primarily driven by consumer and commercial interests, NOT scientific research.
What do you guys think?
Is the gluten-free trend dumb?
It's kinda hard to argue with evidence like this, but I still wanna hear your opinions.
So leave em in the comments below - and as always, thanks for watching.