Many people say they are “going Gluten- Free”. This means that the person is transitioning to a diet where they do not eat gluten. By doing this, they are excluding wheat, barley, rye and possibly oats from their diet. Gluten is a protein that is not crucial to being an overall healthy person. (4) The Gluten- Free Diet was created for those who have medical reasons to not eat gluten. Medical reasons could be celiac disease, wheat allergies, gluten sensitivity, dermatitis herpetiformis, ataxia and other neurological manifestations, irritable bowel syndrome, and using gluten to treat autism. (4) However, the diet is being used by those who do not have a practical medical reason to be practicing this diet. The Gluten- Free Diet rose in popularity when some research was introduced, that is still being continued, that questioned the health effects of not eating gluten. This argued that humans were never meant to properly digest gluten and naming the health benefits to adopting a Gluten- Free Diet. In the past decade, the fame of the diet has increased significantly. The perception of the diet has shifted from being associated to eating rice cakes that “tasted like Styrofoam” and were very dry to the current Gluten- Free Diet that is alleged to being tasty and healthy. With this perception change, the sales increased and the business boomed into a $1 billion dollar business and continues to grow. (4)
Since gluten is in so many foods, it can be tricky to determine what is
Video “InFact: Gluten Free Diets” by Brain Dunning. Being a waitress I am always being asked if we can accommodate a gluten- free diet. If our food contains gluten and if we have gluten free products such as bread. To be honest I don’t even know what gluten is. This video points out gluten is a protein which is found in wheat, rye, and barley. When people ask me for gluten free I have always wondered if it’s for health benefits or some kind of allergy. Dunning answered my question, with his claim that some people cannot tolerate gluten including people who have celiac disease. He also does point out that gluten- free fad has grown. It is another thing people are worrying about for no real reason. So yes some eat gluten- free for health reason
When we first found out that I had Celiac Disease, we had a hard time adjusting. None of my family knew what gluten was until then. We heard about thing like cross contamination or even that I couldn’t be in the same room that flour is being used. Slowly, we learned how to accommodate for my needs. We went to a dietitian who showed us how to spot foods that had gluten in it. We also found out that the grocery store Reasor’s labels food that is gluten free. After a couple of years, it became easy for us to find foods and drinks that did not have any gluten in
A gluten-free diet consist of eating products that are free of gluten. Some of the ingredients to avoid eating are barley, bulgur, flavoring, rye and vegetable gum and you can add corn, quinoa, sago, soy flour and beans (3). The doctors recommend to follow a gluten-free diet if you are gluten sensitive or if you are diagnosed with Celiac disease. Celiac disease is an immune disorder that does not tolerate gluten. According to a special report done by Mayo Clinic it explains that Celiac disease is when the immune system responds to gluten like if it was a bacteria or something that does not belong in your stomach (1). Since your immune system begins to attacks your body trying to get rid of the gluten because it sees it as a little enemy it affects mainly the small intestine. Since there is a constant attack of the body every time you eat something containing gluten it causes your small intestine to become irritated, and it damages the little hairs called villi that are found inside the small intestine
In recent years people have become more and more health conscious, but many people are more scared of gluten then they are of food that has been proven
Celiac Disease is a digestive condition that makes the small intestines to become inflamed and unable to absorb nutrients (Kamycheva, Goto, & Camargo 2017). The condition affects more than 3 million Americans. One in 133 American people are known to have the disease. The condition is triggered when an individual eats gluten. Mostly gluten is found in barley, wheat, rye, and other grains that most Americans love to eat. What if you couldn’t eat sandwiches, pasta, cakes, pies, pizza? Sound terrible, right? This has been my life for 10 years now.
In a recent essay researchers who specialize in celiac disease, discussed what we know about gluten sensitivity and delivered common sense recommendations about the much hyped gluten free eating. They suggest that the discomforts that accompany eating foods with gluten happen because these foods are believed to cause a problem. This is known to science as the nocebo effect, if you presume the worst health wise, that's just what you'll get.
Dr. Ford, a pediatrician in CHristchurch, New Zealand and author of The Gluten Syndrome, believes the leading causes of sickness is consumption of gluten products, which Ford concludes the numbers of gluten-sensitive people could be a huge margin of the American population, between 30% and 50%" (Franso). I myself, am a personal witness of being sensitive to gluten. Before I became gluten free, my mom noticed I started having trouble digesting my lunches at school. I sometimes had to call in sick day from school. My mom didn't know what was causing my upset stomach. She tried many different options for food; more fruits, more vegtables, but nothing worked. Then she heard of this new trend of eating what's called gluten free. One day my mom sent me back at school and made me a sandwhich with spelt bread. I tried it for the first time, and was not a big fan of the taste, but I stomach stopped hurting. That day, when my mom came to pick me up from school, she noticed I wasn't sick. I
(You might want to flashback here and tell us how you knew you were having issues with gluten) Within the next few days, my mom and I drove to the grocery store-Kroger, to be exact- to help get my new diet started. I trudged along the slippery floor, as I listened to the grocery carts rolling, and the food being thrown into the wide, plastic baskets.
When a person eats gluten, which is a protein that causes an attack on the villi’s of the small intestines, which are described as small finger-like structures and damages the villi’s in return it’s very difficult for a person to absorb any nutrients. That is why there is many long term affects in a person’s health. Where they either have Iron deficiency anemia, or early osteoporosis, vitamin and mineral deficiencies and many more health conditions. There are many symptoms to Celiac disease, and that is why it’s difficult to diagnose a person. Some people who have Celiac disease have little or no symptoms. There are several treatments for Celiac disease which are Gluten-free diet, vitamins and dietary supplements and bone health. Of course, the patient can treat Celiac disease with choosing to not eat gluten products such as cereals that contain wheats and processed foods. Eating foods like fruits and vegetables would be convenient for the person who has Celiac
3. In her article “Understanding WHEAT &GLUTEN: Issues in Today's Clients” Tammera Karr writes about the health concerns involving gluten consumption and the current research involving it. She writes that there is extensive research about gluten that shows that is causes several different health problems as indicated in answer 1. She summarizes how the immune system works in our body and about how our T cells are able to destroy antigens in the body and they also function in signaling other cells of the immune system to perform what they are supposed to do. This is important because a person who has a gluten allergy has T cells that do not work properly and they are not able to differentiate between the good and the bad things in their body. Karr writes that when a person consumes gluten, that gluten is carrying DNA of foreign bodies that are not naturally found in wheat. Proteins called Glaidins are one of the foreign bodies it carries and this protein can be found in rye, barley, spelt, trticale, and oats that have been cross contaminated. Gliadin acts as a trigger to the lymphocytes in the small intestine and it causes inflammation also known as “leaky gut syndome”(Karr). These Gliadin proteins are not naturally occurring. Wheat hybridization, genetic engineering, herbicide, and pesticide usage, sail husbandry, and food manufacturing are more commonly used and are the main source of these proteins. Because our
Celiac Disease is an autoimmune disorder characterized by the ingestion of gluten causing damage to the gastrointestinal tract. The purpose of these education materials is to help you understand celiac disease and why some people need to eat gluten free. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, rye and many other types of food. Celiac Disease was first described in the first century AD, but the modern description was developed late in the 19th century. Despite this long history, Celiac Disease only recently came into the public light through the new gluten free diet fad. With this new diet trend it is important to understand why people may need to change their diets and if you are one of those people.
If you suspect you are intolerant to gluten, eliminate all sources of it from your diet
That may be a snarky way of saying it, but it’s true. Scientific studies have concluded that sensitivity to gluten for people who do not have Celiac disease may be completely psychological.Especially relevant in a country where 17 million people may unnecessarily believe that they are gluten sensitive. (Source: A Mayo Clinic survey in 2012, cited in a NY Times article.)Especially shocking in a planet that spent $10.5 billion last year in gluten free products. (Source: Mintel, a market research company, cited in the NY Times article.)Especially important because a psychological disease can spread as fast as any virus but be more enduring.Especially lucrative for all the food companies making tons of money off of people like you.
The protein contained in wheat, barley and rye, gluten, can be linked to around 60 dangerous illnesses. The most terrible fact is that only 1% of gluten intolerant people are diagnosed.
One of the newest and most controversial nutrition fads has centered around “gluten-free” food. For some people, the idea of living a gluten-free lifestyle is not optional, but necessary. However, this only applies to the 1% of Americans with celiac disease (Jaret 1). For people with this condition, eating gluten can be dangerous, because it can damage the lining of their small intestine and prohibit nutrients from being absorbed (Jaret 1). But what about the rest of us? Why have the production and purchase of gluten-free products increased, even though the amount of people with celiac disease has not? Is consuming gluten-free food healthier than consuming food without gluten? The answer is unequivocally and without a doubt, no. In fact, not