The other day I had a little dinner party at my house. Not knowing exactly what dietary needs I would need to accommodate, I made mock-duck curry. Fresh, delicious, vegan and (I thought) gluten-free. However, it occurred to me just as I was dumping the marinated mock-duck into the pan that mock-duck is most definitely NOT gluten-free - it is in fact MADE of gluten. Luckily, none of my guests had any aversion to gluten, and everyone enjoyed the curry without complaint. But it made me think, just what is gluten anyway, and why is it on everyone's dietary blacklist?
I found this article in Eat and Run that helped me expand my knowledge of gluten. Let me summarize a little here if you're not interested in reading the whole thing:
What is it? Gluten is the storage protein of the mature seed of cereal grasses, like barley, wheat and rye. It is what gives most bread its chewy texture and provides elasticity to dough.
Is it bad? Well, that's debatable. For people with full-blown celiac disease who are unable to absorb gluten, it causes pain, diarrhea, and other systemic problems. Around 2010 or so, new research was published, including an oft-cited 2009 article in the New England Journal of Medicine, stating that more people today than ever before have a latent sensitivity to gluten, which can manifest as 55 "diseases" running the gamut from MS to autism. Thus the term "gluten sensitivity" entered public consciousness. The concept of gluten sensitivity was proliferated by everyone from doctors, dieticians, and nutritionists, to advertising gurus looking to cash in on the trend.
And therein lies the problem. Nearly all anti-gluten blogs and articles seem to cite the same New England Journal of Medicine study, and there doesn't seem to be much follow-up research that I could find published on the subject. Online searches for "gluten bad," "gluten study," and "gluten research" tend to bring up plenty of impassioned arguments from both sides of the camp, but a lack of peer-supported studies.
There are some, shall we say, "gluten enthusiasts" who argue that around the same time the anti-gluten message exploded, the paleo diet started to grow in popularity. Check out this blog entry from Outlaw Fitness, which suggests:
"Have a look for yourself. Google 'are grains bad for you.' Low and behold, the first 3 results that pop up are Paleo. The first results that pops up for me? Marks Daily Apple. This is a blog run by Mark Sisson, one of the more famous pro-Paleo bloggers. He has written a book called the Primal Blueprint, and he makes his living by promoting the Paleo ideology."
One of the main ideas behind the paleo diet is that mankind evolved in a gluten-free world, hunting, gathering, and fishing for our dinner, and therefore our bodies work best when we eat more meat and less grain. Personally, I tend to approach this idea with the same dose of skepticism that I approach all fad diets. After all, refrigeration within most homes didn't exist until around the 1940's, at which point the consumption of meat skyrocketed. Personally, I can't exactly see a correlation between the public eating more meat and becoming less obese.
So is it bad or what? Ultimately, it's up to you to decide. There are plenty of people out there who have dropped gluten and have lost weight, gained energy, and claim that their overall health has improved in miraculous ways. And then there are people like me, who thrive on a diet emphasizing whole grains, who feel sluggish on a high-protein diet but never met a bun or loaf of bread that didn't love her back. And people like my grandmother and great aunts, whose staple diets consist of Rye Crisps with cheese and pickled herring, who are full of life and vitality at well over 80 years old.
The bottom line: If you've been suffering from a lingering health issue, like chronic headaches, fatigue, poor digestion, depression, etc., there is no harm in trying an elimination diet to see if going gluten-free (or lactose-free, or meat-free) makes you feel better. However, if you're just looking to lose weight and feel healthier, a well-balanced diet containing a wide variety of food is still your best bet.
The enemy?
I found this article in Eat and Run that helped me expand my knowledge of gluten. Let me summarize a little here if you're not interested in reading the whole thing:
What is it? Gluten is the storage protein of the mature seed of cereal grasses, like barley, wheat and rye. It is what gives most bread its chewy texture and provides elasticity to dough.
Is it bad? Well, that's debatable. For people with full-blown celiac disease who are unable to absorb gluten, it causes pain, diarrhea, and other systemic problems. Around 2010 or so, new research was published, including an oft-cited 2009 article in the New England Journal of Medicine, stating that more people today than ever before have a latent sensitivity to gluten, which can manifest as 55 "diseases" running the gamut from MS to autism. Thus the term "gluten sensitivity" entered public consciousness. The concept of gluten sensitivity was proliferated by everyone from doctors, dieticians, and nutritionists, to advertising gurus looking to cash in on the trend.
And therein lies the problem. Nearly all anti-gluten blogs and articles seem to cite the same New England Journal of Medicine study, and there doesn't seem to be much follow-up research that I could find published on the subject. Online searches for "gluten bad," "gluten study," and "gluten research" tend to bring up plenty of impassioned arguments from both sides of the camp, but a lack of peer-supported studies.
There are some, shall we say, "gluten enthusiasts" who argue that around the same time the anti-gluten message exploded, the paleo diet started to grow in popularity. Check out this blog entry from Outlaw Fitness, which suggests:
"Have a look for yourself. Google 'are grains bad for you.' Low and behold, the first 3 results that pop up are Paleo. The first results that pops up for me? Marks Daily Apple. This is a blog run by Mark Sisson, one of the more famous pro-Paleo bloggers. He has written a book called the Primal Blueprint, and he makes his living by promoting the Paleo ideology."
One of the main ideas behind the paleo diet is that mankind evolved in a gluten-free world, hunting, gathering, and fishing for our dinner, and therefore our bodies work best when we eat more meat and less grain. Personally, I tend to approach this idea with the same dose of skepticism that I approach all fad diets. After all, refrigeration within most homes didn't exist until around the 1940's, at which point the consumption of meat skyrocketed. Personally, I can't exactly see a correlation between the public eating more meat and becoming less obese.
Pretty sure this isn't what they have in mind...
So is it bad or what? Ultimately, it's up to you to decide. There are plenty of people out there who have dropped gluten and have lost weight, gained energy, and claim that their overall health has improved in miraculous ways. And then there are people like me, who thrive on a diet emphasizing whole grains, who feel sluggish on a high-protein diet but never met a bun or loaf of bread that didn't love her back. And people like my grandmother and great aunts, whose staple diets consist of Rye Crisps with cheese and pickled herring, who are full of life and vitality at well over 80 years old.
The bottom line: If you've been suffering from a lingering health issue, like chronic headaches, fatigue, poor digestion, depression, etc., there is no harm in trying an elimination diet to see if going gluten-free (or lactose-free, or meat-free) makes you feel better. However, if you're just looking to lose weight and feel healthier, a well-balanced diet containing a wide variety of food is still your best bet.
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