9 ms·

Why Do So Many People Think They Need Gluten-Free Foods?

41 points by curtis 14y ago

Shorel 14y ago
Answer: because these people think that gluten will slowly change gut lining and immune response to the point that they will develop celiac disease or other illness if they eat gluten regularly.
dmschulman 14y ago
Clearly it has nothing to do with people's evolving eating habits and new found rejection of processed carbohydrate-rich flour based foods. Clearly. I also understand in the article the author focused on Celiacs vs diagnosed but-not-really Celiacs, but the author should really expand his thesis. You might not even have a medical condition but would still choose to reject white bread, Twinkies, crackers, pizza, etc.
- autarch 14y ago
  Rejecting white flour is not the same thing as claiming you cannot tolerate any gluten whatsoever.
  - stcredzero 14y ago
    Yes, but for many it may be a obfuscated way of rejecting white flour.
nazgulnarsil 14y ago
Low carb diets became popular with the plebs, so a crypto low-carb diet is needed.
- jonnathanson 14y ago
  Actually, independent of the whole low-carb craze, there's some evidence indicating that, as carbs go, wheat is a particularly bad one. Substantially worse than corn, rice, root vegetables, and other sources of starch. People have definitely conflated the wheat gluten allergy issue (celiac disease and other forms) with low-carb dieting in general, which is misguided. As the article points out, the percentage of the population actually suffering from allergies to gluten is tiny. [1] But it may not be a bad idea to cut down on wheat, regardless. Especially products with highly processed wheat as a key ingredient. [1] Although it may be growing, for reasons not currently understood. Alternatively, we may just be experiencing a boom in the diagnosis -- either a result of over-diagnosing, or rather, correct diagnoses after many decades of under-diagnosing.
  - kingnothing 14y ago
    Do you have any sources for that?
  - nnq 14y ago
    > Substantially worse than corn, rice, root vegetables, and other sources of starch. ...can you share the source for this information?
javert 14y ago
I have gotten really sick (to the point of being hospitalized) and I can basically tell it's related to bread in some way (very strong correlation suggests causation). No doctor has been able to help me at all (this is in the US). In one case, the doctor actually had to go look up "celiac diesase" (hadn't heard of it). Another told me it was just from drinking too much coffee and soda. But my symptoms go away completely and I feel fine when I totally avoid anything that might have bread (and still drink tons of coffee). This article is probably the most helpful thing I've ever found - I have never been able to figure this out from Wikipedia. And I'll probably be bringing it with me if I ever try again to get help from the medical system. Years ago my personal Wikipedia research lead me to conclude that there were no helpful tests to find out what I have. People have been telling me for years that I'm wrong. I actually started to believe it - maybe I misunderstood, or Wikipedia was wrong. Well, it looks like maybe I was right. If anybody with medical experience can comment on the accuracy of this article, that would be great. It has also been suggested to me that I may have a "yeast allergy" (by a traveller from Europe), so if anyone has any insight into that... EDIT: To be clear, I pretty much ruled out celiac long ago, because my symptoms are not _that_ serious. I either have wheat allergy, gluten intolerance (most likely), or something simply not listed in this article. The great value of this article to me is that it lists several possible problems and clarifies what tests are and are not available. In other words, it does for me exactly what a physician should have done for me years ago.
- gnosis 14y ago
  You can get an allergey test.[1] [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergy_test https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergy_test
  - javert 14y ago
    Except the article states that those aren't useful. (Maybe you are trying to tell me the article is wrong?) > One problem with wheat allergy is that there is no good test for it. In fact, the blood tests for IgE (called RAST tests) are notoriously unreliable; for example, only one in eight children with a positive IgE test for peanuts is truly allergic. > There’s not even a mediocre blood test for gluten intolerance. The diagnosis simply relies on someone’s subjective feelings of bloating, bowel changes, or mental fogginess after eating gluten
emehrkay 14y ago
I make my own "wheat meat" which is 99% wheat gluten. It's delicious, fun, and interesting. If you arent one of those people who care or cant handle it, I suggest trying it out. There are plenty of recipes online, you'll just need about an hour
- xemoka 14y ago
  For those looking for more information on this "wheat meat", searching for "seitan" will provide.
- ljf 14y ago
  A vegan friend got me to try it, loved it. But the explosive reaction proved that its not for me. Tasted awesome though, give it a try, its one of the cheapest proteins and can be so tasty!
shawndumas 14y ago
My son, who is deathly allergic (anaphylactically allergic) to peanut-butter, had a blood test to see if he might have grown out of it (he hasn't; poor kid). The doctor also order the blood test to screen for specific allergy-causing antibodies to various common allergens, including wheat proteins. It turns out that his blood had a reaction to albumin (or maybe it was globulin; I can't remember). The Doctor called it a 'wheat allergy' and went on about diarrhea. And Mom and I thought he was just trying to avoid doing the dishes when he'd bolt to the bathroom right after eating: Go figure... We just look for gluten free because if there is no gluten there is none of the other 4 proteins found in wheat.
mipapage 14y ago
Drop gluten for 3 weeks; do you feel better? Feel bad when you get back on it? Problem solved, really. Until science supports our observations, I don't need much more proof than that.
- zwieback 14y ago
  Your reply perfectly sums up why anti-gluten and other food crazes periodically sweep through our culture: science's job isn't to support peoples self-observation and that observation does not prove gluten intolerance. The gluten-free + gluten/placebo experiment could show whether someone is gluten intolerant or not, until then the approach you mention is indistinguishable from superstition.
  - Shorel 14y ago
    Now this is a good reason to prove if farts can be created by placebo effects and superstition.
  - jellicle 14y ago
    For an individual, it doesn't matter whether the effect is placebo or not; it's real to the individual. If standing on tiptoes and spinning around three times each morning makes you feel better, you should do it. It's only for determining what sorts of interventions we should use for a larger population that we care about whether the effect is placebo or not.
  - dbrian 14y ago
    Sure, but when you make personal choices for your own diet you should absolutely base it on your own observations.
  - mipapage 14y ago
    This has nothing to do with fads or crazes, at least for me and many other's that I know. It is important to apply critical thinking in all aspects of what you do.
- dbrian 14y ago
  I agree, elimination diets are great. And this is all anyone can really do as an individual to find what works best for them. I did the same thing with dairy. I just feel better without it.
lotides 14y ago
My son is extremely allergic to wheat and milk. We have to carry an epi-pen with us everywhere. He swells up, including his face and throat, when he comes in contact with these allergens. It's cost us thousands of dollars in hospital bills, missed work and is a constant worry. If people eat something, don't wash their hands and then touch him, he'll get a bad rash. Most gluten free food is free of wheat and some of that is free of dairy too. I'm thankful for the gluten free trend. Without it, my son wouldn't have much of a chance to eat many common foods. You wouldn't believe some of the things they put wheat in, sometimes for seemingly no reason at all. He can't even play with play dough. So I'll continue to pay 5x as much for a loaf of gluten-free bread because it gives my son a more normal life.
- jonnathanson 14y ago
  +1 I'm gluten-free by medical necessity, though not nearly as bad as what is unfortunately afflicting your son. And gluten-free products are a) expensive, b) still pretty rare, and c) unlikely to be found outside of specialized sections in large supermarkets or online retailers. If nothing else, gluten-free faddism creates market forces that increase the availability of gluten-free options while simultaneously reducing their (substantial!) cost. So in that sense, it has some positive externalities. For example, you can actually get a gluten-free option on most airplane flights these days. That certainly wasn't the case 5 years ago (or at least it wasn't unless you went out of your way to arrange something). Conversely, the one real danger is that a lot of products are coming to market very quickly, and not all of them are as gluten-free or wheat-safe as they claim. (For instance, a product not made with wheat, but processed in the same factory as wheat products, can get away with calling itself "gluten free," and you need to read the very, very fine print on the package to figure this out). The labeling standards need to catch up to the marketing.
  - VLM 14y ago
    "And gluten-free products are a) expensive, b) still pretty rare, and c) unlikely to be found outside of specialized sections" Not true. Our whole family has been on the diet for a decade or so for medical necessity of our son. Yes if you "demand" something like gluten containing junk food its terribly expensive and frankly doesn't taste very good, usually. But a perfectly "normal" GF lifestyle isn't any more difficult or expensive than a G lifestyle. Grilled chicken caesar salad with homemade tasty dressing... just hold the crutons. Traditional steak dinner with all the fixings, just don't marinate in soy sauce based marinades and don't serve garlic bread on the side. Beef pot roast with all the fixings except dinner rolls. Meatloaf just use rice as a binder instead of wheat flour and thicken the gravy with off the shelf cornstarch instead of wheat flour. For obvious "bun" reasons we tend to cook a heck of a lot more kebobs than burgers and brats. He have had cornbread burger buns and they're not as bad as they might sound... after all corn torilla and seasoned meat is not unheard of, so cornbread and somewhat less seasoned meat is pretty good too. Lime garlic marinated chicken stir fried Snack time tends a lot more toward corn chips and salsa or sliced up fruit than toward cookies and cake slices. You'd be amazed what can be done with cornbread and cornbread batter, but you have to make your own from cornmeal, the mixes in the store use flour as a binder. No problemo homemade is about 1/2 the cost of boxed mix anyway. I don't like eggs, but obviously for breakfast we do a lot more bacon -n- eggs than bacon -n- pancakes. I do agree that for social reasons a GF cake costing $10 and tasting like instant potatoes and crunchy rice is kinda ridiculous. So unless there's intense social pressure we don't buy the "GF-products" and stick to naturally GF food instead. Very little baby spinach contains wheat, for example.
chris_mahan 14y ago
My doctor told me to. Been wheat-free for 4 months, and feeling much better. Also, caffeine-free.
- chris_mahan 14y ago
  Also, I'm french, and the bread from Udi's is awesome. (http://udisglutenfree.com/ http://udisglutenfree.com/)
  - woodchuck64 14y ago
    Udi's is so much lighter and tastier than all other gluten-free breads, I suspect black magic. Also, best gluten-free pastas anywhere in my experience: Ancient Harvest Quinoa/Corn Pastas (http://www.quinoa.net/145/163.html http://www.quinoa.net/145/163.html, sold at Amazon, Whole Foods, etc.) Amazing mac & cheese, amazing spaghetti.
- jpdoctor 14y ago
  > Also, caffeine-free. You had me going until you wrote that.
  - chris_mahan 14y ago
    You should try it. Headaches last a week, then it's all good. I sleep much, much better, and my mood is better. Plus, I drink no sodas, tea, or coffee, so I am saving several dollars per day. It adds up.
- nnq 14y ago
  ...so you have no idea whether it's from cutting out caffeine or gluten. Great way to not understand your body! Try going on a seitan rich diet for a week (it's basically pure gluten made to taste like meat, and actually tastes quite good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_gluten_(food) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_gluten_(food)) - if you actually feel any worse (more than the nocebo effect), then you might really have a gluten problem. If you feel better, then the problem was most likely the coffee (or some other ingredient of the gluten containing foods you were eating, in which case you better of on no-gluten, so you'll need a further experiment to clarify this). Experimenting on your body is cool, trust me (yeah, it's boring compared to doing it with some hard drugs or psychedelics, buy still sciency and fun :) )
intopieces 14y ago
A lot of the anti-gluten sentiment semight be rooted in the need for a quick fix to dieting issues. The idea being 'if I just cut out this one thing, all of my belly fat will go away.' People (myself included) hate the idea that dieting is a change of lifestyle, that you can't just slash one thing for a few months and call it a day. I think the challenge should be: no processed foods for a month. None whatsoever. Then see how you feel. But because we've mostly decided that our budget should go to everything else besides good food, that's a difficult task indeed.
- Bjuukia 14y ago
  What do you consider processed food? In other words, could you give a one-day meal sample?
maqr 14y ago
After recently relocating to San Francisco, I'm concerned that I'm not getting enough gluten.
Spooky23 14y ago
Wheat has been a key part of human diet for something like 10,000 years. The gluten crisis has been with us for 3-4. It's an ideal chronic condition for the 99% of suburbanites not affected by celiac disease who need something to complain about, conspicuously spend money on and attract attention. It sounds serious, onerous to deal with, and has no stigma attached to it. When people actually "stop eating gluten", they buy really bad bread for $8 a loaf. They also stop eating food like pizza, a variety of processed foods, ice cream, etc. So they lose weight and "feel better".
- shawndumas 14y ago
  My son's blood, independent of his body, produced allergy-causing antibodies when exposed to wheat proteins; I guess his blood just wanted something to complain 'bout in order to get attention, huh? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5288333 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5288333
  - Spooky23 14y ago
    Your son has a medical condition that is truly horrible. He's the 1%. 20 years ago, the 99% of people who don't have conditions like your son's were refusing to eat products containing eggs, and were loading up on a variety of foods containing oat bran at inflated prices. 30 years ago, those some type of people were refusing to eat pork.
    - shawndumas 14y ago
      My son got the blood test because of a tertiary condition that warranted a blood test. It may be just that people aren't going around getting blood tests. My guess is it would surprise the heck out of you how many food related allergies are not just in people's imaginations.
- jerf 14y ago
  I was going to say that wheat has been bred for more gluten content, but in the process of looking around for concrete evidence of that claim, I found this: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/jf305122s http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/jf305122s So, nevermind that then. It is entirely possible that it is simply an improved diagnosis artifact. My paternal grandmother, from whom I have inherited my celiac (yes, hitting my father too), relates a family tale about a great-uncle who was notoriously "lazy" and unmotivated, and who slept a lot. As a judgment of character in late 1800s farm-country Ohio, that's a pretty serious character flaw, but nobody had a clue it could have been diet-related (a suggestion that probably would have been found laughable, in favor of the character flaw theory). Obviously we can't prove it was a celiac case, but it matches our modern experiences in our gene line pretty well, so it is at least not an unreasonable theory. It's not unlikely Celiac's been around with us for a very long time... it's just that it usually doesn't kill you, certainly not prior to breeding age. (For which I am grateful.)
aaronbrethorst 14y ago
"Why Do So Many People Think They Need Gluten-Free Foods?" Because when I eat it I feel bloated and nauseous. When I don't, I feel fine. Q.E.D. I talked about this a little bit the last time it came up[1]. The problem occurs when I eat barley, rye, wheat, and other grains that contain it. So, it's definitely not a wheat allergy. My symptoms aren't as severe as those that celiacs suffer from, thankfully. Last year, after I thought I knew what was causing the problem, I tried eating some bread after my symptoms had all gone away. They came back within a couple hours. Going back to a strict gluten free diet solved the problem again. [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5277765 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5277765
- msutherl 14y ago
  Exactly. This is the case for me and it's the case for well over 1/100th of the people I know. Almost all of my immediate family have the same issues. It's not a fad, it's a collective realization that this is a problem and what gets labeled as a "fad" consists of people, who feel they may have symptoms, experimenting or deciding to be perhaps a bit overly cautious. Overall this is a very good thing and the "fad" should be encouraged.
- ljf 14y ago
  I'm pretty similar, my wife is a confirmed celiac, so I know that I do not have that as my symptoms are no where near as harsh. But for me I feel so much better when I avoid it, I don't get "sandwich sweats" I don't feel dopey, and most of all I don't get piles (hemorrhoids). People try to make out I'm faddy, or that I'm being difficult, but the benefits are clear to me!
- VLM 14y ago
  You can also test this by trying foods that you wouldn't assume contain wheat, but they certainly do. How bout beer, (most) licorice, soy sauce, and (most) taco seasoned meat? That should make you sick too. It made my son sick... well, not the beer; he was just a toddler at diagnosis. But yeah, eat Chinese and throw up for 3 continuous days, even though "fried rice doesn't contain wheat, does it?", well, yeah, it does, in the soy sauce, that kind of thing.
xemoka 14y ago
This is a pretty poor article. It does not provide any counter points or reference anything in the other camp. The article skirts any knowledge about who is evangelizing the wheat free movement (William Davis [1] wrote an excellent book, Wheat Belly [2] about this exact phenomenon) and why. It's anecdotal, yes, as is most scientific research early on when there may be a lot of competing arguments. Dr. Davis clearly outlines why he feels that wheat is a problem in our current society (mainly due to the changes in amylopectin in modern wheat, as well as other protein changes that are not present in ancestors to modern wheat). It's worth a read if you want to know more, it is anecdotal but there sure is a lot of anecdotes and empirical evidence, and it's fleshed out quite thoroughly in his book [2]. It seems that anything in our diets that is in over abundance seems to cause us problems, be it wheat or soy. Both of which are in almost everything we eat today, and both of which have undergone some serious changes in the last 40-80 years. [1] http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/about-the-author/ http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/about-the-author/ [2] http://www.amazon.com/Wheat-Belly-William-Davis/dp/1443412732?tag=613240924-20 http://www.amazon.com/Wheat-Belly-William-Davis/dp/144341273...
- zwieback 14y ago
  Counter point to what? The article mentions that a lot of people that don't have celiac disease avoid gluten and out of those 1/3 actually find some relief from a gluten-free diet. I didn't feel the author was taking sides.
  - xemoka 14y ago
    Perhaps you're right. It just seems a little underdeveloped in my opinion. There's a lot of talk around wheat's effects and this article could have included more information. When authors make links to celebrities jumping on board I often end up not thinking very highly of what the celebrities are supporting. Particularly when the previous sentence is purporting gluten-free to be a 'fad'. I guess in the end, it's not truly a poor article, it just does not go into as much depth as a feel it could have. I suppose it's all about the audience, and I am not the target audience for this article.
- cheeseprocedure 14y ago
chez17 14y ago
>According to USA Today, up to one-quarter of all consumers now want gluten-free food, even though only one person in 100 has celiac disease It's almost like people cook for the ones they love! I've been eating gluten free for months now for exclusively medical reasons. I was having crippling stomach pains and nausea. Marijuana was a gift from the gods for the nausea but nothing stopped the stomach pain. My mother talked to a friend about my symptoms and that friend said it sounded similar to someone she knew. That lead to a recommendation to try going gluten free. After two weeks the pain and the nausea were gone, almost completely, and I'm still having some other GI issues that are being addressed. I don't think I am 'intolerant' to gluten, I think there is something wrong with my gut and avoiding gluten seems to be helping for now. Yes, it's becoming a fad, and it's sad that people just dismiss it simply because of that. Look at some of the comments here, it seems people get angry over it. However, it's been life changing for me, literally. I hope to eat wheat again when all my issues are sorted out, but it's really helped me for the time being.
- saidajigumi 14y ago
  The latest research on this front really doesn't do much "blaming the victim", which seems to be the default mindset when someone avoids a food or food ingredient. IMO, it's almost certainly not "something wrong with your gut", but rather your gut is ill due to long-term assault from poor external inputs. Eventually nearly everyone gets unlucky. The lucky ones just mistake a "disease of civilization" for a "geriatric condition". Gluten, gliadins, and lectins, present in wheat and other grains, basically amount to plant defensive chemicals. For many people, consumption of these plays a strong role eventually has various deleterious effects which. The impacts are complex, to say the least, and a matter of ongoing research. However, the basis of treatment is straightforward: eliminate everything with grain. Gluten isn't enough, especially if you have severe GI damage. You may find it helpful to check out resources and books on the "paleo diet" as regards restructuring your eating this way.
- solarbunny 14y ago
  True, plants have a defense mechanisms from microorganisms, yeasts et cetera, but these defenses can be disarmed to some degree by properly preparing grains: i.e. the old way - soaking, leavening. I'll repeat a quote from Nassim Taleb: "The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary."
leejoramo 14y ago
My wife spent years dealing with Gluten intolerance. Usually she would suffer sever stomach pain followed by diarrhea. But it was not a consistent problem. Sometimes she would accidentally get wheat and be ok. Additionally, she could eat other non-wheat whole grains which Celiacs and other Gluten intolerant people can't handle. Finally, we seem to have found the problem. Additives to flour especially bromated flour. We have conducted our own tests and if she has even small amounts of bromated flour, she reacts. But if we grind our own wheat or use a brand such as King Arthur that has no additives, she never has a problem. (As a nurse, she finds medical research interesting) We now make our own bread and other flour based foods, but when we eat out, she continues to order gluten free. We have tried to find any formal medical studies on this. There is plenty of talk about bromated flour being carcinogenic and prohibited in much of Europe and Canada. But very little about people with immediate reactions too it. We wonder if this is the source of many people's gluten issues. edit: grammar
- leejoramo 14y ago
  I should add, that we did do some blind tests. I would not claim anything close to a formal study, but enough for a science minded couple to feel it was good for our needs.
jinushaun 14y ago
For me at least, the health benefits of ditching gluten is quite apparent very quickly (3 weeks). You don't realise how bad you feel eating gluten until you stop. Everyone just starts taking daily stomach aches, bloating, heartburn, indigestion and 2pm food fatigue for granted. They think that's just the way it is. It's not. That said, I still love bread, but now only eat it sparingly.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- chris_mahan 14y ago
  When you find blood in your stool, you realize it won't 'just go away'.
sbhere 14y ago
According to my local celiac authority: "because the atkins diet and south beach diet went out of style"
- Shorel 14y ago
  The induction phase of Atkins is pretty much alive with the name of Keto(genic) diet.
rmm 14y ago
Went gluten-free for a month back in 2010, haven't looked back since. I didn't need to lose weight (although it's a nice side effect) but my psoriasis cleared up completely. The tests for gluten intolerance are notoriously inaccurate. They test for antibodies for gluten in the bloodstream, and this only occurs when you have serious gut permeability. Self experimentation is the way to go with this until the research catches up. Try it for a month, and see how you feel. Also I don't see this the problem with a self-diagnosis being wrong. It's not as if by eating gluten-free you are directly harming your body.
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ahoyhere 14y ago
Americans don't ferment or even soak their grains, which the Weston A Price foundation (and many others) believe is one of the reasons Americans have so much discomfort/illness to do with grains: http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/living-with-phytic-acid http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/living-with-phytic... Soaking and fermentation change the digestibility by altering the structure of the grain, and eliminating enzymes that have potentially painful side effects.
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conradfr 14y ago
First time I learned about gluten or gluten-free diet was when I researched links between ADHD and food, and didn't give it much thought. Then I read on HN about Taubes and then keto, which led me to /r/keto and I tried it for fun (for science !) for two months (I don't need to lose weight). I did feel A LOT better and lost 2 Kg (which isn't much but I'm 1m76 for 62 Kg). Improvements were : - no more sleepiness during the day. I had suffered about this since forever. - less headaches (and nauseas). - less belly bloating (I always thought it was normal) - (slightly) better sleep. Since then I eat an egg & bacon for breakfast, and eat a lot less bread and pasta (and carbs). I miss baguette (I'm French) but I feel great overall. I guess it's just +1 for anecdotal evidence ! :)
cpursley 14y ago
All I know is my energy is more level throughout the day and my thoughts are much clearer. I now know I never actually had 'ADD' in grade school - I had 'Captain Crunch' - thanks mom. I don't care much for 'gluten free' replacement product hype. Just eat normal food - avoid the wheat.

41 points by curtis 14y ago

Answer: because these people think that gluten will slowly change gut lining and immune response to the point that they will develop celiac disease or other illness if they eat gluten regularly.

dmschulman 14y ago

Clearly it has nothing to do with people's evolving eating habits and new found rejection of processed carbohydrate-rich flour based foods. Clearly. I also understand in the article the author focused on Celiacs vs diagnosed but-not-really Celiacs, but the author should really expand his thesis. You might not even have a medical condition but would still choose to reject white bread, Twinkies, crackers, pizza, etc.

autarch 14y ago
Rejecting white flour is not the same thing as claiming you cannot tolerate any gluten whatsoever.
- stcredzero 14y ago
  Yes, but for many it may be a obfuscated way of rejecting white flour.

nazgulnarsil 14y ago

Low carb diets became popular with the plebs, so a crypto low-carb diet is needed.

jonnathanson 14y ago
Actually, independent of the whole low-carb craze, there's some evidence indicating that, as carbs go, wheat is a particularly bad one. Substantially worse than corn, rice, root vegetables, and other sources of starch. People have definitely conflated the wheat gluten allergy issue (celiac disease and other forms) with low-carb dieting in general, which is misguided. As the article points out, the percentage of the population actually suffering from allergies to gluten is tiny. [1] But it may not be a bad idea to cut down on wheat, regardless. Especially products with highly processed wheat as a key ingredient. [1] Although it may be growing, for reasons not currently understood. Alternatively, we may just be experiencing a boom in the diagnosis -- either a result of over-diagnosing, or rather, correct diagnoses after many decades of under-diagnosing.
- kingnothing 14y ago
  Do you have any sources for that?
- nnq 14y ago
  > Substantially worse than corn, rice, root vegetables, and other sources of starch. ...can you share the source for this information?

javert 14y ago

I have gotten really sick (to the point of being hospitalized) and I can basically tell it's related to bread in some way (very strong correlation suggests causation). No doctor has been able to help me at all (this is in the US). In one case, the doctor actually had to go look up "celiac diesase" (hadn't heard of it). Another told me it was just from drinking too much coffee and soda. But my symptoms go away completely and I feel fine when I totally avoid anything that might have bread (and still drink tons of coffee). This article is probably the most helpful thing I've ever found - I have never been able to figure this out from Wikipedia. And I'll probably be bringing it with me if I ever try again to get help from the medical system. Years ago my personal Wikipedia research lead me to conclude that there were no helpful tests to find out what I have. People have been telling me for years that I'm wrong. I actually started to believe it - maybe I misunderstood, or Wikipedia was wrong. Well, it looks like maybe I was right. If anybody with medical experience can comment on the accuracy of this article, that would be great. It has also been suggested to me that I may have a "yeast allergy" (by a traveller from Europe), so if anyone has any insight into that... EDIT: To be clear, I pretty much ruled out celiac long ago, because my symptoms are not _that_ serious. I either have wheat allergy, gluten intolerance (most likely), or something simply not listed in this article. The great value of this article to me is that it lists several possible problems and clarifies what tests are and are not available. In other words, it does for me exactly what a physician should have done for me years ago.

gnosis 14y ago
You can get an allergey test.[1] [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergy_test https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergy_test
- javert 14y ago
  Except the article states that those aren't useful. (Maybe you are trying to tell me the article is wrong?) > One problem with wheat allergy is that there is no good test for it. In fact, the blood tests for IgE (called RAST tests) are notoriously unreliable; for example, only one in eight children with a positive IgE test for peanuts is truly allergic. > There’s not even a mediocre blood test for gluten intolerance. The diagnosis simply relies on someone’s subjective feelings of bloating, bowel changes, or mental fogginess after eating gluten

emehrkay 14y ago

I make my own "wheat meat" which is 99% wheat gluten. It's delicious, fun, and interesting. If you arent one of those people who care or cant handle it, I suggest trying it out. There are plenty of recipes online, you'll just need about an hour

xemoka 14y ago
For those looking for more information on this "wheat meat", searching for "seitan" will provide.
ljf 14y ago
A vegan friend got me to try it, loved it. But the explosive reaction proved that its not for me. Tasted awesome though, give it a try, its one of the cheapest proteins and can be so tasty!

shawndumas 14y ago

My son, who is deathly allergic (anaphylactically allergic) to peanut-butter, had a blood test to see if he might have grown out of it (he hasn't; poor kid). The doctor also order the blood test to screen for specific allergy-causing antibodies to various common allergens, including wheat proteins. It turns out that his blood had a reaction to albumin (or maybe it was globulin; I can't remember). The Doctor called it a 'wheat allergy' and went on about diarrhea. And Mom and I thought he was just trying to avoid doing the dishes when he'd bolt to the bathroom right after eating: Go figure... We just look for gluten free because if there is no gluten there is none of the other 4 proteins found in wheat.

mipapage 14y ago

Drop gluten for 3 weeks; do you feel better? Feel bad when you get back on it? Problem solved, really. Until science supports our observations, I don't need much more proof than that.

zwieback 14y ago
Your reply perfectly sums up why anti-gluten and other food crazes periodically sweep through our culture: science's job isn't to support peoples self-observation and that observation does not prove gluten intolerance. The gluten-free + gluten/placebo experiment could show whether someone is gluten intolerant or not, until then the approach you mention is indistinguishable from superstition.
- Shorel 14y ago
  Now this is a good reason to prove if farts can be created by placebo effects and superstition.
- jellicle 14y ago
  For an individual, it doesn't matter whether the effect is placebo or not; it's real to the individual. If standing on tiptoes and spinning around three times each morning makes you feel better, you should do it. It's only for determining what sorts of interventions we should use for a larger population that we care about whether the effect is placebo or not.
- dbrian 14y ago
  Sure, but when you make personal choices for your own diet you should absolutely base it on your own observations.
- mipapage 14y ago
  This has nothing to do with fads or crazes, at least for me and many other's that I know. It is important to apply critical thinking in all aspects of what you do.
dbrian 14y ago
I agree, elimination diets are great. And this is all anyone can really do as an individual to find what works best for them. I did the same thing with dairy. I just feel better without it.

lotides 14y ago

My son is extremely allergic to wheat and milk. We have to carry an epi-pen with us everywhere. He swells up, including his face and throat, when he comes in contact with these allergens. It's cost us thousands of dollars in hospital bills, missed work and is a constant worry. If people eat something, don't wash their hands and then touch him, he'll get a bad rash. Most gluten free food is free of wheat and some of that is free of dairy too. I'm thankful for the gluten free trend. Without it, my son wouldn't have much of a chance to eat many common foods. You wouldn't believe some of the things they put wheat in, sometimes for seemingly no reason at all. He can't even play with play dough. So I'll continue to pay 5x as much for a loaf of gluten-free bread because it gives my son a more normal life.

jonnathanson 14y ago
+1 I'm gluten-free by medical necessity, though not nearly as bad as what is unfortunately afflicting your son. And gluten-free products are a) expensive, b) still pretty rare, and c) unlikely to be found outside of specialized sections in large supermarkets or online retailers. If nothing else, gluten-free faddism creates market forces that increase the availability of gluten-free options while simultaneously reducing their (substantial!) cost. So in that sense, it has some positive externalities. For example, you can actually get a gluten-free option on most airplane flights these days. That certainly wasn't the case 5 years ago (or at least it wasn't unless you went out of your way to arrange something). Conversely, the one real danger is that a lot of products are coming to market very quickly, and not all of them are as gluten-free or wheat-safe as they claim. (For instance, a product not made with wheat, but processed in the same factory as wheat products, can get away with calling itself "gluten free," and you need to read the very, very fine print on the package to figure this out). The labeling standards need to catch up to the marketing.
- VLM 14y ago
  "And gluten-free products are a) expensive, b) still pretty rare, and c) unlikely to be found outside of specialized sections" Not true. Our whole family has been on the diet for a decade or so for medical necessity of our son. Yes if you "demand" something like gluten containing junk food its terribly expensive and frankly doesn't taste very good, usually. But a perfectly "normal" GF lifestyle isn't any more difficult or expensive than a G lifestyle. Grilled chicken caesar salad with homemade tasty dressing... just hold the crutons. Traditional steak dinner with all the fixings, just don't marinate in soy sauce based marinades and don't serve garlic bread on the side. Beef pot roast with all the fixings except dinner rolls. Meatloaf just use rice as a binder instead of wheat flour and thicken the gravy with off the shelf cornstarch instead of wheat flour. For obvious "bun" reasons we tend to cook a heck of a lot more kebobs than burgers and brats. He have had cornbread burger buns and they're not as bad as they might sound... after all corn torilla and seasoned meat is not unheard of, so cornbread and somewhat less seasoned meat is pretty good too. Lime garlic marinated chicken stir fried Snack time tends a lot more toward corn chips and salsa or sliced up fruit than toward cookies and cake slices. You'd be amazed what can be done with cornbread and cornbread batter, but you have to make your own from cornmeal, the mixes in the store use flour as a binder. No problemo homemade is about 1/2 the cost of boxed mix anyway. I don't like eggs, but obviously for breakfast we do a lot more bacon -n- eggs than bacon -n- pancakes. I do agree that for social reasons a GF cake costing $10 and tasting like instant potatoes and crunchy rice is kinda ridiculous. So unless there's intense social pressure we don't buy the "GF-products" and stick to naturally GF food instead. Very little baby spinach contains wheat, for example.

chris_mahan 14y ago

My doctor told me to. Been wheat-free for 4 months, and feeling much better. Also, caffeine-free.

chris_mahan 14y ago
Also, I'm french, and the bread from Udi's is awesome. (http://udisglutenfree.com/ http://udisglutenfree.com/)
- woodchuck64 14y ago
  Udi's is so much lighter and tastier than all other gluten-free breads, I suspect black magic. Also, best gluten-free pastas anywhere in my experience: Ancient Harvest Quinoa/Corn Pastas (http://www.quinoa.net/145/163.html http://www.quinoa.net/145/163.html, sold at Amazon, Whole Foods, etc.) Amazing mac & cheese, amazing spaghetti.
jpdoctor 14y ago
> Also, caffeine-free. You had me going until you wrote that.
- chris_mahan 14y ago
  You should try it. Headaches last a week, then it's all good. I sleep much, much better, and my mood is better. Plus, I drink no sodas, tea, or coffee, so I am saving several dollars per day. It adds up.
nnq 14y ago
...so you have no idea whether it's from cutting out caffeine or gluten. Great way to not understand your body! Try going on a seitan rich diet for a week (it's basically pure gluten made to taste like meat, and actually tastes quite good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_gluten_(food) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_gluten_(food)) - if you actually feel any worse (more than the nocebo effect), then you might really have a gluten problem. If you feel better, then the problem was most likely the coffee (or some other ingredient of the gluten containing foods you were eating, in which case you better of on no-gluten, so you'll need a further experiment to clarify this). Experimenting on your body is cool, trust me (yeah, it's boring compared to doing it with some hard drugs or psychedelics, buy still sciency and fun :) )

intopieces 14y ago

A lot of the anti-gluten sentiment semight be rooted in the need for a quick fix to dieting issues. The idea being 'if I just cut out this one thing, all of my belly fat will go away.' People (myself included) hate the idea that dieting is a change of lifestyle, that you can't just slash one thing for a few months and call it a day. I think the challenge should be: no processed foods for a month. None whatsoever. Then see how you feel. But because we've mostly decided that our budget should go to everything else besides good food, that's a difficult task indeed.

Bjuukia 14y ago
What do you consider processed food? In other words, could you give a one-day meal sample?

maqr 14y ago

After recently relocating to San Francisco, I'm concerned that I'm not getting enough gluten.

Spooky23 14y ago

Wheat has been a key part of human diet for something like 10,000 years. The gluten crisis has been with us for 3-4. It's an ideal chronic condition for the 99% of suburbanites not affected by celiac disease who need something to complain about, conspicuously spend money on and attract attention. It sounds serious, onerous to deal with, and has no stigma attached to it. When people actually "stop eating gluten", they buy really bad bread for $8 a loaf. They also stop eating food like pizza, a variety of processed foods, ice cream, etc. So they lose weight and "feel better".

shawndumas 14y ago
My son's blood, independent of his body, produced allergy-causing antibodies when exposed to wheat proteins; I guess his blood just wanted something to complain 'bout in order to get attention, huh? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5288333 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5288333
- Spooky23 14y ago
  Your son has a medical condition that is truly horrible. He's the 1%. 20 years ago, the 99% of people who don't have conditions like your son's were refusing to eat products containing eggs, and were loading up on a variety of foods containing oat bran at inflated prices. 30 years ago, those some type of people were refusing to eat pork.
  - shawndumas 14y ago
    My son got the blood test because of a tertiary condition that warranted a blood test. It may be just that people aren't going around getting blood tests. My guess is it would surprise the heck out of you how many food related allergies are not just in people's imaginations.
jerf 14y ago
I was going to say that wheat has been bred for more gluten content, but in the process of looking around for concrete evidence of that claim, I found this: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/jf305122s http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/jf305122s So, nevermind that then. It is entirely possible that it is simply an improved diagnosis artifact. My paternal grandmother, from whom I have inherited my celiac (yes, hitting my father too), relates a family tale about a great-uncle who was notoriously "lazy" and unmotivated, and who slept a lot. As a judgment of character in late 1800s farm-country Ohio, that's a pretty serious character flaw, but nobody had a clue it could have been diet-related (a suggestion that probably would have been found laughable, in favor of the character flaw theory). Obviously we can't prove it was a celiac case, but it matches our modern experiences in our gene line pretty well, so it is at least not an unreasonable theory. It's not unlikely Celiac's been around with us for a very long time... it's just that it usually doesn't kill you, certainly not prior to breeding age. (For which I am grateful.)

aaronbrethorst 14y ago

"Why Do So Many People Think They Need Gluten-Free Foods?" Because when I eat it I feel bloated and nauseous. When I don't, I feel fine. Q.E.D. I talked about this a little bit the last time it came up[1]. The problem occurs when I eat barley, rye, wheat, and other grains that contain it. So, it's definitely not a wheat allergy. My symptoms aren't as severe as those that celiacs suffer from, thankfully. Last year, after I thought I knew what was causing the problem, I tried eating some bread after my symptoms had all gone away. They came back within a couple hours. Going back to a strict gluten free diet solved the problem again. [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5277765 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5277765

msutherl 14y ago
Exactly. This is the case for me and it's the case for well over 1/100th of the people I know. Almost all of my immediate family have the same issues. It's not a fad, it's a collective realization that this is a problem and what gets labeled as a "fad" consists of people, who feel they may have symptoms, experimenting or deciding to be perhaps a bit overly cautious. Overall this is a very good thing and the "fad" should be encouraged.
ljf 14y ago
I'm pretty similar, my wife is a confirmed celiac, so I know that I do not have that as my symptoms are no where near as harsh. But for me I feel so much better when I avoid it, I don't get "sandwich sweats" I don't feel dopey, and most of all I don't get piles (hemorrhoids). People try to make out I'm faddy, or that I'm being difficult, but the benefits are clear to me!
VLM 14y ago
You can also test this by trying foods that you wouldn't assume contain wheat, but they certainly do. How bout beer, (most) licorice, soy sauce, and (most) taco seasoned meat? That should make you sick too. It made my son sick... well, not the beer; he was just a toddler at diagnosis. But yeah, eat Chinese and throw up for 3 continuous days, even though "fried rice doesn't contain wheat, does it?", well, yeah, it does, in the soy sauce, that kind of thing.

xemoka 14y ago

This is a pretty poor article. It does not provide any counter points or reference anything in the other camp. The article skirts any knowledge about who is evangelizing the wheat free movement (William Davis [1] wrote an excellent book, Wheat Belly [2] about this exact phenomenon) and why. It's anecdotal, yes, as is most scientific research early on when there may be a lot of competing arguments. Dr. Davis clearly outlines why he feels that wheat is a problem in our current society (mainly due to the changes in amylopectin in modern wheat, as well as other protein changes that are not present in ancestors to modern wheat). It's worth a read if you want to know more, it is anecdotal but there sure is a lot of anecdotes and empirical evidence, and it's fleshed out quite thoroughly in his book [2]. It seems that anything in our diets that is in over abundance seems to cause us problems, be it wheat or soy. Both of which are in almost everything we eat today, and both of which have undergone some serious changes in the last 40-80 years. [1] http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/about-the-author/ http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/about-the-author/ [2] http://www.amazon.com/Wheat-Belly-William-Davis/dp/1443412732?tag=613240924-20 http://www.amazon.com/Wheat-Belly-William-Davis/dp/144341273...

zwieback 14y ago
Counter point to what? The article mentions that a lot of people that don't have celiac disease avoid gluten and out of those 1/3 actually find some relief from a gluten-free diet. I didn't feel the author was taking sides.
- xemoka 14y ago
  Perhaps you're right. It just seems a little underdeveloped in my opinion. There's a lot of talk around wheat's effects and this article could have included more information. When authors make links to celebrities jumping on board I often end up not thinking very highly of what the celebrities are supporting. Particularly when the previous sentence is purporting gluten-free to be a 'fad'. I guess in the end, it's not truly a poor article, it just does not go into as much depth as a feel it could have. I suppose it's all about the audience, and I am not the target audience for this article.
cheeseprocedure 14y ago

chez17 14y ago

>According to USA Today, up to one-quarter of all consumers now want gluten-free food, even though only one person in 100 has celiac disease It's almost like people cook for the ones they love! I've been eating gluten free for months now for exclusively medical reasons. I was having crippling stomach pains and nausea. Marijuana was a gift from the gods for the nausea but nothing stopped the stomach pain. My mother talked to a friend about my symptoms and that friend said it sounded similar to someone she knew. That lead to a recommendation to try going gluten free. After two weeks the pain and the nausea were gone, almost completely, and I'm still having some other GI issues that are being addressed. I don't think I am 'intolerant' to gluten, I think there is something wrong with my gut and avoiding gluten seems to be helping for now. Yes, it's becoming a fad, and it's sad that people just dismiss it simply because of that. Look at some of the comments here, it seems people get angry over it. However, it's been life changing for me, literally. I hope to eat wheat again when all my issues are sorted out, but it's really helped me for the time being.

saidajigumi 14y ago
The latest research on this front really doesn't do much "blaming the victim", which seems to be the default mindset when someone avoids a food or food ingredient. IMO, it's almost certainly not "something wrong with your gut", but rather your gut is ill due to long-term assault from poor external inputs. Eventually nearly everyone gets unlucky. The lucky ones just mistake a "disease of civilization" for a "geriatric condition". Gluten, gliadins, and lectins, present in wheat and other grains, basically amount to plant defensive chemicals. For many people, consumption of these plays a strong role eventually has various deleterious effects which. The impacts are complex, to say the least, and a matter of ongoing research. However, the basis of treatment is straightforward: eliminate everything with grain. Gluten isn't enough, especially if you have severe GI damage. You may find it helpful to check out resources and books on the "paleo diet" as regards restructuring your eating this way.
solarbunny 14y ago
True, plants have a defense mechanisms from microorganisms, yeasts et cetera, but these defenses can be disarmed to some degree by properly preparing grains: i.e. the old way - soaking, leavening. I'll repeat a quote from Nassim Taleb: "The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary."

leejoramo 14y ago

My wife spent years dealing with Gluten intolerance. Usually she would suffer sever stomach pain followed by diarrhea. But it was not a consistent problem. Sometimes she would accidentally get wheat and be ok. Additionally, she could eat other non-wheat whole grains which Celiacs and other Gluten intolerant people can't handle. Finally, we seem to have found the problem. Additives to flour especially bromated flour. We have conducted our own tests and if she has even small amounts of bromated flour, she reacts. But if we grind our own wheat or use a brand such as King Arthur that has no additives, she never has a problem. (As a nurse, she finds medical research interesting) We now make our own bread and other flour based foods, but when we eat out, she continues to order gluten free. We have tried to find any formal medical studies on this. There is plenty of talk about bromated flour being carcinogenic and prohibited in much of Europe and Canada. But very little about people with immediate reactions too it. We wonder if this is the source of many people's gluten issues. edit: grammar

leejoramo 14y ago
I should add, that we did do some blind tests. I would not claim anything close to a formal study, but enough for a science minded couple to feel it was good for our needs.

jinushaun 14y ago

For me at least, the health benefits of ditching gluten is quite apparent very quickly (3 weeks). You don't realise how bad you feel eating gluten until you stop. Everyone just starts taking daily stomach aches, bloating, heartburn, indigestion and 2pm food fatigue for granted. They think that's just the way it is. It's not. That said, I still love bread, but now only eat it sparingly.

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chris_mahan 14y ago
When you find blood in your stool, you realize it won't 'just go away'.

sbhere 14y ago

According to my local celiac authority: "because the atkins diet and south beach diet went out of style"

Shorel 14y ago
The induction phase of Atkins is pretty much alive with the name of Keto(genic) diet.

rmm 14y ago

Went gluten-free for a month back in 2010, haven't looked back since. I didn't need to lose weight (although it's a nice side effect) but my psoriasis cleared up completely. The tests for gluten intolerance are notoriously inaccurate. They test for antibodies for gluten in the bloodstream, and this only occurs when you have serious gut permeability. Self experimentation is the way to go with this until the research catches up. Try it for a month, and see how you feel. Also I don't see this the problem with a self-diagnosis being wrong. It's not as if by eating gluten-free you are directly harming your body.

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ahoyhere 14y ago

Americans don't ferment or even soak their grains, which the Weston A Price foundation (and many others) believe is one of the reasons Americans have so much discomfort/illness to do with grains: http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/living-with-phytic-acid http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/living-with-phytic... Soaking and fermentation change the digestibility by altering the structure of the grain, and eliminating enzymes that have potentially painful side effects.

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conradfr 14y ago

First time I learned about gluten or gluten-free diet was when I researched links between ADHD and food, and didn't give it much thought. Then I read on HN about Taubes and then keto, which led me to /r/keto and I tried it for fun (for science !) for two months (I don't need to lose weight). I did feel A LOT better and lost 2 Kg (which isn't much but I'm 1m76 for 62 Kg). Improvements were : - no more sleepiness during the day. I had suffered about this since forever. - less headaches (and nauseas). - less belly bloating (I always thought it was normal) - (slightly) better sleep. Since then I eat an egg & bacon for breakfast, and eat a lot less bread and pasta (and carbs). I miss baguette (I'm French) but I feel great overall. I guess it's just +1 for anecdotal evidence ! :)

cpursley 14y ago

All I know is my energy is more level throughout the day and my thoughts are much clearer. I now know I never actually had 'ADD' in grade school - I had 'Captain Crunch' - thanks mom. I don't care much for 'gluten free' replacement product hype. Just eat normal food - avoid the wheat.