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Jeffrey Kluger
Jun 23, 2014
Time
What's that? None of those things had gluten to begin with? Well
neither did Chobani yogurt or Green Giant vegetables or a whole lot of
other foods that have nothing at all to do with wheat or rye or barley—
where gluten lives—yet shout about that fact all the same in order to
catch a ride on the no-gluten train before the latest nonsensical health
fad pulls completely out of the station.
Gluten is to this decade what carbohydrates were to the last one and fat
was to the '80s and '90s: the bête noir, the bad boy, the cause of all that
ails you—and the elimination of which can heal you. As has been clear
for a long time, and as the Wall Street Journal reports today in a
splendid and about-time piece, a whole lot of that is flat-out hooey, a
result of trendiness, smart marketing, Internet gossip and too many
people who know too little about nutrition saying too many silly things.
Gluten is not entirely without blame in this, and for some people it
comes by its nasty rep rightly. Celiac disease—an immune reaction to
gluten that damages the small intestine—is a very real thing, affecting
between two and three million Americans. Gluten ataxia is a scarier
condition that attacks the brain, leading to problems in gait and
muscular control. I've seen that up close, in a now-8-year-old nephew
who exhibited terrifying symptoms at age 2 and today must avoid
foods that contain wheat, barley and rye, as well as any pots or utensils
that have come in contact with them, at least until he is done growing
and his brain is through developing. Another 18 million Americans
may have some lesser forms of gluten sensitivity that cause intestinal
discomfort but no damage.