Here's what researchers know for sure: going on a gluten-free diet if you have an intolerance, such as celiac disease, is beneficial. But what about the rest of us? Is going gluten-free healthier for everybody?
To better understand gluten, and how it impacts the human body, I reached out to gluten experts Dr. Alessio Fasano, director of the Center for Celiac Research at MassGeneral Hospital for Children in Boston, and Dr. Peter Gibson, director of gastroenterology at Monash University in Australia.
Watch the video above, or click the link below, for five gluten myths -- from whether eating gluten-free will help you lose weight to whether the science is settled on gluten sensitivity. And don't forget to sound off in the comments section at the bottom of the page. Talk nerdy to me!
JACQUELINE HOWARD: Hey everyone. Jacqueline Howard here. So, first came the carb-free diet. Then the sugar-free diet. And now the gluten-free diet. Trust and believe, I’m as fitness and health-conscious as they come, but do I really need to cut out gluten? What do we really know about this mystery protein? And would leaving it behind help us lose weight? To figure out what's true and what's false when it comes to this health craze, I called up gluten expert Dr. Alessio Fasano. He’s the director of the Center for Celiac Research at MassGeneral Hospital for Children in Boston -- and he left me with five good things to know. Basically, gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye -- so it’s in things like breads, pastas, and cakes. And celiac is a disease that makes your immune system react to gluten. And about 1 percent of adults here in the U.S. have it. We’ll talk about all that more later. But first...
DR. ALESSIO FASANO: I believe that a major misconception, because it’s called a diet, is people believe that going gluten-free they will lose weight. And that’s not necessarily the case. It depends on how you implement the diet.
JH: What he means by that is of course you’ll lose weight and feel good by replacing sources of gluten, like pasta and cakes, with natural gluten-free foods like fresh fruits, vegetables, fish, and meat. But here’s where the problem comes in. If you’re going on a gluten-free diet by trading in regular pasta for gluten-free pasta, or regular cookies for gluten-free cookies, you may actually up your calorie intake with processed gluten-free foods.
AF: They’re highly caloric so if you go on a gluten-free diet, definitely you don’t lose weight. Eventually, you end up to gain weight. So this is, you know, one of the major misconceptions there.
JH: Now, Dr. Fasano told me that gluten is actually difficult for all of us to digest, and that's whether you have an intolerance or not, like celiac disease. But does that really make it bad? Not necessarily.
AF: We cannot digest and therefore make full use of gluten, we all. We don’t know if gluten can be of a problem to all of us. There are some, you know, people that advocate that gluten is bad for everybody and therefore should be eliminated completely from the face of the Earth. I believe that this is an extreme position. We don’t have evidence that that's the case.
JH: Of course, there is evidence that gluten causes serious problems for some of us. But, let’s keep it real, often this disease has not been associated with people of color. People who look like me.
AF: The old concept about celiac disease first, and then other forms of gluten reaction, was that you have to be of European origin, that’s not true anymore. For example for celiac disease, highest concentration and percentage of celiac disease is in Africa, and not definitely Europe.
JH: So, if you think you’re part of the population suffering gluten intolerance, see your doctor first. Doctors can determine first whether you're sensitive, and then how sensitive you are -- and if you’re switching up your diet, that may complicate your doctor’s diagnosis.
DR. PETER GIBSON: Well, we know that gluten causes celiac disease, we don’t know much else.
JH: That’s Dr. Peter Gibson. He's director of gastroenterology at The Alfred and Monash University in Australia. Now, he’s one of few researchers exploring why patients without celiac may feel better after going on gluten-free diets. But he says there’s definitely more to learn. In fact, in a recent follow-up study to his previous research, he found that gluten may have no specific effect on folks with non-celiac-related sensitivity -- but that's, if they’re placed on diets low in FODMAPs. That funny word, FODMAP, it's actually a short chain carb that can be poorly absorbed in the small intestine.
PG: Gluten containing grains have lots of these FODMAPs in them. And so if you go on a gluten-free diet and your, say, your irritable bowel is better, then it’s likely you reduced your FODMAPs and we know that if you reduce FODMAPs your irritable bowel will be better. So what is it? Is it the gluten or is it the FODMAP reduction, which is causing the problem?
JH: See why we need more research? But tell us what you think about gluten and gluten-free eating. Do you want to have your cake and eat it too? Come on, talk nerdy to me!
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