A few years ago, you probably didn’t even know that the stuff that gives bread its chewy texture had a name. Gluten is naturally found in wheat, barley and rye, and humans have been eating it for about 10,000 years, maybe longer. Nevertheless, in recent years gluten has become the latest nutritional boogeyman. Here are 3 myths about gluten.
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http://www.howstuffworks.com/10-myths-about-gluten.htm
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Transcript:
You’ve probably heard a lot about gluten in the news. It’s the stuff that makes bread chewy, a protein formed by two chemicals, glutenin and gliadin. Humans have been eating it for at least 10,000 years, and it’s one of the most heavily consumed proteins on Earth. Recently gluten has become the latest nutritional boogeyman. Anti-gluten evangelists claim it causes everything from obesity to cancer. Medical and nutritional experts take a dim view of many of those claims. Here are 3 of the biggest gluten myths they’re trying to debunk.
1. Lots of People Are Gluten-intolerant
Actually, it’s only a small number. About 1% of the U.S. population has celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that injures the small intestine and prevents patients from absorbing other nutrients from food when they ingest gluten. It can cause awful side effects, from gastrointestinal distress and chronic fatigue to anemia. Additionally, another 6% of the American public may have a controversial condition called non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS). Even for some people with NCGS, gluten may not be the real problem. In a 2013 study, researchers found that when excluding a broad class of nutrients called FODMAPS − which includes everything from fructose to bananas and asparagus – from NCGS patients’ diets, they stopped having gastrointestinal distress, even when they ate gluten.
2. To Avoid Gluten, You Need to Buy Special Food
OK, so maybe you need to stay away from gluten because of celiac disease or NCGS. Or maybe you’re just convinced that gluten is bad for you. Companies that manufacture gluten-free foods can’t wait to meet – and overcharge – you. A bag of gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, for example, may cost close to five times as much as the regular kind. But you don’t need to buy a $13 bag of cookies or a $6 loaf of bread to avoid gluten. A lot of foods naturally don’t have any gluten in them, including fruits, vegetables, meats, poultry, fish, nuts, milk, most cheeses and yogurt, herbs, spices, and oils, butter, margarines, rice, certain cereals, and corn tortillas.
3. It’s Possible to Live Completely Gluten-free
Eating a 100% gluten-free diet may be theoretically possible, but according to National Foundation for Celiac Awareness president Alice Bast “in reality, it’s nearly an impossible feat.” The FDA actually allows products to be labeled gluten-free, even if they contain up to 20 parts per million. Further, the FDA doesn’t actually require food manufacturers to test their finished products for gluten content. The FDA reassures people with celiac disease that all this probably doesn’t put them at too much risk, since research shows that most of them can tolerate extremely small amounts of gluten. But for those who believe that gluten is an intolerable poison that must be avoided in any amount, the reality is going to be difficult to swallow.
What do you think? Are people exaggerating the dangers of gluten, or ignoring a very real danger? Let me know in the comments below, and for more info, check out our article 10 Myths About Gluten at HowStuffWorks.com.
