Is Gluten-Free Right for Me?

Gluten is an obvious no-no for someone with celiac disease, but can it improve everyone's health? Many alternative health practitioners think so, often recommending that their clients eliminate gluten (along with dairy, sugar, alcohol, caffeine…) from their diet, saying that it's hard to digest and that going gluten-free can solve a host of health problems.

Celebrities are jumping on the bandwagon – Gwyneth Paltrow brags about how she cleanses at least once a year for “mental clarity and to drop a few pounds”, while Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who has celiac disease, believes that “even people with no health issues have a great deal to gain by giving up gluten.”

With these endorsements, it's hard to not be curious whether we are missing out when we don't go gluten-free.

If you suspect that you have celiac disease…

For those who have been struggling with digestive issues like bloating, cramping, gas and diarrhea, it's tempting to self-diagnose with celiac disease and adopt a gluten-free diet. Often times, you will feel better, whether it's because you do have celiac disease, a sensitivity to gluten, you are eating better overall, or simply because of the placebo effect.

If you think you might have celiac disease, go to your doctor and ask to have the proper diagnostic tests done. You will have to still be eating gluten in order for the tests to be accurate. First, you will have to do a blood test, which will screen for antibodies that indicate whether you are likely to have celiac disease. If it is positive, then an intestinal biopsy will need to be done to see if you have the flattened villi that are characteristic of celiac disease. The biopsy is considered the gold standard and is required to confirm a celiac disease diagnosis.

The Canadian Celiac Association highly recommends that people have an intestinal biopsy done even if their bloodwork results are positive due to a risk of false positive results. If you adopt a gluten-free diet and decide that you want to do the biopsy later, it may require a longer “gluten challenge” in order for the biopsy to produce accurate results.

Some people have gluten intolerance without celiac disease. If your tests are negative but you find that gluten does cause bowel problems for you, it may still be a good idea to adopt a gluten-free diet. It's important to consult with a dietitian, who will help guide you through what does and does not contain gluten, and ensure that you are still meeting your nutritional needs.

If you are otherwise healthy…

Gluten in itself is not a harmful substance - it is a protein found naturally in grains like wheat, rye and barley, and is known for adding elasticity and springiness to baked goods. Many Asian cultures use it as a vegetarian meat substitute. While some people find that eliminating gluten helps them to lose weight, it is often because adopting a gluten-free diet inadvertently causes them to eat fewer refined, high sugar and high fat foods.

There is conflicting evidence on whether or not gluten is more difficult to digest than other sources of protein, but if it does not give you digestive symptoms, this should not be an issue. To put it into perspective, our bodies cannot digest fibre, but that is exactly the reason why we are encouraged to eat it - it helps to eliminate waste from our bodies.

Although there are claims that eliminating gluten from your diet can help speed digestion, boost your energy, increase attention span and improve overall health, there is very little scientific evidence to back it up. The most non-celiac related research available pertains to the gluten-free diet for children with autism, but the results are preliminary and cannot be extrapolated to the general population.

When planned improperly, a gluten-free diet can do more harm than good. Gluten-free breads and other baked goods are often denser and higher in sugar and in fat to mask the difference in texture when compared to gluten-containing products. Given that many people adopt a gluten-free diet in hopes of losing weight, they may find that the opposite occurs. A gluten-free diet may also be lower in fibre, as there are very few whole grain gluten-free products available.

It is possible to eat a healthily while being gluten-free, but it requires a lot of work label reading, recipe altering and meal planning to ensure that you are still eating a balanced diet - why impose these restrictions on yourself when the benefits may be minimal? If you do insist on going gluten-free, please consult a dietitian to make sure that you are on the right track.

There is no harm, however, in trying some of the gluten-free grains that have become better known with the gluten-free trend. We profile some in our next article.