Gluten, glorious gluten
Almost one per cent of the population has celiac disease, which can cause fatigue as well as severe disorders such as intestinal damage. This one per cent, medical researchers agree, should avoid gluten, which these afflicted individuals can’t tolerate.
Another one per cent (possibly as much as another six per cent by some estimates) are not celiacs, but are nevertheless sensitive to gluten. If the health of this second group of afflicted individuals can’t be cured of the underlying disorder that causes this sensitivity, they too would often be wise to minimize gluten.
For the balance — perhaps 98 per cent of the population — the risk lies in avoiding gluten. Gluten-free diets can be dangerous to your health. Gorging on gluten protects.
High-gluten diets lessen the risk of Type 2 diabetes, according to a 30-year-long American Heart Association study of 200,000 subjects. Gluttons for breads, pizzas and other gluten-rich foods had a 13-per-cent lower risk of contracting the disease than those with the least gluten in their diet. Gluten’s healthfulness was even more pronounced with coronary heart disease, according to a 26-year-long Harvard Medical School study of 110,000 Americans, which found a 15-per-cent lower incidence among the highest glutineers. It concluded that “The promotion of gluten-free diets among people without celiac disease should not be encouraged.”
Worryingly, little is known of the consequences of gluten-free diets because the gluten-free fad is so recent, and so fast growing. Its adherents have unknowingly embarked on a potentially dangerous experiment. “Despite the rising trend in gluten restriction, no long term, prospective studies have assessed the relation of dietary gluten with the risk of chronic conditions,” the Harvard researchers warned.
The Mayo Clinic, in a study of 11,000 people published earlier this year, raised similar alarms about the gluten-free trend, this time over concentrated levels of toxic heavy metals. “Studies are needed to determine the long-term effects of accumulation of these elements in persons on a GFD (gluten-free diet),” it warned, after discovering that “persons on a GFD had significantly higher urine levels of total arsenic and blood levels of mercury, lead, and cadmium than persons not avoiding gluten.”
That said, the sensitivity among non-celiacs to gluten does seem to be on the rise, albeit to still small levels. Some speculate the cause could be industrial processes that shorten the fermentation time required for dough. Others, such as the Mayo Clinic’s Joseph Murray, believe the sensitivity may not be to gluten at all but to some other, as yet unidentified component of wheat, an incredibly complicated grain that has six sets of chromosomes and 95,000 genes. This complexity, and the variety it supports, is a reason for wheat’s ubiquity and adaptability to environments of all kinds: Some 35,000 varieties have been developed throughout history, of which some 5,000 are in current use. Some of those 5,000 may not suit some small number of us.
Ironically, the growth in gluten-free foods is mainly driven by people who have no sensitivity to gluten but perceive gluten-free foods to be either healthier or slimming. They are wrong on both counts. Gluten-free foods have higher calorie counts than their glutinous counterparts, leading researchers to warn that they could promote obesity, while glutenrich whole grains are inherently healthy, containing fibre and nutrients such as B vitamins, magnesium and iron, and increasing lifespans.
Removing gluten removes these nutrients, making it necessary to find replacements to stay healthy. Removing gluten may also harm the gut — a reason many wrongly avoid gluten — since gluten can “act as a prebiotic, feeding the ‘good’ bacteria in our bodies,” explains Harvard’s School of Public Health. “Changes in their amount or activity have been associated with gastrointestinal diseases including inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, and irritable bowel syndrome.”
Gluten is not only great for us as individuals, it is also great for the health of humanity. Gluten, which is 75- to 80-per-cent protein, is the chief source of protein in the developing world, mainly through wheat and the wondrous breads it produces. It has always been so. Gluten’s inherent efficiency allowed for the rise of cities, and thus civilization in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East. The ancient empires were gluten-based, as were the Ottoman and European empires.
The current gluten-free fad runs counter to our experiences over the millennia and throws us off the scent to discovering what truly ails the gluten-sensitive. To add insult to injury, gluten-free foods not only create health risks in most, they cost more, making us pay to become unhealthy.
Gluten is glorious, for almost all of us. Rather than devaluing it by it glorifying gluten-free foods, we should free gluten, to let it do its goodness.
IT’S NOT ONLY GREAT FOR US AS INDIVIDUALS, IT’S ALSO GREAT FOR THE HEALTH OF HUMANITY.