Gluten-free not always best – study

GLUTEN-FREE diets adopted by increasing numbers of health-conscious consumers actually enhance the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, scientists have warned.

A major study by Harvard University suggests that ingesting only small amounts of gluten, or avoiding it altogether, increases the danger of diabetes by as much as 13%.

Rising numbers of consumers are banishing gluten from their daily diet, encouraged by fashionable “clean eating” gurus such as Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley.

Gluten is found in wheat, rye and barley and gives food elasticity during the baking process. Only around 1% of people are genuinely gluten-intolerant, a condition called coeliac disease.

The researchers behind the new study have now suggested that people who are not coeliacs should reconsider limiting their gluten intake.

The Harvard team examined 30 years’ of medical data from nearly 200 000 patients. They found that most participants had a gluten intake of below 12g a day, roughly the equivalent to two or three slices of wholemeal bread.

Within this range, those eating the most gluten had a 13% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared with those eating just 4g a day.

The study showed that those who ate less gluten also tended to eat less cereal fibre, a substance known to protect against diabetes.

“Gluten-free foods often have less dietary fibre and other micronutrients [such as vitamins and minerals], making them less nutritious and they also tend to cost more,” said Dr Geng Zong, a Harvard research fellow.

Type 2 diabetes occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, or the body’s cells do not react to insulin, and it is most commonly associated with obesity rather than a lack of micronutrients.

Last year, Catherine Collins, chairman of the British Association of Dieticians, said the dramatic increase in people opting for “free-from” diets was partly down to the rise of celebrity food bloggers as well as a new culture of posting photographs of food on social media.

The research was presented recently at a meeting of the American Heart Association in Portland, Oregon. The study was observational, meaning participants reported their gluten consumption. — The Daily Telegraph