Ask Dr Miriam

Q For no reason my wife has decided to put herself on a glutenfree diet and wants me to join her. Should I?

A Not if you don’t have sensitivity to gluten (coeliac disease). Fewer than one in 100 people do and being allergic to gluten is rare.

I wholly disapprove of this gluten-free fad, part of so-called clean eating. It’s commercially driven and totally unnecessary, unless you suffer from coeliac disease. It’s based on very bad or non-existent science peddled by people who think that by excluding gluten they will be healthier. Gluten-free diets can lead to deficiencies of vitamin B12, folic acid and iron. Very often, glutenfree foods have more calories, much more fat, half the fibre and twice the sugar of non gluten-free products. And they cost much more. I deplore the fashion for eating special foods for unscientific reasons. But, given the upsurge in sales from £11.5bn worldwide in 2010 to £23bn in 2014, I feel like I’m spitting in the wind.