Do you think that gluten, lactose, or {insert supposed food intolerance here} is really just a fad?

JustRobby1

As a disclaimer, I post this to spark discussion, not attack anyone in particular. There are obviously some people who have a legitimate medical diagnosis and suffer from celiac disease, but the overwhelming majority of people who claim such intolerances don't. To use an example, Just a decade ago, gluten-intolerance levels were at 1 in 2500 worldwide, and nearly 1 in 10,000 20 years ago. Today, it’s at 1 in 133 according to people's mostly non-medical claims.

People that claim that modern breads/wheats are the culprit are full of compete and utter nonsense, as breads from 70-120 years ago were far worse at aggravating gut sensitivities. Up until about 100 years ago, most breads were sourdoughs. Sourdough is a combination of at least one lactobacillus (lactic acid bacterium) and at least one yeast. Lactobacilli outnumber yeast on average about 100:1 to 200:1

I am of the opinion that the overwhelming majority of people who claim these sensitivities are completely full of BS, and just following a trend no different than a junior high school student changing his wardrobe to be cool.

RachelElser

If someone is very overweight and claiming gluten intolerance, I don't believe them. That's not what gluten allergies do, my brother has Celiac's and he was waaaaay underweight. However, I also think the number have gone up because doctors now test for it. It took nearly THREE years of tests before the doctor tested for a gluten allergy. So if more dr's are testing for it, then of course more people are getting diagnosed.

Also, having other medical issues may make a person more sensitive to a variety of food allergies including gluten.

For lactose, pfft, I am friends with lactose intolerant people and believe me the bathroom does not lie!

Princessarkyn

Lol to the truth of the toilet

Princessarkyn

Yea I totally suffer from some kind of sensitivity. I got tested for Celiac disease when I was in college cuz all of a sudden bread and pasta we're making me super sick, in pain, and constipated. I was negative for the disease. But the symptoms persisted.

Of course all these years later I'm still suffering from that problem only when I have pasta and bread or anything kinda baked with flour if I eat too much of it. I manage the issue with miralax and drinking crazy amounts of water when I wanna indulge in those foods.my point is that yea there's something to developing an intolerance. I also became lactose intolerant three months ago. Same symptoms except add to the constipation and abdomenal pain GAS of a Horrible quality. Lol

TeaBea

Yes - there are people with Celiac. Yes - there are people who have gluten intolerance.

But - my brother is a chef - the number of gluten free requests have skyrocketed. So I think there is something to "all the cool kids are doing it." Many more people are self diagnosed.

4legsRbetterthan2

Lactose- I have not really seen too many people who weren't actually lactose intolerant to some extent claim to be. Maybe that was a craze at one point though?

Gluten - I know a few people with celiac or who just seem to be more sensitive to gluten and are happier mostly or completely eliminating it. I do think there are people out there who don't really understand that not everyone is gluten intolerant and consider it in the same category as eating organic or non-GMO or part of their definition of eating clean.

I have heard mixed reviews from people who actually have an intolerance as to whether or not that is helpful to them. Some feel it is nice because it has widened the market of people looking for gluten free products so they appreciate the traction and new items available to them. Others (especially those who are very sensitive) seem to find it annoying because they feel servers/cooks are getting so many requests from people who don't actually have a gluten sensitivity that they take their need to be gluten free less serious, thus increasing their chances of exposure from contamination.

CSARdiver

There's an entire class of people who simply love being a victim and chasing excuses for their perceived failures. The number of people who blame "added sugar" for their weight gain come to mind. Then it became trans fat, or fat, or gluten...all nonsense. All diet industry woo and misinformation/disinformation to get people away from the root cause.

What many fail to recognize is that the simple act of taking control and implementing change has a proven positive impact on your perception.

I'm never one to cry over more options and love to see the market react to consumers in this way, but the overreaction and anti-science BS really gets to me.

jacquih2981

I think there has been an element of a fad to some of the claimed intolerance, however as someone who is lactose intolerant all the faddy people have opened up a huge amount of choice for me.

I am also hypothyroid so have to be careful how much Soya I have (interacts with my meds) so the choices of coconut and nut products is great.

I miss cheese on toast

JustRobby1

I do not discount at all those who have legitimate medical issues, but I would still contend that the majority of people who have a gluten fixation in 2017 are simply impressionable, attention-seeking rubes who follows silly marketing trends and are buying into the hype. The same type of people that bought a Lance Armstrong bracelet and would of been a prime candidate for purchasing a pet rock when that was trendy.

This extremely annoying girl that works in HR at my company told me a few weeks ago she thought she was allergic to gluten. She blathered on endlessly about how she always felt run-down and crabby, had a waning sex drive, dry skin and hair, etc .Must be gluten! Yeah, that's the obvious culprit. Because at 25 years old, it couldn’t possibly be a result of the two packs of cigarettes per day and handle of rum she consumes every weekend. She probably got the idea from some stupid magazine article that she is always reading.

Again, I fully appreciate people who have Celiac disease. This is an autoimmune disorder that occurs in genetically predisposed people where the ingestion of gluten leads to damage in the small intestine and tons of pain. When people with celiac disease eat gluten, their body mounts an immune response that literally causes the body to attack itself. This has to suck, and these folks have my sympathy.

The guy who "discovered" gluten sensitivity was an Aussie by the name of Peter Gibson. Peter is a professor of gastroenterology at Monash University and director of the GI Unit at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. His original research yielded results which were not replaceable (a key concept in the scientific method) by other labs . So like any good scientist, he re-launched a far more extensive series of trials and concluded that non-Celiac gluten sensitivity is nonsense. Peter's lab is hardly alone in this conclusion either. Check Medline or PubMed.

So unless you actually have Celiac disease, gluten has almost ZERO practical effect on you. And when you have Celiac disease, you KNOW you have it very early on in life most of the time. Just because you get sleepy after you eat seven slices of pizza doesn’t mean you’re allergic to gluten. Feeling bloated after plowing through that plate of Fettuccine Alfredo? You should, but not for the reasons you try to delude yourself into believing.

That said, this level of stupidity does have some economic benefit. $12.5 billion dollars worth of gluten-free products sold in the year 2016. So I guess indirectly it is supplying jobs and an economic boost. Ironically enough, in my day job I work for an ad agency, and this is hardly the only time pure nonsense is able to capture both the minds and wallets of the impressionable public.

jemhh

Relser wrote: »

For lactose, pfft, I am friends with lactose intolerant people and believe me the bathroom does not lie!

TRUTH

jacquih2981

Relser wrote: »

For lactose, pfft, I am friends with lactose intolerant people and believe me the bathroom does not lie!

But I opened the window!!

SiegfriedXXL

Relser wrote: »

If someone is very overweight and claiming gluten intolerance, I don't believe them. That's not what gluten allergies do, my brother has Celiac's and he was waaaaay underweight. However, I also think the number have gone up because doctors now test for it. It took nearly THREE years of tests before the doctor tested for a gluten allergy. So if more dr's are testing for it, then of course more people are getting diagnosed.

Also, having other medical issues may make a person more sensitive to a variety of food allergies including gluten.

For lactose, pfft, I am friends with lactose intolerant people and believe me the bathroom does not lie!

+1 to that. My husband is lactose intolerant and pizza night is always a gamble as to whether the Lactaid will win this round or the pizza will. The fallout is dire.

As for gluten, it is absolutely a fad. One of my closest friends is celiac and she was devestated by this disease before they got it under control. The amount of pain she goes through if just traces of gluten are ingested is horrible.

Interestingly, she is all for the gluten free diet fad to continue as it's allowed greater access to a variety of GF products and the prices are better now.

mph323

In spite of your title, it seems you are very specifically bashing people who claim gluten intolerance without a doctor's diagnosis, apparently because a woman at work annoys you. Nice. You do realize the incidence of diagnosed celiac disease/gluten-intolerance has risen because there is more awareness of the symptoms and genetic links to auto-immune diseases in general. People with diagnosed family members often (correctly) self-diagnose, and the disease is very often NOT discovered at a very early age and is more often than not diagnosed in adults. And just wow, I'm so impressed at how you know that gluten sensitivity doesn't exist, so everyone who experiences symptoms without an actual doctor-certified celiac diagnoses is just kidding themselves. I'm interested in where you got your medical degree - could you share?

jennybearlv

I learned the hard way not to encourage my lactose intolerant childhood friend to eat the ice cream because it's so good. Vomiting ensued. Lactose intolerance is real.

There is way too much self diagnoses of gluten intolerance. I was reading a story the other day about how before they knew about gluten celiac was often fatal. Celiac is a serious condition and most of the people who read that dumb book are faking it.

There does seem to be more food allergies in children these days. I'm not sure what that's about. If it was diagnosed by a doctor, okay. I have a relative that claims to be allergic to all kinds of fruits and vegetables. She just wants an excuse to eat McDonald's everyday. I've never seen her have any reaction to eating spaghetti sauce or pizza with veggies on it.

Christine_72

I think there are people with eating disorders who claim to be allergic/intolerant to a myriad of foods, this gives them the perfect excuse to refuse to eat many foods.

mph323

Christine_72 wrote: »

I think there are people with eating disorders who claim to be allergic/intolerant to a myriad of foods, this gives them the perfect excuse to refuse to eat many foods.

I absolutely agree with this!

GottaBurnEmAll

For genuine gluten issues, the bathroom does not lie either.

(I was diagnosed with celiac disease 20 years ago before all the cool kids were avoiding gluten.)

Yes, it has become trendy.

I don't like being lumped in with and confused for the precious ones.

Treece68

@Relser well I am fat and I have celiac, and was also fat and malnourished because of the celiac and it took me 13 years to find a doctor who thought... hmm the acute abdominal pain and soft stools 6-10 times a day perhaps we should test you for celiac.
As for gluten intolerance I think it is real too I have a friend who has the same symptoms I do and she does not have celiac her doctor diagnosed her with gluten intolerance. Perhap the fact that celiac and gluten free is more out there and people are finding an answer to the doctor visits and symptoms they have lived with their whole lives.
I am sure that there are people out there who have heard about it and all the woo and think their bloat after a beer or a large pasta meal is due to the gluten and that is annoying. People who say they can't have gluten and then drink a beer or eat some cake is annoying as well.
I'm sure if they had the symptoms of celiac or someone with a severe gluten intolerance they would stop the faking ... I hope.

"People that claim that modern breads/wheats are the culprit are full of compete and utter nonsense, as breads from 70-120 years ago were far worse at aggravating gut sensitivities. Up until about 100 years ago, most breads were sourdoughs. Sourdough is a combination of at least one lactobacillus (lactic acid bacterium) and at least one yeast. Lactobacilli outnumber yeast on average about 100:1 to 200:1"

The thing that people react to is gluten not the yeast or the lactobacillus. Gluten IS: Gluten (from Latin gluten, "glue") is a composite of storage proteins termed prolamins and glutelins[1] and stored together with starch in the endosperm (which nourishes the embryonic plant during germination) of various grass-related grains. It is found in wheat, barley, rye, oat, related species and hybrids (such as spelt, khorasan, emmer, einkorn, triticale, kamut, etc.)[2] and products of these (such as malt). Gluten is appreciated for its viscoelastic properties.[3][4] It gives elasticity to dough, helping it rise and keep its shape and often gives the final product a chewy texture.

So if breads 70-120 did not have the proteins then sure it could be the stuff now a days but they did have that and 70-120 years ago there was still Celiac: From wikipedia "Humans first started to cultivate grains in the Neolithic period (beginning about 9500 BCE) in the Fertile Crescent in Western Asia, and it is likely that coeliac disease did not occur before this time. Aretaeus of Cappadocia, living in the second century in the same area, recorded a malabsorptive syndrome with chronic diarrhoea, causing a debilitation of the whole body.[32] His "Cœliac Affection" (coeliac from Greek κοιλιακός koiliakos, "abdominal") gained the attention of Western medicine when Francis Adams presented a translation of Aretaeus's work at the Sydenham Society in 1856. The patient described in Aretaeus' work had stomach pain and was atrophied, pale, feeble and incapable of work. The diarrhoea manifested as loose stools that were white, malodorous and flatulent, and the disease was intractable and liable to periodic return. The problem, Aretaeus believed, was a lack of heat in the stomach necessary to digest the food and a reduced ability to distribute the digestive products throughout the body, this incomplete digestion resulting in the diarrhoea. He regarded this as an affliction of the old and more commonly affecting women, explicitly excluding children. The cause, according to Aretaeus, was sometimes either another chronic disease or even consuming "a copious draught of cold water."[32][33]

I have never met anyone faking lactose intolerance. I am lactose intolerant too and it is no fun. My advice do not have a shake at Fudruckers on the way back from a Cubs game because that bus will not stop for you to use the bathroom.

mph323

Treece68 wrote: »

@Relser well I am fat and I have celiac, and was also fat and malnourished because of the celiac and it took me 13 years to find a doctor who thought... hmm the acute abdominal pain and soft stools 6-10 times a day perhaps we should test you for celiac.
As for gluten intolerance I think it is real too I have a friend who has the same symptoms I do and she does not have celiac her doctor diagnosed her with gluten intolerance. Perhap the fact that celiac and gluten free is more out there and people are finding an answer to the doctor visits and symptoms they have lived with their whole lives.
I am sure that there are people out there who have heard about it and all the woo and think their bloat after a beer or a large pasta meal is due to the gluten and that is annoying. People who say they can't have gluten and then drink a beer or eat some cake is annoying as well.
I'm sure if they had the symptoms of celiac or someone with a severe gluten intolerance they would stop the faking ... I hope.

"People that claim that modern breads/wheats are the culprit are full of compete and utter nonsense, as breads from 70-120 years ago were far worse at aggravating gut sensitivities. Up until about 100 years ago, most breads were sourdoughs. Sourdough is a combination of at least one lactobacillus (lactic acid bacterium) and at least one yeast. Lactobacilli outnumber yeast on average about 100:1 to 200:1"

The thing that people react to is gluten not the yeast or the lactobacillus. Gluten IS: Gluten (from Latin gluten, "glue") is a composite of storage proteins termed prolamins and glutelins[1] and stored together with starch in the endosperm (which nourishes the embryonic plant during germination) of various grass-related grains. It is found in wheat, barley, rye, oat, related species and hybrids (such as spelt, khorasan, emmer, einkorn, triticale, kamut, etc.)[2] and products of these (such as malt). Gluten is appreciated for its viscoelastic properties.[3][4] It gives elasticity to dough, helping it rise and keep its shape and often gives the final product a chewy texture.

So if breads 70-120 did not have the proteins then sure it could be the stuff now a days but they did have that and 70-120 years ago there was still Celiac: From wikipedia "Humans first started to cultivate grains in the Neolithic period (beginning about 9500 BCE) in the Fertile Crescent in Western Asia, and it is likely that coeliac disease did not occur before this time. Aretaeus of Cappadocia, living in the second century in the same area, recorded a malabsorptive syndrome with chronic diarrhoea, causing a debilitation of the whole body.[32] His "Cœliac Affection" (coeliac from Greek κοιλιακός koiliakos, "abdominal") gained the attention of Western medicine when Francis Adams presented a translation of Aretaeus's work at the Sydenham Society in 1856. The patient described in Aretaeus' work had stomach pain and was atrophied, pale, feeble and incapable of work. The diarrhoea manifested as loose stools that were white, malodorous and flatulent, and the disease was intractable and liable to periodic return. The problem, Aretaeus believed, was a lack of heat in the stomach necessary to digest the food and a reduced ability to distribute the digestive products throughout the body, this incomplete digestion resulting in the diarrhoea. He regarded this as an affliction of the old and more commonly affecting women, explicitly excluding children. The cause, according to Aretaeus, was sometimes either another chronic disease or even consuming "a copious draught of cold water."[32][33]

I have never met anyone faking lactose intolerance. I am lactose intolerant too and it is no fun. My advice do not have a shake at Fudruckers on the way back from a Cubs game because that bus will not stop for you to use the bathroom.

I found your post interesting and insightful, I just wanted to make a small correction. Oats are intrinsically gluten-free. The reason you see them specifically labeled gf is because unless grown in a wheat-free environment the oat crops are often rotated with wheat crops so that stray wheat plants will come up with the oats and cause cross-contamination. Oats are also often processed along with wheat on shared equipment again leading to cross-contamination.

Sabine_Stroehm

supaflyrobby1 wrote: »

As a disclaimer, I post this to spark discussion, not attack anyone in particular. There are obviously some people who have a legitimate medical diagnosis and suffer from celiac disease, but the overwhelming majority of people who claim such intolerances don't. To use an example, Just a decade ago, gluten-intolerance levels were at 1 in 2500 worldwide, and nearly 1 in 10,000 20 years ago. Today, it’s at 1 in 133 according to people's mostly non-medical claims.

People that claim that modern breads/wheats are the culprit are full of compete and utter nonsense, as breads from 70-120 years ago were far worse at aggravating gut sensitivities. Up until about 100 years ago, most breads were sourdoughs. Sourdough is a combination of at least one lactobacillus (lactic acid bacterium) and at least one yeast. Lactobacilli outnumber yeast on average about 100:1 to 200:1

I am of the opinion that the overwhelming majority of people who claim these sensitivities are completely full of BS, and just following a trend no different than a junior high school student changing his wardrobe to be cool.

Glad you've got it all sorted! cheers

Bonny132

I am gluten intolerant, was checked for celiac 3 years ago, tested high but not high enough to go for more testing, and that was after being taken off gluten 3 weeks before my blood tests. I am not interested in taking another test as I know what makes me ill, and I know how much better I feel now I have eliminated gluten.

So this is how this FAD affects me: within hours I am so bloated I look like I am 7 months pregnant, only my tracksuit bottoms fits me. Then comes the cramping, headache, nausea, bone pains and then comes the bathroom visits. Trust me, having the Niagara falls coming out of your backside is no fun. On a really bad day, 30+ visits, on a better day 8-10.

Then comes that wonderful wind, that bloating has to come out sometime. I can make a grown man proud. I am ill for 3-5 days.

I can track my imaginary intolerance back in my medical records for 35 years. So yes, sure, I am on the gluten intolerance bandwagon, because gluten intolerance does not exist, and btw an intolerance and an allergy are two different things. I am not allergic to gluten.