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Do you think that gluten, lactose, or {insert supposed food intolerance here} is really just a fad?
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Whether it's a fad or otherwise, choosing to avoid a certain type of food because you feel better (or even imagine that you do) is a personal dietary choice. If it makes a difference, then what's the harm? Feel free to continue ordering your bread, pasta and cake and let others make their own choices.
I believe that I am gluten intolerant. I have never been tested but am allergic to a number of other things including certain pollens and some fruits like kiwi and pineapple. A few years ago I had developed a terribly itchy rash on my torso along with a systemic reaction that felt like pins and needles all over my body. Basically it was a histamine reaction and it flared up whenever I would get overheated. Exercise or going outside in hot weather became pure torture and I was literally housebound for an entire summer and fall. I went to several doctors including allergists and dermatologists and started taking a bunch of prescriptions. Nothing helped that much. My acupuncturist suggested eliminating wheat and gluten for awhile and guess what? All symptoms went away within a couple weeks. I've tested it by going back to eating gluten and the same symptoms return within a few days. So, I avoid wheat and gluten and I feel better.
Believe me, I miss bread and regular pasta. I don't avoid them because it's a fad but because I feel better without. I certainly appreciate this fad because I have many more choices these days!17 -
My husband found out that he was sensitive to wheat (not gluten). When he told me, he was SO upset. I burst out laughing, because he had spent so much time raging on people that jumped on the gluten intolerance bandwagon. He had to avoid wheat for a few months while the doctors were doing testing. I teased him about being a gluten free trendster. Honestly I just felt like he needed to taste a bit of his own medicine.
YES, so many ppl jumped on the trend and I think it's stupid. BUT celiacs is a serious issue and one good thing the trend has done is make it much easier for people that need to avoid things with gluten in it because there seem to be a ton of options now and quite clearly labeled.
It's like how people make fun of everyone chugging coconut water these days. But for me, I'm West Indian. When I visit family back in the Caribbean I drink coconut water from a coconut plucked right off a tree behind my grandmother's house. So this new trend is great for me because I can fairly decent coconut water easily in Canada now.6 -
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?
Ok, so to address your barrage of statements, here goes:
Odd you should mention more "awareness" as this is actually part of the problem, since it has lead to many people improperly self diagnosing themselves for whatever reason. You should investigate the acronym NOCEBO. It's a well documented medical principal similar to the placebo effect in the medical literature and it's especially pertains to people who claim NCGS.
The study I mentioned above conducted by Dr. Gibson and several other researchers who "discovered" NCGS attacked the hypothesis quite throughly after it became a worldwide phenomenon. Aside from using typical controls, he also made certain other key variables were accounted for.
1) Subjects were given every single meal for the duration of the study. 2) Any other potential causes of bad stomach symptoms were removed from the diet (lactose from milk, for example). 3) Peter collected nine days worth of urine and fecal matter for microbiological analysis to rule out other potential causes.
An interesting facet of the research which touches on your point is that Gluten was proven as a NOCEBO by the researchers over the course of the clinical trials. This was done in a simple but novel fashion: people who did not take gluten but thought they were began to report symptoms. This was the straw that broke the camels for any scientific validity for the people claiming NGCS. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23648697
Also, checking PubMed or Medline will yield you the phonebook of similar research.
To offer some pertinent quotes from the paper:
“Non-Celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS), occurring in patients without Celiac disease yet whose gastrointestinal symptoms improve on a gluten-free diet (GFD), is largely a self-reported diagnosis and would appear to be very common.”
“There is definitely something going on, but true NCGS may only affect a very small number of people and may affect more extra-intestinal symptoms than first thought. This will only be confirmed with an a more through understanding of gastrointestinal mechanism.”
For a more laymen's perspective, the NYT did a write up not long after the original paper was published, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/18/business/food-industry-wagers-big-on-gluten-free.html?_r=4
Obviously when a discoverer of a supposed ailment recants and sees their error, it's fairly damning for it's continued proponents.
Now my personal opinion based on the currently available evidence is NGCS might very well exist, but it effects an infinitesimally small subset of the population. Nowhere enough to justify the trendiness is enjoys. If people want to waste their money on these products, be my guest. Who am I to stand it the way of commerce?3 -
Only 1% of Americans have Celiac disease.0
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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.
If you had been to my doctors, they'd have done further testing given your other symptoms, because I tested like you did.
They never biopsied you? Unreal.
You have all the symptoms and should act as if you have celiac.
As I said - for anyone with real gluten issues, the bathroom tells the story.5 -
RaeBeeBaby wrote: »Whether it's a fad or otherwise, choosing to avoid a certain type of food because you feel better (or even imagine that you do) is a personal dietary choice. If it makes a difference, then what's the harm? Feel free to continue ordering your bread, pasta and cake and let others make their own choices.
I believe that I am gluten intolerant. I have never been tested but am allergic to a number of other things including certain pollens and some fruits like kiwi and pineapple. A few years ago I had developed a terribly itchy rash on my torso along with a systemic reaction that felt like pins and needles all over my body. Basically it was a histamine reaction and it flared up whenever I would get overheated. Exercise or going outside in hot weather became pure torture and I was literally housebound for an entire summer and fall. I went to several doctors including allergists and dermatologists and started taking a bunch of prescriptions. Nothing helped that much. My acupuncturist suggested eliminating wheat and gluten for awhile and guess what? All symptoms went away within a couple weeks. I've tested it by going back to eating gluten and the same symptoms return within a few days. So, I avoid wheat and gluten and I feel better.
Believe me, I miss bread and regular pasta. I don't avoid them because it's a fad but because I feel better without. I certainly appreciate this fad because I have many more choices these days!
I agree that some people do have an issue with some foods and definitely feel better not eating them. I remember my mother used to have terrible gastric issues with corn, so she didn't eat it.
But then there's the other folks who think that not eating certain things is eating cleaner or something and they just... ehh... I don't know. For them it's a fad. A silly fad.
The problem is that the people providing gluten free food don't always take them seriously and the people truly relying on gluten free products can't always rely that products touted as being gluten free are going to be meticulously prepared since some people aren't taking this all that seriously thinking that they're just accommodating people following a fad, not people who have a disease. It's troubling.8 -
supaflyrobby1 wrote: »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?
Ok, so to address your barrage of statements, here goes:
Odd you should mention more "awareness" as this is actually part of the problem, since it has lead to many people improperly self diagnosing themselves for whatever reason. You should investigate the acronym NOCEBO. It's a well documented medical principal similar to the placebo effect in the medical literature and it's especially pertains to people who claim NCGS.
The study I mentioned above conducted by Dr. Gibson and several other researchers who "discovered" NCGS attacked the hypothesis quite throughly after it became a worldwide phenomenon. Aside from using typical controls, he also made certain other key variables were accounted for.
1) Subjects were given every single meal for the duration of the study. 2) Any other potential causes of bad stomach symptoms were removed from the diet (lactose from milk, for example). 3) Peter collected nine days worth of urine and fecal matter for microbiological analysis to rule out other potential causes.
An interesting facet of the research which touches on your point is that Gluten was proven as a NOCEBO by the researchers over the course of the clinical trials. This was done in a simple but novel fashion: people who did not take gluten but thought they were began to report symptoms. This was the straw that broke the camels for any scientific validity for the people claiming NGCS. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23648697
Also, checking PubMed or Medline will yield you the phonebook of similar research.
To offer some pertinent quotes from the paper:
“Non-Celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS), occurring in patients without Celiac disease yet whose gastrointestinal symptoms improve on a gluten-free diet (GFD), is largely a self-reported diagnosis and would appear to be very common.”
“There is definitely something going on, but true NCGS may only affect a very small number of people and may affect more extra-intestinal symptoms than first thought. This will only be confirmed with an a more through understanding of gastrointestinal mechanism.”
For a more laymen's perspective, the NYT did a write up not long after the original paper was published, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/18/business/food-industry-wagers-big-on-gluten-free.html?_r=4
Obviously when a discoverer of a supposed ailment recants and sees their error, it's fairly damning for it's continued proponents.
Now my personal opinion based on the currently available evidence is NGCS might very well exist, but it effects an infinitesimally small subset of the population. Nowhere enough to justify the trendiness is enjoys. If people want to waste their money on these products, be my guest. Who am I to stand it the way of commerce?
I'm not disputing trendiness, certainly "gluten-free" is a fad as much as any other fad that takes a legitimate allergy/sensitivity/intolerance and applies it to the general population (I personally blame Davis's "Wheat Belly" and his 10 day detox for this). And I'm not disputing the outcome of studies that show some people believe they have sensitivities when they actually don't. Neither of those things negates the fact that sensitivities and intolerances exist. And since it's obvious your problem is with gluten-intolerance in particular, it was disingenuous to appear to include other intolerances in your thread title.5 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »RaeBeeBaby wrote: »Whether it's a fad or otherwise, choosing to avoid a certain type of food because you feel better (or even imagine that you do) is a personal dietary choice. If it makes a difference, then what's the harm? Feel free to continue ordering your bread, pasta and cake and let others make their own choices.
I believe that I am gluten intolerant. I have never been tested but am allergic to a number of other things including certain pollens and some fruits like kiwi and pineapple. A few years ago I had developed a terribly itchy rash on my torso along with a systemic reaction that felt like pins and needles all over my body. Basically it was a histamine reaction and it flared up whenever I would get overheated. Exercise or going outside in hot weather became pure torture and I was literally housebound for an entire summer and fall. I went to several doctors including allergists and dermatologists and started taking a bunch of prescriptions. Nothing helped that much. My acupuncturist suggested eliminating wheat and gluten for awhile and guess what? All symptoms went away within a couple weeks. I've tested it by going back to eating gluten and the same symptoms return within a few days. So, I avoid wheat and gluten and I feel better.
Believe me, I miss bread and regular pasta. I don't avoid them because it's a fad but because I feel better without. I certainly appreciate this fad because I have many more choices these days!
I agree that some people do have an issue with some foods and definitely feel better not eating them. I remember my mother used to have terrible gastric issues with corn, so she didn't eat it.
But then there's the other folks who think that not eating certain things is eating cleaner or something and they just... ehh... I don't know. For them it's a fad. A silly fad.
The problem is that the people providing gluten free food don't always take them seriously and the people truly relying on gluten free products can't always rely that products touted as being gluten free are going to be meticulously prepared since some people aren't taking this all that seriously thinking that they're just accommodating people following a fad, not people who have a disease. It's troubling.
This just can't be said loud enough.8 -
I do think there are probably a lot of people eating gluten free who might not need to. However, I don't think it's fair to say that some level of gluten sensitivity does not exist in some people who do not have celiac disease. And like others have mentioned, GI issues may be a clue.4
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Food sensitivities exist. I'm a celiac who was lactose intolerant for quite a while. I have 3 kids who have been tested for celiac using only one test (all that is available to us). They all tested negative BUT 2 of them have obvious issues with gluten. Undeniable. My oldest has it affect energy, mood, and gets headaches. My youngest fails the toilet test. My middle son seems to be okay but I keep him GF. Gluten is not a source of protein he needs or would benefit from. We skip it.
I know people with corn sensitivities. That's a nasty one. It's in everything. It makes GF look easy.
I have a friend with msg issues. Not made up.
I have another friend who reversed an debilitating autoimmune disease by switching to whole, organic foods. She's sensitive to something there.
I agree with others who have said that there are people who avoid some foods that may not need to, but why judge? Perhaps they are trying a free-from that food trial? It can take months to see improvements of systems. When I went GF, I was still seeing improvements after an entire year. It takes about 6 months to be sure if a food was affecting you.
I dunno, I say good on people for trying to change their diet rather than just looking for a pill to improve the symptoms.16 -
I can't see my reply so apologies if I'm repeating myself.
Firstly diagnostic techniques have improved massively, so the increase could be real.
And if people do avoid it without diagnosis and feel better for it, good for them. No-one ever gave me a medical diagnosis not to eat mushrooms, but I know they make me sick.
If people avoid it because they feel like it and they feel psychologically better, good for them. We are surrounded by abundance and plenty of other things to eat.
Some people avoiding gluten if strictly speaking they don't medically need to doesn't harm coeliac sufferers. If anything, it's benefitted them by increasing the market, creating an incentive for product development, and therefore the variety available. My husband (coeliac) certainly appreciates the better bread, nicer pasta, and wider variety of biscuits.8 -
If products containing gluten are served as gluten free, that's a consumer and bad customer service issue NOT the fault of people who don't eat it.1
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Some people definitely don't understand real sensitivities and lay claim either because of junk science or just wanting a good excuse. On the other hand sensitivities really do exist. My husband, mother and several family members cannot enjoy a bowl if cereal with milk or an ice cream cone without suffering in the bathroom later. And I can't eat more than very small amounts of soy without having VERY painful stomach cramps for hours.1
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Thanks for all the thoughtful replies everyone. I received far more feedback on this thread than I could of hoped for.
I guess my key conclusions and takeaways on this subject based upon everything I have read are as follows:
1) NCGS might exist as a true medical reality. There is certianly not enough real data out there in the peer reviewed medical literature to say one way or another. The discoverer of the supposed condition has since recanted, as I highlighted previously.
2) If it does exist, it is an incredibly small percentage of the population. As a ballpark figure, for every 1 legitimate "sufferer" there are probably 50 that are either delusional or the victim of pop culture semantics and/or marketing and advertising.
3) Regardless of 1 and 2, there is some benefit to the phenomenon both in the form of economic development and product diversity available to the consumer.
I guess looking forward to the future, we are left to wonder "what's next"? Anyone have any thoughts? The whole GMO marketing seems to be gaining momentum, but I am sure it won't be long and there will be a new fad out there which manages to capture the public's imagination.
2 -
SarahLascelles1 wrote: »If products containing gluten are served as gluten free, that's a consumer and bad customer service issue NOT the fault of people who don't eat it.
I never implied it was, but it is the fault of it being a fad blagged by gurus with a book to sell that people who don't need to eliminate it should eliminate it, and that in turn causes a somewhat casual attitude to labeling things "gluten free" sometimes.
People are easily misled by charlatans, and dishonest people take advantage of them, both the people perpetuating the fad, and the people supplying the goods that aren't up to snuff.1 -
supaflyrobby1 wrote: »Thanks for all the thoughtful replies everyone. I received far more feedback on this thread than I could of hoped for.
I guess my key conclusions and takeaways on this subject based upon everything I have read are as follows:
1) NCGS might exist as a true medical reality. There is certianly not enough real data out there in the peer reviewed medical literature to say one way or another. The discoverer of the supposed condition has since recanted, as I highlighted previously.
2) If it does exist, it is an incredibly small percentage of the population. As a ballpark figure, for every 1 legitimate "sufferer" there are probably 50 that are either delusional or the victim of pop culture semantics and/or marketing and advertising.
3) Regardless of 1 and 2, there is some benefit to the phenomenon both in the form of economic development and product diversity available to the consumer.
I guess looking forward to the future, we are left to wonder "what's next"? Anyone have any thoughts? The whole GMO marketing seems to be gaining momentum, but I am sure it won't be long and there will be a new fad out there which manages to capture the public's imagination.
I really disagree with this conclusion. The people I know who have food sensitivities, and eat GF or dairy free or whatever, do so because they must. I don't know anyone who tried a restrictive diet to see if it improved their health, and then chose to continue with it when it did nothing for them. If it did nothing, they dropped it.
My husband had a health issue that might have been diet related. He went GF and dairy free for half a year. His health issue improved quite a bit and then he decided to re-introduce dairy to see whether that was one of the changed factors that had helped. It wasn't. After 2 months of dairy he is unchanged, so he continues eating dairy. Logical... I can't imagine going back to dairy free if it wasn't needed.5 -
No, of course they're not fads. Some people may be paranoid and think they're intolerant without seeing a doctor, but I spent many years seeing a variety of the best Gastroenterologists (not due to the topic, but for ulcers and GERD) and when they started testing me for food allergies and asking about intolerance I was like "Well I've never had them before, sooo why are we wasting time with this".
They told me that most people don't realize you can *literally* wake up one day with food allergies and/or intolerances even if you were fine yesterday. Due to the delicate balance of the GI as your body's 2nd but equally-important "brain". Similarly, they can suddenly go away come back, get new ones, etc. It can happen to anyone at any time no matter how healthy they are. And that mostly everyone is somewhat intolerant to something. It's just a matter of whether it's enough to cause symptoms.
But dumb things like "wheat belly" are what create this paranoia among healthy people who have no intolerance....but act like certain foods are poison.5 -
I've been presenting for quite a while now with symptoms pointing to intolerances (have been lactose intolerant since I was about 12) of various foods. Visible bloating, ridiculous pain (can't stand up straight), toilet issues.
Tested by doctor for celiac; came back negative. Currently being tested for IBS/IBD through a gastroenterologist. As a part of that, I have been avoiding gluten as well as a plethora of other delicious things (onions, garlic, apples, most stoned fruits, cruciferous veggies, legumes, pulses, most dairy [though I already limit my dairy consumption as I previously pointed out my lactose intolerance], soy etc)
Celiac and allergies are NOT the only conditions which cause issues for people. My GP herself pointed out that the idea that we can all eat all the same things is ridiculous; everyone's gut bacteria are different and everybody's bodies work in different ways.5 -
I think there is a common pattern with these subjects. The increases in the number of reported "cases" is partly due to increased awareness of the condition--which leads to improved identification of existing cases, and partly due to auto suggestion by people who have vague symptoms and think this new syndrome might be the explanation.1
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