The Benefits Of Gluten-Free Diet

Magazines and websites everywhere now have celebrities advertising their latest switch to the gluten-free diet. This forced way of life for those with Celiac disease has now become trendy amongst those who can tolerate gluten. Non-celiacs across the world are now taking this protein out of their diet in hopes to lose weight, become healthier, and gain energy; however the opposite effect is taking place in many cases. Removing gluten from one’s diet when they do not have celiac disease or any other gluten allergy is not beneficial and in a handful of cases is harmful.

The majority of people removing gluten from their diet are not educated on what makes up gluten. Jimmy Kimmel himself was curious how many people who chose this lifestyle really

It makes sense that a product out of the ordinary would be more expensive, however spending money on these products is useless. A study conducted in the Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice & Research actually found the average unit price for a gluten-free product was $1.71 and for the regular product it was only $0.61. One unit of the gluten free product is a little more than 2 and a half times more expensive than one unit for the normal product, which is absurd. Colombia Broadcasting System even states, “Overall, Americans will spend an estimated $7 billion this year on foods labeled gluten-free.” Money spent on these products is money that could be going towards medical care, mortgages, furthering education, housing those in need, not wasted on products which will cause one to gain weight and become unhealthier. A dietetic intern at Iowa State University researched the gluten-free diet as well and she formulated a bar graph to compare prices of gluten-free and non-gluten-free products. No matter if the product was chicken nuggets, cereal, pizza, or cookies the gluten-free version was always more expensive (Brekken). In some cases, only by two dollars and in other cases by eight dollars. Another study written in the Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research actually found that 242% of the time

They should be achieving all of those goals the correct way, by eating fruits and vegetables and exercising regularly. One positive aspect which has been brought on by this trending diet is the rise in the awareness of celiac disease; however, the consequence of this positive is the encouragement of malnutrition and deficiencies that the gluten-free diet is creating for those without celiac disease. If a person is concerned about whether or not they have celiac disease, they should go see their doctor. This disease is not something someone should or can diagnose accurately on their own. An intestinal biopsy should be performed and a gluten-free diet should not be assumed unless the results from the biopsy require it (Tallmadge). As for those without celiac disease, this diet is nothing more than a fad and like any other fad it will