Is gluten the new fat? Or is ‘gluten-free’ the new fad?

I have been asked this question many times. Why has a grain that has been eaten for thousands of years suddenly become problematic? one of the main reasons that most people, including most medical professionals, find it difficult to understand wheat sensitivity is the simple, logical fact that our ancestors lived—and indeed thrived—on wheat, barley and other ancient grains. since biblical times, grain cultivation has been integral to civilizations.

so why has wheat become the bogeyman of our diet? Wheat is not the only culprit (there are other grains that contain gluten), although it’s the biggest offender because of its wide presence across food products. We don’t really eat much rye, spelt or barley (barley is the main constituent of beer, though).

What people the world over eat is either bread, pasta or rotis and naans (all made from wheat flour of varying degrees of refining).

Wheat and health ;

Wheat’s connection with ill health is historic and has had many manifestations . It’s one of the top eight allergens along with dairy, eggs, soya, nuts, tree nuts, shellfish and fish; its ingestion can lead to wheat allergy (fairly uncommon) in some cases, celiac disease or a typical itchy skin rash called dermatitis herpetiformis; and now, there’s a whole new entity under the umbrella of non-celiac wheat-related disorders (NCWs or non-celiac wheat sensitivity). but until about sixty-odd years ago, many of these disorders affected a small percentage of the population (celiac disease is estimated to affect about 1 per cent of people in India).1 That’s partly the reason why the medical fraternity and the public are divided between those who believe eating wheat is damaging to our gut health and those who think that we can’t blame something that has been integral to our diets for ages.

but what we see happening since the 1960s is that the incidence of gut reactions to wheat is far more widespread (celiac disease has increased more than fourfold in this period), across cultures and geographies .


To be continued.....