Misguided fear of gluten

People with celiac disease (one percent of people worldwide) need to avoid gluten—the protein found in wheat, rye, and barley that makes dough cohesive. People with “non-celiac wheat sensitivity” and wheat allergies should also avoid it. For most of us, however, gluten is no problem. Nevertheless, 46 percent of people surveyed in 2017 said they purchased gluten-free groceries because they thought that gluten-free products were healthier and more natural. Not true.

As a professor of nutritional medicine at the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University Medical Center states, “typically, the gluten-free products are higher in fat, higher in sugar, higher in salt, and lower in fiber and your B vitamins and iron.” Manufacturers of gluten-free bread often add sugar, fat and salt to their products to make them taste better. Because gluten-free breads tend to contain more water, fat, and refined starch than wheat-based breads, they spoil and become stale more quickly. They're also more expensive than ordinary bread.

Making bread without gluten is tricky, so manufacturers tend to rely on ingredients like refined rice, potato, or tapioca flours, which contain much less protein and fiber than wheat flours. Moreover, gluten-free breads do not contain folic acid, niacin, riboflavin and thiamin or iron.

Apparently, gluten-free breads are improving. But you need to check the labels. If the first ingredients are water and tapioca starch, forget it.

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