Gluten-free fad raises concerns - Ag Journal

[Scott Adams]

Open Original Shared Link Ag Journal According to the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research, only about 7 percent of the US population has a genuine gluten sensitivity, allergy or intolerance. The most serious of these afflictions is celiac, a rare gastrointestinal disease ... Open Original Shared Link

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[IrishHeart]

There it is again...Celiac is "rare"...

Only 7% of the US population has a "genuine gluten" issue

ONLY?? Let's see....

The current US pop is 313,714,434.

7% of us requiring a gluten-free diet is approx. 21.8 million people.

Of course there are "concerns" ----in the WHEAT industry.

This is an agricultural journal, what do we expect them to say?

They say WHEAT is good for you. And taking it out of your diet

"causes health problems...."

BS

[Takala]

Wow, where do we start with that wretched piece of misinformational lobbying by Big Ag ?

Monsanto and like bio-engineering corporations are attempting to force Europe and Africa to accept GMO wheat as the "solution," so the American wheat lobby is using ignorant people like this Federal Ag Extension Agent Lois Illick (that is the USDA's farmer's outreach) to attack people using a MEDICAL TREATMENT FOR THEIR AUTO IMMUNE DISEASE as trendy dilettantes searching for A FAD DIET.

I will quickly fact -check this piece of c**p and let others comment if they wish.

What was wrong in this article -

1. eating gluten free is a diet fad

2. eating gluten free can lead to eating problems and physical difficiencies

3. People in the Philipines have health problems because they don't have "enhanced" grains (implied wheat was necessary, as it is well known Asians use rice as their main grain source)

4. Celiac is rare and only effects 1 in 133 people, which is 1% of the population

(note: #4 was an especially stupid, precious quote, besides being wrong, as 1 in 133 is not 1%. )

5. Lois Illick direct quote: "Others just think it's a healthy way to eat. And quite honestly, it's not."

6. Another Illick direct quote: "Celiac can develop ... when triggered by a virus."

(note: #6. Say what. Gee, Lois, glad you figured out the "cause" of celiac. Maybe you should go on the Dr Oz show with this revelation. )

7. Less than 1/2 of one percent of the adult population is believed to have a gluten allergy.

(note: OH, the stupid, it burns. It's not an allergy, it's an auto immune reaction. Or an intolerance. Just Celiac would effect over 3.1 million Americans if all were diagnosed, add in the 7% gluten intolerants and that would be 24.8 million Americans needing a gluten free diet. Plus family members eating gluten free, to keep their families safe from cross contamination. If all celiacs/gluten intolerants had just one family member eating gluten free at home, that would be a total of 50 million eating gluten free out of 311 million, or 16% of the population. )

8. It's harder to get essential nutrients (from gluten free foods, such as calcium, iron, vitamin B12.

9. For most people, gluten free is not necessary.

(what is the definition of "most?," and why should it matter ? Is not nearly 25 million American people enough to be considered statistically significant? )

10. People who are gluten sensitive are adopting random nutritional theories they found on the internet.

11. The USDA's "my plate" which is based on the old USDA Food Pyramid is "better."

12. Article then goes to quote a non celiac and non gluten intolerant woman who directs the Washington Association of Wheat Growers, Kara Rowe, who says she went on a gluten free diet for a MONTH, felt no differently, so her conclusion is that eliminating all cereal grains is simply " a new spin on a low carb diet."

_______

Folks, this is YOUR tax dollars at work paying this USDA employee to spout this garbage, and to attack gluten free consumers and lowball the numbers. I also expect they should not be getting into the bed with the wheat lobby to this extent that they would treat an auto immune condition and gluten intolerance so flippantly, besides low balling the numbers.

A retraction, and an apology for spreading misinformation about this, should be demanded.

link to article here:

Gluten free fad raises concerns

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Two years ago, in July 2010, Lois Illick was pushing the USDA's grain heavy "Food Pyramid" as an ideal eating scheme

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Illick says she's grown to really like this food pyramid and uses it whenever she presents nutrition information, in either several-session courses or one- or two-hour workshops.

"I used it just yesterday when I did Dining with Diabetes."

She also introduces MyPyramid as a nutritional guide when she teaches a nutrition-for-babysitters class at the Kids College at Pueblo Community College.

Humans are unique creatures with many different dietary needs, not generic feedlot animals, Ms. Illick. 30% of the population carries the genes for celiac. That's not a fad.

[IrishHeart]

You have waaay more patience than I do, Takala.

I stopped reading after the first page or so when I realized how biased/slanted and ridiculous it was.

like this:

"Still, a gluten-free diet has a number of drawbacks, Illick said, starting with the fact that it is harder to get the full array of essential nutrients.

“You may be lacking in calcium or you may not be able to absorb it,” she said. “You may not be getting enough iron or Vitamin B-12. Those are found in wheat products, and they are important.”

Gluten-free breads are also more difficult to prepare. Replacing gluten with a substitute like guar gum, made from ground bean, is a “touchy process,” she notes.

She's so full of crap.

And whenever anyone calls this a gluten allergy, I know they do not know what they are talking about.

I cringe when a celiac refers to it as that.

[NickMcKinnis]

This article actually annoyed me enough to make an account with them and comment. I wasn't very nice.

[mushroom]

Of course there are "concerns" ----in the WHEAT industry.

This is an agricultural journal, what do we expect them to say?

Grow different crops, maybe?? Like some that are not genetically modified, maybe?? And take better care of the land

[IrishHeart]

Grow different crops, maybe?? Like some that are not genetically modified, maybe?? And take better care of the land

It's a mess in this country, Shroomie.

GMO is "the new norm" - the theory is ---more, bigger, better.!!!

and take better care of the land? if only.

It's been screwed up since the Pilgrims landed.

Not going to happen... and here is why...... $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!

Why should the two of us have to spend more than $100 a week on groceries ...but also have to spend more $$$ to go to farmer's markets, travel to nearby farms for eggs and meat, and go to places like BJ's and order from online websites, AND grow our own produce and herbs-- just to live comfortably and SAFELY on a fixed income??

It's RIDICULOUS.

[Lisa]

This is why we might need Genetically Modified Crops. It's not a simple fix.

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[Juliebove]

They even give the percentage of 7! How could that be considered rare? I do think the gluten-free diet is a fad for many though. I just saw it referred to in a magazine as a grain free diet. To me, grain free is something else because you wouldn't be eating rice or corn either.

I do think more and more people are lowering the amount of carbs that they eat. One reason is that diabetes is getting more and more rampant. People either have it, like me...or are afraid they will get it so they are changing their diet.

[squirmingitch]

You have waaay more patience than I do, Takala.

I stopped reading after the first page or so when I realized how biased/slanted and ridiculous it was.

like this:

"Still, a gluten-free diet has a number of drawbacks, Illick said, starting with the fact that it is harder to get the full array of essential nutrients.

[Darn210]

OK . . . I'm not a big fan of this article, but I feel compelled to discuss some of the points that are being jumped on . . .

First, the gluten free diet can certainly be considered to be in fad diet mode right now . . . C'mon, would Miley Cyrus be eating gluten free otherwise? Would Dominos be trying to sell us a nonglutenfree-glutenfree pizza?

Technically, a gluten free diet is not a healthier diet. If all you did was take a gluten product and sub the equivalent gluten free product, your diet would go up in calories and fat. Add the fact that the gluten free grains are not enriched. OK, most people on this site are here because they are pursuing better health and hopefully don't need to be getting vitamins and minerals from their grain products. You would like to think that people would be getting their vitamins and minerals from the appropriate fruit & veggie sources, but look at the standard American diet. Look at the climbing obesity rates, especially in children. How many of them don't even see a fruit or veggie on any given day?

As far as the gluten allergy thing . . . I actually took that to mean they were talking about the people with an actual allergy and not the Celiacs/Gluten Sensitives/Gluten Intolerants.

Also, I would say gluten free bread is not harder to prepare . . . but it is harder to prepare well. I guess the mixes are OK, but not as good (to me) as the Udi's or Rudi's. Whereas, the home made wheat bread was loads better than the store bought wheat bread. If I'm going to the trouble to make something at home, it better taste better than the store bought version.

OK . . . enough said . . . just trying to show a different interpretation. It is slanted to be prowheat . . . but I expected that before I even started reading, considering the source.

[Takala]

This is why we might need Genetically Modified Crops. It's not a simple fix

In the year 1974, the world's population was 3.9 billion, and the plant breeding lobby told us if we did not embrace vegetarianism and certain plant breeding practices, the world was going to face mass starvation.

It is now 38 years later. The world's population is now aprox. 7 billion, which means it has nearly DOUBLED, or is scheduled to double during this decade, and will hit about 8 billion by 2020.

There is more food available, yet there is still hunger and starvation because of two things: the population continues to expand as soon as more food is made available, and there is absolutely no incentive to stop it because there is too much false trust in lobbyists who throw around the word "science" when they want something. Access to food is also used as a political and warfare weapon. The hunger, which is caused by human error and deliberate poverty, serves as the excuse that yet more food just MUST be produced out of something. The false myth that we absolutely must have high, continued population growth to have economic development continues. This is insane. We have a horrifying number of able bodied, unemployed humans on FOOD STAMPS in this country right now, and people using food banks and charities. One in six kids goes to bed hungry at night. Yet -there is enough food here in this country. The SYSTEM is not working. The grain lobby wants MORE EXPORTS.

I'm SO DONE with that argument.

If these GMO agricultural corporations start tampering with the alternates to wheat grain food supply in a way which destroys the safety of alternative crops for those who currently can not eat the wheat family, then we are buying their fake arguments and destroying our offspring's ability to survive.

I have been following the "pro" side of the GMO grain breeding lobby for years now, and how they continue to target the "average" reader in the media. The average reader is going to believe every word of that garbage article, which is a deliberate attack on gluten free eating, because they assumed the people (editors and quoted "experts") would not deliberately lie to them, and they don't consider some of them have another agenda.

Hey, we do have FDA rules pending on a gluten free definition standard for food labeling. You think that does not have something to do with this, also ? Why should the general public care if we have the USDA people making claims in the media that there are very few people who need a gluten free diet, and that it is deficient and unhealthy ?

These lobbyists are so depraved of conscience they have been continuing to deny that a significant percentage (see my numbers above) of the American public actually needs gluten free foods from a medical standpoint. ANY time this lobby attempts to downplay these 3 million to 25 million Americans as "fad dieters" there needs to be an outcry and a swift and emphatic response. I don't give a flying mouse's arse about some scrawny celebrity actress. I DO give a fma about myself and the rest of those who NEED this diet to survive and not be sick.

What do you think of the other article, where the "registered dietician" says Einkorn wheat is okay for celiacs ? Had enough yet? The media spin is only going to get worse.

[Razzle Dazzle Brazell]

Yeah I think that is a field of cow pies. There is absolutely nothing unhealthy about not eating wheat. Just because bread is fortified with vitamins doesnt mean we have to have it. I mean how did we survive before? Its not a necessity at all. Notice in this day and age there are a gazillion different supplements someone can take even if they dont get nutrients naturally from an alternative source. Fortified bread isnt naturally nutrient rich anyway. I eat a lot healthier gluten free than i ever did before. I eat a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits and experiment with a wider variety of foods because of this "fad".

I think gluten is just a frankenstine of a protein and just about any food and drink made in a petri dish or brewed in some lab somewhere! When will americans learn that real food is better? Maybe we need to learn to eat our vitamins in natural foods instead of eating fake food all the time and adding vits. to it. What kind of sense is that? If however we, as a wjole,choose to continue to eat this way we can still "fortify" anything else other than wheat products.

You know this is totally random but this reminds me of how furniture stores do. They will buy something at a certain price and mark it up rediculously high just so they can mark it down a little and make you think youre getting a better deal. Its kinda the same thing; they suck all the nutritiative value from our foods and add a little and people actually think they are eating healthier buying synthetic foods and drinks when they have a few vitamins listed.

[IrishHeart]

If these GMO agricultural corporations start tampering with the alternates to wheat grain food supply in a way which destroys the safety of alternative crops for those who currently can not eat the wheat family, then we are buying their fake arguments and destroying our offspring's ability to survive.

Hey, we do have FDA rules pending on a gluten free definition standard for food labeling. You think that does not have something to do with this, also ? Why should the general public care if we have the USDA people making claims in the media that there are very few people who need a gluten free diet, and that it is deficient and unhealthy ?

ANY time this lobby attempts to downplay these 3 million to 25 million Americans as "fad dieters" there needs to be an outcry and a swift and emphatic response.

What do you think of the other article, where the "registered dietician" says Einkorn wheat is okay for celiacs ? Had enough yet? The media spin is only going to get worse.

I think she is an ill-informed idiot.

I want you to know that I actually stood up and applauded you for this post. I could not agree more.

Well said.

GMOs are a problem. We screwed with the wheat, now we should screw with the rest of it? BS

[GFinDC]

What they should be embarrassed about is that they had to add vitamins to white bread, because the processing of wheat flour removed any nutritional value from the flour. So it is basically worthless junk people are eating without the vitamins added to it. They basically put a vitamin pill in wheat bread so it would be sellable to people and not cause them to be malnourished, which was the concern. Now they proclaim wheat bread as healthier than gluten-free because of those added vitamins. Rubbish. Anybody can buy a vitamin pill and take it. That they need to add vitamins to their product is a clear indicator the product is not a good food. At least not they way they process it.

They said in the article that wheat bread sales have declined and gluten-free sales have increased. That's clearly the motivation for the article, fighting that decline is sales. That decline also means the gluten-free diet is becoming a real force in the marketplace.

[IrishHeart]

The statement that "a gluten free diet is not healthy" is incorrect. "Fortified wheat products " are not essential. You can get your vitamins and minerals from other FOODS that have folate, calcium, niacin, etc. Alternative grains provide the same amount of "whole grain" nutrition the wheat industry touts as being "essential".

Or, as Gee Eff in Dee Cee says, take a vitamin, if you are worried.

I know many people who are VERY healthy without wheat--and they are not celiacs.

My husband is one. Perfectly healthy and looks and moves like someone 20 years younger. Works out at a gym, lifts weights, etc. 3X a week, golfs, walks 3 miles without breathing heavily. No medications.

My friend Suze, DXed with MS since when she was 28, went on a grain- free, sugar- free diet on her own and has kept her MS at bay for 25 years. She even RAN THE BOSTON MARATHON several years ago. No wheelchair for her--and she is in better health than ANYONE I know. She is a vegetarian now.

My Mom, at 85, rarely ate bread/gluteny items her entire life. But, she went gluten-free and DF after my DX and she STILL goes to the gym 3X a week. (Since she was 55.) She does the stairmaster and cardio kick-boxing. I am not kidding. She moves and walks like a 60- year -old. She is healthier than I am.

She does not "need" wheat. She is healthy as can be. Brain is sharp as a tack. Her EKG is the same as it was at 65. Her vitamin/mineral levels and bone density scans are great! Her only med is synthroid, but her doc says she may not need it after going gluten-free.

No one "needs" wheat (or dairy, really-- for that matter) to be healthy.

It's propaganda.

[bartfull]

I heard a story on NPR about a book someone wrote. I can't remember the author's name, but the book was called something like, "Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants". In the story he claimed that most Americans eat "food-like substances". That pretty much sums it up.

[Takala]

That quote is from Michael Pollan, the food writer for the NYTimes and the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Unfortunately Pollan, as of October 2011, was not able to get away from his preconceptions and love of bread when he gave this answer to the query...

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Q. What do you think of gluten free diets?

A. They are very important if you have celiac disease or can't tolerate gluten. But it's hard to believe that the number of people suffering from these conditions has grown as fast as this product category. Gluten has become the bad nutrient of the moment, the evil twin of Omega 3 fatty acids. Could it really be that bread, a staple of Western civilization for 6,000 years, is suddenly making millions of us sick? I'm dubious.

He's.... dubious.

More recently Pollan, who is the darling of the East Coast organics- for- the- wealthy- movement, showed up at a food conference in my state (California). What was funny was that the people eating the regular food at the conference got all these organic vegetarian goodies and some sort of broiled fish option. There was a gluten free option. It consisted of some sort of gluten free grain pattie served on a gluten free sandwich bun. mmmm. Carbohydrates.

[IrishHeart]

What was funny was that the people eating the regular food at the conference got all these organic vegetarian goodies and some sort of broiled fish option. There was a gluten free option. It consisted of some sort of gluten free grain pattie served on a gluten free sandwich bun. mmmm. Carbohydrates.

what the heck??? that's nuts

I guess that's what many people think "gluten free eating" means.

[FoodisLife12]

That article doesn't deserve consideration. Anyone with the slightest familiarity of Celiac's can see how uninformed these people are. Low and behold, IGNORANCE still seems to be the most common disease in this country...

[codetalker]

What they should be embarrassed about is that they had to add vitamins to white bread, because the processing of wheat flour removed any nutritional value from the flour. So it is basically worthless junk people are eating without the vitamins added to it. They basically put a vitamin pill in wheat bread so it would be sellable to people and not cause them to be malnourished, which was the concern. Now they proclaim wheat bread as healthier than gluten-free because of those added vitamins. Rubbish. Anybody can buy a vitamin pill and take it. That they need to add vitamins to their product is a clear indicator the product is not a good food. At least not they way they process it.

I was wondering when someone would point this out.

[IrishHeart]

I was wondering when someone would point this out.

Agreed.

There is so much wrong in the article , apparently, we needed so many proofreaders to sort it all out.