Gluten free : a boon or a bane ?

Lady Gaga, Novak Djokovic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Miley Cyrus, Chelsea Clinton, Victoria Beckham, Ryan Gosling, Gwyneth Paltrow, Russel Crowe. What do they all have in common? They all swear by gluten-free diets. So what's going on? 

 

 

In Europe, approximately one person in one hundred suffers from celiac disease. Nevertheless, sales of gluten-free products are increasing. Famous models and athletes follow special gluten-free diets to get fit or to improve their physical performance. Now this phenomenon has spread to nearly every social class in the Western world. Is this new social trend a boon or a bane to gluten intolerants ?

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine caused by an intolerance to gluten. Pain and discomfort in the intestinal tract are the main symptoms of celiac disease, but it can lead to more serious consequences such as anemia or cancer. The only effective treatment known at this time is a lifelong gluten-free diet.

Popular misconceptions tend to confuse celiac disease with an allergy to wheat or a hypersensitivity to gluten. For Catherine Remilleux-Rest, the vice-president of the French Association for Gluten Intolerants (AFDIAG), the no-gluten trend is making celiac disease seem commonplace. "A no-gluten diet is often confused with a diet of choice and is not always taken seriously", she said. On the one hand, even if reliable tests exist, 80 % of French celiac disease sufferers are not diagnosed with it. Others choose to self-medicate without any medical advice. On the other hand, even though only 4.5 million Europeans suffer from celiac disease, 50 million Americans have converted to gluten-free diets. But, the dangers attributed to gluten by common misconceptions have not been scientifically proven, and neither have its presumed benefits : weight loss, gain in vitality and improved digestion.

      

So, how can we explain the popularity of gluten-free diets ? According to nutritionist Dr Patrick Serog, the interest might be psychological. Because of the numerous fears and insecurities looming nowadays, people are choosing to remove some foods from their diet in order to concentrate on themselves. The harder the diet is, the more often you think of yourself and your well-being. No-gluten could be a pretext for choosing a healthier diet and improving one’s way of living, and because this diet indirectly leads to better physical shape, it explains the supposed benefits associated with this trend.

Yet all is not gloom and doom in gluten-free diets. With the exponential growth in sales (last year French supermarket sales of gluten-free products increased by 42%), gluten-free product references have surged. Nowadays, you can easily find gluten-free bread, flour, pizza and biscuits in every supermarket. Market diversification is one of the main positive points of the “gluten free” trend as it facilitates the daily life of celiac disease sufferers. What’s more, prices are going down. The trivialisation of celiac disease has also had a significant impact on people’s level of awareness, as the disease was quite unknown until the 2010s.

Even if gluten-free diets are harmless for non-sufferers of celiac disease, their real benefits are quite unclear. So let's follow this basic rule : eat all things in moderation.

Wondering if no-gluten recipes are tasteless ? Try our Flourless Chocolate Cake 

In a medium saucepan, heat 1 cup of butter with ¼ cup of heavy cream over medium-low heat until the butter is melted. Add 8 ounces of chopped bittersweet chocolate and stir until melted and smooth; remove from heat.
In a medium bowl, whisk together 8 eggs, 1 cup of sugar, and ¼ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder. Whisk in the chocolate mixture.
Transfer the batter to a 9-inch springform pan dusted with cocoa powder and bake at 350°F until puffed and set, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 1 hour. Run a knife around the edge of the cake before unmolding.
Using an electric mixer, beat 1 cup of heavy cream with ½ cup of crème fraîche and ¼ cup of confectioners’ sugar until soft peaks form. Dust the cake with cocoa (or confectioners’ sugar) and serve with the whipped cream mixture.

Joséphine Solier and Marie Daden


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