Avoiding gluten could be doing you more harm than good

One of the world’s most prestigious medical journals has published the results of a 41-year study into gluten intake, and the results are eye-opening.

Scientists have followed more than 121,000 nurses and more than 50,000 male health professionals in the US since as early as 1976, giving them health and lifestyle questionnaires every two years. They worked out the quantity of gluten – a protein found in grains, specially wheat, that gives dough its elastic texture – the participants consumed.

The lengthy study, published by the British Medical Journal, had two key findings. Consuming gluten over the long term wasn’t associated with any risk of coronary heart disease. But avoiding gluten when that avoidance isn’t necessary may increase the risk of cardiovascular problems.

In effect, people who are not ‘truly gluten-intolerant’ – people, for example, with celiac disease, do need to avoid gluten because it causes them  intestinal damage, or those with non-celiac gluten sensitivity – may be damaging their heath by forgoing the protein that appears in foods ranging from bread to mayonnaise.

The study acknowledges that gluten-free diets have become popular in recent years, with many people following them because they believe gluten may increase the risk of obesity and other conditions, but the scientists wrote that “the promotion of gluten-free diets among people without celiac disease should not be encouraged”.

That was because avoiding gluten could result in a low intake of whole grains that are associated with healthy heart benefits.

“The promotion of gluten-free diets for the purpose of coronary heart disease prevention among asymptomatic people without celiac disease should not be recommended,” the scientists reiterated.

Are you gluten-free? What do you think of these findings?