If you suffer from celiac disease, your gluten-free diet avoids wheat, barley, rye and possibly oats. A protein called gluten in these grains fires up your immune system, damages your small intestines, causes malnutrition and confusingly variable gastrointestinal disturbances, according to a 2008 Medline Plus report. Some people also suffer from wheat allergy, described by Mayo Clinic physicians in 2009 as causing hives, breathing problems, nausea and potentially fatal anaphylactic shock.
Celiac Disease
Your immune system can misfire, causing various diseases. If you are among the nearly 1 percent of Americans with celiac disease, also called sprue, gluten in wheat, rye, barley and sometimes oats falsely triggers your immune system to attack your small-intestinal lining. Medical researchers reporting for the Celiac Sprue Association in 2009 describe symptoms that vary so widely that diagnosis is difficult. Bowel symptoms can be entirely absent or include constipation, diarrhea or pain. General physical symptoms are often so non-specific that, as reported in the Aug. 15, 2009, edition of the New York Times, one 40-year-old man suffered 10 broken bones and a lifetime of gastrointestinal troubles before a health-care worker finally checked him for sprue. Some sprue sufferers also react to oats. Celiac Sprue researchers cite a 2008 report in the European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, documenting that most oat products are contaminated with wheat, barley or rye. They recommend specially processed oats only, and a limit of 50g per day. A gluten-free diet is the only way to heal your damaged intestinal villi, the microscopic, hair-like structures carpeting your small intestinal lining, which absorb nutrients from your food. The diet does not cure sprue, but manages it.
Wheat Allergy
If you have a wheat allergy, the easiest way to avoid the allergen is to adopt a gluten-free diet, according to Mayo Clinic gastroenterologists. However, this condition, which is distinct from celiac disease or sprue, is most common in infants and is usually outgrown between the ages of 3 and 5. Wheat allergy is rare in adolescents and adults. In addition to a gluten-free diet, useful medications include antihistamines, steroids for more intense reactions, and epinephrine in an adrenalin-charged, automatic syringe your doctor may prescribe for you to carry with you if your reaction is strong enough to elicit anaphylactic shock.
Unproven Reasons
Adam Voiland, a health-care writer reporting for US News and World Report: Health in 2008, says 15 to 25 percent of consumers look for gluten-free diet foods, even though only about 1 percent of the population suffers from diagnosed conditions requiring such diets. The reasons reported include weight loss, treatment for irritable bowel syndrome and relief of autism symptoms. Gluten-free diets for these conditions are not documented by controlled, scientific studies to provide benefits. Voiland calls these "fad diets" and warns that some gluten-free food makers try to make up for the proper form or consistency of their products, lost by eliminating wheat, by adding extra sugars and fats. The market for gluten-free foods included over 830 products in 2008 and is projected to grow in sales by 15 to 25 percent every year.
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