Gluten free diets have been gaining popularity in the past few years, typically in order to loose weight or even just to improve one’s health. Stores have all sorts of foods in gluten free, which is a dream for people with Celiac disease (a severe allergy to gluten) but this begs the question- why did this start?
Well, gluten in a protein exclusive to the wheat and barley plant: it lets baked goods have a chewy yet airy texture. You might have thought that yeast does this, and you would be correct. The difference is that gluten holds it in place, and lets the air bubbles stay in that position.
Yet the mystery still remains, what is this trend all about? To see where it all started,
lets go back to 2010, where the majority people who consumed gluten free were people with Celiac. Now, as I said its a severe allergy, but how does it work? The villi (small ridges in the intestines that absorb the nutrients in food for the body) get damaged and the person gets malnourished, leading in extreme weight loss, which is where the misconception started. But after someone with Celiac stops consuming gluten, they put on weight, which is a good thing as they are underweight!
Urban legends like this spread really fast, so always consider what you share, and if you don’t have enough information to make a decision, then seek it out before passing it on.