The gluten-free fad

Slate Magazine is sort of notorious for being snarky and snobby. I'm not sure what that says about me since I follow them on my Google reader, but doing so did lead me to come across this article, which talks about how the gluten-free diet is a fad akin to the Atkins Diet, both overhyped and ineffective.

Because of Slate's aforementioned characteristics, I'm not surprised that the (somewhat pointless) article included a line like, "...Diagnosed celiacs only account for a small fraction of the bloated and still-expanding market for gluten-free products. (In total, the disease affects just 0.75 percent of the population.)."

Can someone tell me how an increase in gluten-free products is a bad thing? I live for the day I don't have to visit three different grocery stores to get what I want or pay $5 for a loaf of bread.

The article focuses on how the idea of "gluten interolerance", which is different from Celiac Disease in that it causes short-term discomfort and no permanent damage, is all in people's heads as they latch on to the latest diet craze. If people are doing this just because it's the hip thing to do, they really must be crazy. A gluten-free diet is incredibly restricted, and not all that healthful in terms of getting the right amount of nutrients (many gluten-free foods are not fortified like glutentastic ones). And it's expensive. According to a recent article in the New York Times, countries like Italy and England actually prescribe gluten-free food to Celiac patients.

The writer even acknowledges that it shouldn't matter if people decide they want to go gluten-free to feel better, citing Elizabeth Hasselbeck's new book (don't even get me started on that piece of work) as the latest testament to the good a "g-free" diet can do. Why then write an article ranting about the supposed dubiousness of gluten intolerance?

The article ends wth an apparent attempt to amend the assumptions and judgmental statements that permeate it:

"The proliferation of gluten-free products has made life for a full-blown celiac easier than it's ever been, and a greater awareness of gluten-related disorders has more celiac patients getting diagnosed than ever before. (There are still thought to be millions of undiagnosed cases in the United States.) Let's hope those gains aren't erased when the conventional wisdom shifts again and we leave this diet craze behind us."

Well, that at least the author and I can agree on.

P.S. At some point this blog will live up to its title.