Wheat, known for centuries as the staff of life, provides one-fifth of all food eaten worldwide and is the top source of protein in developing countries. “Humans have been eating wheat for around 10,000 years,” reports Eating Well magazine in a story that delves into the modern-day controversy over gluten, the main protein in wheat. About 22 percent of adults try to avoid gluten in their diets, creating an estimated $8.8 billion market, reports the author Sam Fromartz, the editor-in-chief of The Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN), which publishes the AgInsider.
For many people, cutting gluten from their diet is a weight-loss technique. For others, health issues are the reason. An estimated 1 percent of people have celiac disease, 0.4 percent have wheat allergies and from 0.6 to 6 percent are gluten-sensitive. It’s a fairly new field of research and there are no diagnostic tools to detect gluten sensitivity. So it’s a matter of seeing if a person’s health improves when gluten is removed from their diet. Researchers also have looked at carbohydrates as a factor.
“When it comes to gluten, speculation is rife about the cause of the recent rise in documented celiac disease and in the anecdotal reports of widespread gluten sensitivity,” writes Fromartz. Theories include the yeasts used in modern breadmaking; rising rates of gluten consumption that mean more exposure; and a general rise in incidence of allergies and immune-related disorders. One doctor says you need good evidence to avoid gluten altogether. “And right now, that evidence doesn’t exist,” Fromartz concludes. The story was developed in partnership with FERN.