Gluten-free diet

In the last lesson we taught you the fundamental aspects to take into account when choosing a suitable diet, and we promised to delve into those that are most popular. This way, you will be able to determine with our help if they are effective or not.

The first of these diets is the gluten-free diet. It is undoubtedly one of the best known at present, so we invite you to delve into it.

What is gluten?

First of all, we invite you to get rid of all the negative comments you have probably heard about gluten. On the Internet there is all kinds of information about this compound, and not all of it is true, also keep in mind that many of the sites that demonize gluten, do it in order to sell you an alternative product.

Gluten is a natural compound formed by the proteins glutamine and gliadin. It is found in foods related to wheat, rye and barley. In the baking industry, it is widely used, as it helps to increase the dough with which bread is made and improves the consistency of the bread. It is also commonly seen in the ingredients of products such as pastas, pizzas and cereals.

However, you may have noticed that supermarkets are increasingly stocked with gluten-free products. It seems that a gluten-free diet is healthier for the body, right? Well, not necessarily.

Gluten-free products are important for people suffering from celiac disease. It is a condition that causes symptoms such as headaches, stomach cramps, bloating, diarrhea if foods containing gluten are eaten. Fortunately, only 2% of the world's population suffers from it. In addition to this disease, there is gluten sensitivity, which is not as aggressive as the first one, but it is not recommended to consume products containing this compound. According to published scientific data, this sensitivity is suffered by 3 to 7% of the population.

Now, the reason why gluten-free foods have become so popular is not because of gluten sensitivity or celiac disease, but because it corresponds to a worldwide trend of believing that gluten is a negative compound for the purposes of a healthy diet.

Should healthy people without celiac disease avoid gluten?

Not necessarily. There are scientific studies that support gluten-free diets, as it has been shown that non-celiac people who follow dietary patterns with high concentrations of gluten develop long-term intestinal problems. However, we should not be absolute because these investigations have not determined the exact reason for these ailments and are not conclusive about whether gluten is the trigger of these damages.

On the other hand, it is important to say that a gluten-free diet does not guarantee a healthy and balanced diet. Gluten-free products tend to be less nutritious, high in fat and low in