Gluten-free: healthy choice or expensive fad?

i totally agree. it is just selected few who r allergic to gluten and lactose for that matter yet theres some huge fuss abt these 2. if ur body functions alright u dont need to buy all these gluten-free products

Does anybody even read these long as stories, btw who likes my name? Peter, Do you?

I think you folks need to relax just a wee bit. I doubt this doctor would have any issue with what you are saying: you know your bodies and it's obvious, you shouldn't have gluten. But guess what, you're the select few that happen to have an issue with gluten. The vast majority of people don't, and he's merely saying to them: don't waste your time and money avoiding perfectly good food because someone else made you feel like it's a healthy idea. If you have a problem with gluten, you know it and should act accordingly. But I think this doctor's advice is essential for the many folks out there that are stressing about a non-issue.

I was just reading your terribly misinformed article.

First of all, I have Dermatitis Herpetiformis, which means I get a rash on my ass if I eat gluten. I don't really need a test to clue me in. It's a form of celiac disease, which is hell to live with, when you don't know what is causing the itching.

Secondly, if I were to get any of the tests, which have been used in the past to determine if someone has celiac disease the chance of them being false negative is very great, so why would I bother. The rash on my ass is pretty darn accurate.

People like you who think you are so superior because you happen to be healthy are not doing those of us with major immune disorders a favour. Not everyone with celiac disease gets a rash. I am actually one of the lucky ones. Most get painful nonstop diarrhea, which saps the life out of them.

The reality is there is no good test to determine if someone has celiac disease, and if you have found a doctor that claims that there is, they are lying. The only accurate test is complete and total abstention from wheat, rye and barley and that is almost impossible to do without checking yourself into a gluten free retreat with experts on gluten avoidance.

Gluten free means no lipstick or chapstick, it means only a few toothpastes are safe, it means don't use latex gloves because they may be lined with flour, it means don't lick envelopes, it means don't allow anyone else to prepare your food, it means stay away from anything with the ingredients hydrolized vegetable protein, seasoning and starch and a whole host of other strange hidden sources. I could go on.

It is nearly impossible for the average person to go gluten free without getting a degree in nutrition sciences. So in your humble opinion, how on earth is one to ever be really sure that their health problems are or are not gluten related.

Have a nice day.

Linda McCutcheon

I've finally gotta say it - doctors make me sick - both mentally and physically. Such arrogance as expressed by the individual in this article is commonplace. They seem to think we are all complete idiots. As if we have no awareness of what makes our bodies feel better or worse.

Why should people undergo risky, unpleasant, and invasive biopsies which recent research has shown to be far from foolproof, just to be told by a frigging paternalistic doctor 'Yes I'm afraid you are gluten intolerant' or you're not when they happen to biopsy a portion of the gut wall which hasn't yet been affected by gluten damage? When, all along, a few well-conducted tests or food challenges at home will quickly establish what foods make us better or worse.

If our eczema or asthma or whatever goes away, if we are free from hideous abdominal pain, gas, bloating, raging diarrhoea, and sickness when we stop eating bread and other wheat-containing items then it doesn't take an Einstein to deduce the obvious.

My really vicious symptoms cleared up really fast after cutting out gluten-containing foods. Yes it worked like a miracle, but your doctor is much more likely to either send you away with a diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome or arrange for you to be tested for bowel cancer. Oh my. They are way behind the eight-ball I'm afraid - head in sand, tunnel vision.

We don't need permission from doctors to trial a gluten free diet. I've been told that in Italy gluten intolerance is so rife that every baby is now mandatorily tested for it at birth. They've seen the extensive damage to children caused by years of eating gluten. All that pasta is very delicious, but it may indeed be one's worst enemy.

I've personally had too many years suffering the consequences of medical misadventure or put more honestly 'medical blundering and incompetence' that I'd no sooner risk further invasive procedures than fly to the moon. It's each person's decision to make for themselves.

I eat gluten-free foods because I can't eat wheat, and gluten-free means no wheat. But I didn't get that diagnosed professionally. I don't need a doctor to tell me that my insides burst open and bleed when I eat more than a small amount of wheat. I've played guinea pig on myself enough times in the past month. I know what's up with my body. Don't eat wheat --> Bleeding goes away; Eat wheat --> Bleeding comes back. And each time it takes 1-2 weeks to get back to "no bleeding," so I'm pretty tired of experimenting. If not eating wheat makes me feel good ... I don't need a doctor to tell me what's up. I can't get a celiac test in this country anyway. But I might get an allergy test one of these days. When I'm feeling rich.

I discovered my gluten intolerance by accident. I was on a kayaking/ camping trip a few years ago,lasting just over a week and so did not take bread in my food supply. I ate mosty fruit and veg and sea food.Having been covered in eczema since childhood, suddenly after day 5 all the eczema miraculously disappeared. Who needs a doctor's confirmation that you need to make dietry changes? The other accompanying symptoms I also lived with, when eating wheat and gluten were all listed in a coeliac book I read recently. These ghastly symptoms return every time I can't resist a good old pie or feed of pasta etc. I hope most of us are in tune enough with our own bodies to make intelligent decisions for ourselves. It's getting so much easier to purchase a variety of gluten free luxury groceries but there has always been plenty of natural alternatives.

Roz - "Why wait for a positive biopsy before adoping a healthy lifestyle and being well??" Wait, because if a person eats gluten free before the get tested or confirmed it will test negative. My doctor told me he thought I had celiac but wouldn't allow me to eat gluten free until I completed all the testing. The absence of gluten makes the test inaccurate.

I would love to put the good doctor in a locked room with my undiagnosed family and a few mince pies then let him tell us it is all in our heads - if he survived!

After a long period of ill health and endless invasive and expensive tests in search of a cause, I removed gluten from my diet and experienced massive and continued improvement in health. A trial return to eating gluten resulted in return of symptoms. I have un-diagnosed intolerance, but no doubts. Cost is not an issue as I do not need substitutes. There is a massive amount of naturally gluten free food available - it is a wonderfully light, fresh, varied and very healthy diet containing very few processed foods. Extra vitality and nil weight gain are added bonuses :-)