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Is Gluten Bad For You?

Approximately 1 out of every 133 Americans has celiac disease.

February 2, 2011 |
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Is Gluten Bad For You?, 5.0 out of 5 based on 2 ratings

Sources Cited

A. Fasano, I. Berti, T. Gerarduzzi, et al. Prevalence of celiac disease in at-risk and not-at-risk groups in the united states: A large multicenter study. Archives of Internal Medicine, 163(3):286, 2003.

K. Kurppa, P. Collin, M. Viljamaa, K. Haimila, P. Saavalainen, J. Partanen, K. Laurila, H. Huhtala, K. Paasikivi, et al. Diagnosing mild enteropathy celiac disease: A randomized, controlled clinical study. Gastroenterology, 136(3):816, 2009.

E. J. van Koppen, J. J. Schweizer, C. G. D. S. Csizmadia, Y. Krom, H. B. Hylkema, A. M. van Geel, H. M. Koopman, S. P. Verloove-Vanhorick, and M. L. Mearin. Long-term health and quality-of-life consequences of mass screening for childhood celiac disease: A 10-year follow-up study. Pediatrics, 123(4):582, 2009.

Gastroenterology. 2009 Jul;137(1):88-93. Epub 2009 Apr 10.Increased prevalence and mortality in undiagnosed celiac disease.Rubio-Tapia A, Kyle RA, Kaplan EL, Johnson DR, Page W, Erdtmann F, Brantner TL, Kim WR, Phelps TK, Lahr BD, Zinsmeister AR, Melton LJ 3rd, Murray JA.

Acknowledgements

Transcript

What about gluten, the protein in wheat which is used to make a number of mock meats like seitan. You may or may not have noticed a bunch of labels recently touting gluten-free foods and diets.
Gluten: Harmful, harmless, or good for you?
For literally more than 99% of people, gluten/seitan/wheat protein is good for you. Excellent source of high quality protein, the very staff of life.
But, only for 99.3% of people. One in every 133rd American has celiac disease—whether they know it or not—and for those people, gluten consumption can cause a range of symptoms, including chronic diarrhea, bloating, weight loss, and fatigue, all of which disappears when they’re placed on a gluten-free diet. For the other 132 out of 133 people, though, gluten is fine.
If you have do any of those symptoms, though, you should get tested for the disease. Simple blood test— the standard intestinal biopsy may not be necessary, and in fact since testing is so simple there’s consideration of just screening all kids for it to pick up those rare celiac cases, since if you have it but don’t know it you may live a significantly shorter lifespan, so get tested if you’re concerned.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

To help out on the site please email volunteer@nutritionfacts.org

Dr. Michael Greger

Doctor's Note

Please feel free to post any ask-the-doctor type questions here in the comments section and I’d be happy to try to answer them. And check out theother “HHH” videos (Harmful, Harmless, or Helpful?). Also, there are over a thousand subjects covered in the rest of my videos–please feel free to explore them as well!

Be sure to check out my associated blog posts: Eating To Extend Our Lifespanand Soymilk: shake it up!

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mgreger/ Michael Greger M.D.

    Please feel free to post any ask-the-doctor type questions here in the comments section and I’d be happy to try to answer them. And check out the other “HHH” videos (Harmful, Harmless, or Helpful?). Also, there are over a thousand subjects covered in the rest of my videos–please feel free to explore them as well!

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/MicahRisk-Uspensky/ Micah Risk-Uspensky

    Dr. Greger,
    When calculating the populations that should or should not consume gluten, did you include those that suffer from a gluten intolerance, that may or may not have celiacs disease? Just based on my experiences, this seems to be affecting a larger population than the Celiacs population.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/MicahRisk-Uspensky/ Micah Risk-Uspensky

    Dr. Greger,
    When calculating the populations that should or should not consume gluten, did you include those that suffer from a gluten intolerance, that may or may not have celiacs disease? Just based on my experiences, this seems to be affecting a larger population.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/drdons/ DrDons

    Hi Micah Risk-Uspensky, The 1/133 people in the population with celiac disease does not include the folks who are gluten sensitive. In my clinical experience I have come across many patients who can’t tolerate a food(including wheat)in varying amounts. It is always wise to avoid food when your body is telling you that it isn’t tolerating with symptoms such as diarrhea,abdominal pain, bloating,etc.. This can be a difficult thing to figure out given the complexity of foods, our food processing industry and the limitation of medical tests. The best general advice is to stick with a whole food varied plant based diet but pay attention to what works for you. See Dr. Gregers other video.. http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/update-on-gluten/ and stay tuned.

  • Peggy Kello

    I love your videos and information, and after watching Forks Over Knives and Food Matters I’ve gradually turned off the animal-proteins channel and I’m so happy about how I feel and how confident especially I’m feeling after being worried so long about those diseases my parents had and/or died from (cancer, osteoporosis, AR Macular Degeneration, stroke, etc), This is great! I was just wondering, however, WHY our joints get so creaky when we get older. I’m 67, and it’s definitely the worst thing about aging — which is a very small thing compared to the rest of it! Still, if you could post any more about creaky joints and any special foods which help that, that would be great. I’ve seen “Diet and RA” and that was encouraging. But I can’t help feeling that there is something basic in our diet (or a lack of it) that is affecting our joints– I don’t believe aging is natural!  Thanks so much for all your labors of research.
    Peggy Kellough

  • Desiree Alouf

    Dear Michael
    I do not have any of the above symptoms but used to suffer cluster migraines at least 2 attacks a month, last year I gave up Gluten and now I still suffer migraine but one attack every few month, I wish I can be free 100% as the pain is unbearable, I wonder if I am Gluten intolerant what other food I should avoid, I do not drink alcohol as it also gives me migraines, I can eat cheese and chocolate in moderation and only if I know I feel 100%
    I am 56 years old, female
    thanks
    Desiree

    • http://www.DonForresterMD.com/ Don Forrester MD

      Congratulations on decreasing your migraines through modifying your diet. Many foods can trigger migraines. One substance in foods known to trigger migraines is tyramine which is a natural substance occuring naturally and as a by product of tyrosine, an amino acid, in food. It is complicated as you may tolerate tyramine up to a certain amount before it triggers a migraine. It also goes up in foods that are stored… so leftovers can be a problem. Since your migaines are relatively infrequent you can run down your other triggers by looking back to all the foods and drink you consumed in the 24 hours preceding the migraine. I paraphased a list from Wikipedia under tyramine for you so you can avoid these or pay special attention when looking for triggers. “All foods containing considerable amounts of tyramine include meats that are  pickled, aged, smoked, fermented or marinated, most cheeses, sour cream, chocolate, most alcoholic beverages, yogurt”. So the best approach is to go plant based with Vitamin B12 supplement and then look out for plant triggers such as tempeh, sauerkraut, broad beans, green pea pods, snow peas, avocados, nuts.. for the fuller list see Wikipedia. One artificial sweetner, Sucralose, have been associated with migraines see… http://nutritionfacts.org/video/a-harmless-artificial-sweetener/.  Good luck on becoming migraine free and keep tuned to NutritionFacts.org for the latest science!

      • Desiree Alouf

         Dear Don
        Thank you ever so much for your time and advise.
        I was vegetarian for over 20 years thinking it will help but did not. I always avoided artificial sweeter.
        I will from now on try to remember what I consumed 24 hours before the attacks and will look up Tyramine in Wikipeadia, never heard of it before!
        By the way I also found out that cold wind gives me migraine so now I always wear a hat in cold weather
        all the best  

  • Barrhon

    i have’t read this book yet (i put a hold on it at my library), but are you familiar with it?  it might advocate that most people, even without celiac, avoid wheat.  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1609611543/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d1_g14_i2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=15AQPKJB0PJ00YFAT0BA&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846 .

  • Davidkrupa

    what do you know about coenzyme q10 ?

  • Rice Kelly

    Hi Dr. Greger!  Huge fan of your work (recommended to watch your videos by a coworker of mine who mentioned she has helped collaborate with you).  

    I was diagnosed with CD in 1980 at 18 months of age after being hospitalized for a long time.  Even my father, a physician, didn’t know what was going on.  Now that blood tests are an option, I’m a total advocate for getting children tested as soon as possible so that parents dont have to watch their children get as sick as I did as well as go through biopsies.  Growing up Gluten-free (even in the age when no one knew what it was) was so easy!  
    I get so annoyed when people think I’m “going gluten-free” to be ‘healthier’ when it’s not a choice for me.  But it IS healthy for most people!!  Keep up the wonderful work.  

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