Approximately 1 out of every 133 Americans has celiac disease.
Is Gluten Bad For You?
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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 disappear when they’re placed on a gluten-free diet. For the other 132 out of 133 people, though, gluten is fine.
If you do have any of those symptoms, though, you should get tested for the disease. It’s a simple blood test; the standard intestinal biopsy may not be necessary.
And in fact, since testing is getting so simple, there’s consideration of just screening all kids for it, to pick up those rare celiac cases—since if you do 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.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- 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.
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 disappear when they’re placed on a gluten-free diet. For the other 132 out of 133 people, though, gluten is fine.
If you do have any of those symptoms, though, you should get tested for the disease. It’s a simple blood test; the standard intestinal biopsy may not be necessary.
And in fact, since testing is getting so simple, there’s consideration of just screening all kids for it, to pick up those rare celiac cases—since if you do 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.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- 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.
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Is Gluten Bad For You?
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Content URLDoctor's Note
For more videos on gluten, check out:
Gluten-Free Diets: Separating the Wheat from the Chat
Is Gluten Sensitivity Real?
How to Diagnose Gluten Intolerance
And check out my other “HHH” videos – Harmful, Harmless, or Helpful? – listed below the post.
Be sure to check out my associated blog posts: Eating To Extend Our Lifespan and Soy milk: shake it up!
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