Is the gluten-free diet right for you?
Is the gluten-free diet right for you?
From September 3rd to 5th, an international congress on celiac disease will be held in Paris. A symposium is planned on "myths and realities" about gluten.
The opportunity to look at the gluten-free diet. Is it recommended to everyone? Have its effects been proven? The point on what we know.
Where is gluten found?
Gluten is a protein found on some cereals, such as wheat, rye, barley or spelled. To do without gluten means to dispense with products as common as bread, pasta, pizzas, cookies ... A very attractive choice, therefore.
Especially since many industrial products make abundant use of gluten, which serves as a binder for food.
What can we eat?
Fruits and vegetables do not contain gluten. The same is true for meat when it is not processed. Merguez, sausages and other steaks not 100% beef are to be avoided.
To replace cereals, alternatives exist. We make pasta and corn or rice bread, quinoa rusks, etc. For cooking enthusiasts, it can even become very fun! On the other hand, it is much more expensive.
Example at Carrefour, where the kilo of the cheapest wheat flour costs 0.53 € ... against 4.32 € for the gluten-free equivalent the cheapest.
Gluten intolerance, an autoimmune disease
In France, there are approximately 330,000 people who are allergic to gluten, or 0.5% of the population. Most of the time, this autoimmune disease is detected from childhood, when the baby is confronted with gluten in his little pots. If it is not diagnosed, it can lead to stunting, deficiencies, weight loss ...
In adults, if this intolerance to gluten is not treated, it causes diarrhea, promotes the development of other autoimmune diseases, or even cancer.
In short, for celiac patients, not eating gluten is imperative.
Hypersensitive, sensitive subject ...
Bowel disorders, abdominal pain, flatulence ... People complain about what specialists call non-celiac hypersensitivity to gluten.
"Many are self-proclaimed sick, without having a blood test, explained Brigitte Jolivet, president of the association of gluten intolerant, Le Figaro.We also see stars follow diets without gluten, it is a great fashion right now. "
In his viewfinder, among others, Novak Djokovic world number 1 tennis, winner of 16 Grand Slam tournaments. A cador, who, to listen to it, should a lot to adopt a gluten-free diet. To the point that he made a book: " Secrets of the winner - a gluten-free diet for perfect physical and mental fitness ".
Unfortunately, no test objectively allows to establish this hypersensitivity. And the usefulness of the gluten-free diet in this case is the subject of scientific controversy . If the reality of digestive syndromes is not in question, the role (and therefore the responsibility) of gluten is not yet fully known.
A diet without deficiency, but watch out for fat
Anyway, the gluten-free diet will not hurt you: "There is no risk in following a gluten-free diet even if you're not sick," says Nadine Cerf-Bensussan, Director research at Inserm, Franceinfo . "It's not going to cause any deficiencies, it's going to lead to a healthier diet because gluten is very much present in processed foods."
Vigilance, all the same. According to research dated 2017 , gluten-free products contain less protein, but more sugars and fats. Switch to gluten-free, that means to rethink your nutritional balance and not strictly replace conventional products with their "gluten-free" counterpart.
No more eating gluten does not lose weight
By cons, if you want to eliminate gluten to lose weight, you can go your way.
"Despite the health claims to eat gluten-free, no published experimental evidence supports a claim of weight loss for a gluten-free diet or suggests that the general population should avoid gluten," says a 2015 US study. has come to contradict this conclusion.
For more info : contact Shivani Sikri - Indian dietitian for weight loss
