The Drawbacks Of Wheat Gluten In Your Diet

First and foremost the principal drawback of wheat gluten is that it is gluten. Okay, that's obvious, but to someone with celiac disease who must live a gluten free lifestyle this cannot be overlooked. Add to that the fact that gluten is so widely used as a filler product in so many foods and that labeling guidelines as to its usage are not clear and you will see where gluten could be potentially a major problem. There is also a significant portion of the population that has 'gluten intolerance' even though they don't have celiac disease. Celiac (also spelled coeliac) disease affects roughly between 1/2% and 1% of the US population. It is unclear how many people have some minor form of gluten intolerance, but it is suspected to be as high as 15%.

Everyone responds to gluten differently. The vast majority of the population has no or very little adverse reactions to gluten, but some percentage of the population does have small reactions that they are perhaps unaware of, or are at least unaware of the cause. Some of the potential adverse reactions that you might have to gluten include: abdominal bloating, abnormal stools, calcium metabolism disturbance, constipation, flatulence, impaired growth, intestinal malabsorption, iron-deficiency anemia, muscle wasting, offensive stools and subtle cramps, poor appetite or irritability, poor muscle tone, recurrent oral ulcers and severe weight loss. It is important to note that gluten intolerance and wheat allergy are not the same thing and should not be confused.

It is important to note, that like any illness or disease, there are many different symptoms that may or may not be present and the list of adverse reactions above can be explained by a variety of different issues - most of them being completely benign. Diagnosing whether you have an intolerance to gluten or not may be a bit difficult to do. The suggested approach would be to research the gluten-free diet and lifestyle and follow it for a period of time and observe whether or not it has a positive impact on your health. There are more drastic and immediate ways of diagnosing celiac disease, such as an intestinal biopsy, but that approach is only used in more serious cases. For most, gluten is a part of our diet that has little or no impact on our health other than to provide us a with a bit more protein.