A paper that evaluated 3213 packaged products in 2013 was just published in the British Journal of Nutrition. The study, the biggest of its kind, wanted to know if gluten-free food is healthier than regular food.
Turns out, it isn’t:
The biggest Australian study of its kind of thousands of supermarket items found getting on the gluten-free bandwagon for no medical reason, just a belief the foods are healthier, is misguided.
Marketers cashing in on the fad are even slapping gluten-free labels on goods such as sausages, salami, hot dogs, and corn and potato chips that don’t naturally contain gluten.
A gluten-free diet is necessary for coeliac disease sufferers but there is also a “tidal wave” of demand from other consumers, said Dr Jason Wu, the study’s lead author and George Institute for Global Health senior researcher.
“The foods can be significantly more expensive and are very trendy to eat, but we discovered a negligible difference when looking at their overall nutrition,” Dr Wu said.
“Consumption of GF products is unlikely to provide health benefits, unless there is clear evidence of coeliac disease, gluten intolerance or allergy to gluten-containing grains.”
So… I guess this is bad news for the Gluten-free Singles dating club.
(via El Radarcillo | image: Wikipedia)
