Tag: Gluten free risks

According to the National Institutes of Health, while essential for those with celiac disease, a poorly planned gluten-free diet can lead to significant nutritional shortfalls. Understanding the side effects of a gluten-free diet is crucial for maintaining overall health, especially for those without a medical need to avoid gluten.

According to the Celiac Disease Foundation, nearly one-third of Americans are attempting to reduce or eliminate gluten from their diets. However, for those without a medical necessity, there are significant drawbacks, so what is the downside of gluten-free?

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), raw flour, including gluten-free varieties, is considered a raw agricultural product that can harbor harmful bacteria like *E. coli*. This means that while many believe gluten-free flour is safer, eating raw gluten-free flour is just as dangerous as consuming its wheat-based counterpart. The risk of foodborne illness is significant, and proper cooking is the only reliable way to eliminate these pathogens.

According to a 2017 study of over 100,000 non-celiac individuals, avoiding gluten without medical necessity can increase the risk of heart disease due to reduced whole grain intake. This highlights a crucial distinction: what happens when you don't have enough gluten in your diet isn't a gluten deficiency, but rather the nutritional loss from avoiding the whole grains that contain it.