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- Nowadays when you take[br]a stroll down the aisle

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at your local grocery store

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you'll notice that a lot of foods

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are labeled as Gluten free.

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In fact, in 2014,

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the U.S. sales of Gluten[br]free labeled products

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was estimated to be[br]about 23 billion dollars.

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So what exactly is Gluten

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and why is everybody talking about it?

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Well, from a biological standpoint

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Gluten is composed of[br]two different proteins.

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There is gliadin which I'll[br]represent as these blue circles.

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And there's glutenin

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which I'll represent as these red strings.

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These two together are going[br]to form what's called gluten.

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Now gluten is the main protein composite

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of a lot of the grains that you eat.

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This includes things[br]Wheat, Barley, and Rye.

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And this is really important[br]because these are found

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in a lot of the foods[br]that people typically eat.

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For example, you may[br]see it in Bread, Pasta,

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Salad Dressings, and even Sausages.

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So this is just a handful[br]of the many, many,

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many different types of foods[br]that contains these grains.

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And by extension will contain the gluten.

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Now why is gluten important in healthcare?

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It's because there are[br]three major conditions

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in which gluten can cause problems.

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The first is known as Celiac Disease.

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Celiac Disease is an Autoimmune Disease

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in which the body's own Immune System

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attacks the Small Intestine.

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It isn't exactly a new condition

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because it was first[br]described in the Late 1800s.

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And in addition to that,[br]it's actually quite rare.

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It affects about one for[br]every 70 to 300 people

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depending on which country you live in.

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In the U.S. that's equivalent[br]to about 2.1 million people.

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The second major condition[br]is having an allergy

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to the grains that contain gluten.

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So much like how many[br]people have allergies

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to things like peanuts or eggs

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a lot of people can have[br]allergies to these grains.

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However, this is even less[br]common than Celiac Disease.

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So if Celiac Disease and Grain Allergies

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are relatively rare, why is[br]everybody talking about gluten?

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The reason is because[br]of the third condition

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known as Gluten Intolerance.

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The idea behind Gluten Intolerance

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is that if you eat[br]something containing gluten

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you'll experience all[br]sorts of different symptoms

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associated with your bowels.

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This can include things like[br]Diarrhea and Constipation

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and Cramping and Bloating as well.

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Now the whole phenomenon[br]of Gluten Intolerance

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really began in 2011 when[br]a paper was published

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in The American Journal[br]of Gastroenterology.

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So right here I have the[br]exact title of that paper

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which says, "Gluten causes[br]gastrointestinal symptoms

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"in subjects without celiac disease."

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Basically, this paper[br]concluded and I quote,

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"gluten is indeed a trigger of[br]gut symptoms and tiredness."

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Thus began the Gluten free sensation.

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But in 2013, Dr. Peter Gibson

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who is the author of this[br]study did a follow-up study.

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Now this is actually a pretty long title

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so I'm just going to read it off first

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and then we're going to[br]digest it piece by piece.

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So it says, "No Effects[br]of Gluten in Patients

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"With Self-Reported[br]Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity

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"After Dietary Reduction of[br]Fermentable, Poorly Absorbed,

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"Short-Chain Carbohydrates."

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So first we can focus on[br]this part right over here

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this Fermentable, Poorly Absorbed,

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Short-Chain Carbohydrates.

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We have another word for this

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and it's really just an acronym

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it's simply known as FODMAPS.

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The words in this acronym[br]are actually different

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from the words here but[br]it's the same thing.

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Now these FODMAPS are[br]basically just carbohydrates

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that are known to cause[br]a lot of the symptoms

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that I mentioned earlier.

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The things like cramping, and[br]diarrhea, and constipation.

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So this study basically[br]considered the fact that maybe

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it's actually these FODMAPS[br]instead of the gluten

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that's causing these symptoms.

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So they basically did[br]mostly the same stuff

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as the earlier study except[br]they removed these FODMAPS

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from the situation.

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It was kind of a confounding factor

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and they wanted to eliminate that.

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Then what they did was they put people

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on first, gluten filled diets.

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So I'll just label that[br]as positive (+) gluten.

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And then they changed their[br]diets to gluten free diets.

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So I'll just label that[br]as minus (-) gluten.

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And they basically just wanted

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to look at the effects of this.

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So if the earlier hypothesis

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that gluten causes these symptoms is true

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then their symptoms should improve

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because you're putting[br]them on a gluten free diet.

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However, they found that there[br]were No Effects of Gluten.

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So gluten actually didn't do anything.

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It wasn't responsible for[br]causing all of those symptoms.

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Now what does this all mean for us?

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Well, if you have Celiac[br]Disease or Grain Allergies

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you should absolutely avoid consuming

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anything that contains Gluten in it.

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However, these conditions are pretty rare

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and they don't affect that many people.

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So for the rest of us,

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should we adopt this Gluten free diet?

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Well, it's true that[br]these Gluten free diets

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do tend to be healthy.

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But that's not because they lack Gluten

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it's because by their very[br]nature they're healthy.

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They don't contain all[br]sorts of processed foods

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and carbohydrates.

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So because of that and not[br]because they lack Gluten

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they are pretty healthy for you.

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So the jury is still kind of out

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on whether or not we should[br]adopt a Gluten free diet.

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But the current scientific literature

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probably wouldn't support[br]a Gluten free diet.