As many in the celiac/gluten-sensitive community know, the growth in the gluten-free industry has both positive and negative consequences. More gluten-free products are available and many restaurants and bakeries are offering gluten-free options. Great! Unfortunately, some of those gluten-free options are still unsafe for our community if strict cross-contamination policies are not in place and kitchen staff and servers do not take our concerns seriously. Some manufacturers are not taking the gluten-free labeling laws seriously enough and when products are tested unsafe amounts of gluten are being detected.
Researchers from Canada recently investigated how the rise in gluten-free products has affected the lives of (17) adults living with celiac disease in Calgary, Alberta.
“Although there have been major improvements in the availability of the gluten‐free diet and awareness of coeliac disease, the emergent themes in the present study illustrate how the ‘fad’ element of the diet has produced varied levels of understanding about coeliac disease. The fluctuating social climates discussed in this study demonstrate how some social situations are more manageable, providing relief to persons with coeliac disease, whereas others produce distress and pose a threat of inadvertently consuming gluten. With coeliac disease being associated with the gluten‐free ‘fad’ movement in many situations, its legitimacy as a serious medical condition has been reduced in many social environments.”
The study titled “Experiences of coeliac disease in a changing gluten‐free landscape” was published October 2, 2018 in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics. You may read it HERE.
