GLUTEN FREE
SHOULD
ONE BLINDLY GO FOR GLUTEN-FREE DISHES?
BEWARE!
DON’T GET CAUGHT IN THE FAD.
DO YOU
KNOW THAT GLUTEN-FREE FOOD COULD LEAD TO
UNDERNOURISHMENT WHICH COULD, IN TURN , CAUSE OR AGGRAVATE MEDICAL CONDITIONS
LIKE DIABETES AND HIGH CHOLESTEROL?
Many
restaurants now offer gluten-free dishes on their menu, but is it wise to
forsake gluten on a whim? Our experts throw light on the subject
Apparently, wheat is the new villain of your life. At the
local supermar ket, aisles are dedicated to neatly packaged, glossy cartons of
home grown and imported foods that scream `gluten-free'. Little-known
ingredients from abroad, such as quinoa, have now set shop on urban kitchen
shelves here. Keeping with the trend, restaurants have also added special
dishes to their menu. “Suzette Creperie makes crepes out of buckwheat flour, so
most of it is gluten-free. Bombay Salad Co, too, offers plenty of options,
including their famous Samurai salad with soba noodles. Elma's in Delhi serves
glutenfree chocolate brandy cake.With so many people being tested
gluten-sensitive these days, the rise is inevitable,“ says chef, author and
food consultant Saransh Goila.
But how wise is it to switch to a glutenfree diet if you are
not sensitive to gluten?
Celebrity
nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar points out that the last time she checked, the
glutenfree food industry was worth over 10 billion dollars. “Everything that's
packaged -cakes, breads, biscuits -has gluten as it uses refined wheat flour.
Earlier, when people avoided gluten, they felt better because it meant they
were avoiding packaged and processed food.But now you have an entire industry
of gluten-free foods. So you can eat the same cake, the same biscuit, the same
bread but because it is gluten-free, it is priced at least 40 per cent more
than a product with gluten,“ says Diwekar, adding that she never puts anyone on
a gluten-free diet, unless they have celiac disease.
SO
WHAT'S THIS GLUTEN ANYWAY?
Simply
put, gluten is a protein composite found in wheat, barley and rye. Consuming it
causes instances of body inflammation in people who are inherently sensitive to
gluten and can also cause symptoms such as abdominal pain, bloating, acne,
dandruff and arthritis. “In severe conditions, gluten can even cause celiac
disease which may affect the small intestine. Celiac disease is hereditary and
immediate family members have a 1 in 10 chance of developing the disease,“
explains Dr Amol Raut, head, R&D and chief wellness advisor at GeneSupport.
He adds that diabetic patients should undertake a gluten sensitivity analysis
test as they tend to avoid rice and include more wheat-based products in their
diet, which has gluten.
However, experts are divided over how prone Indians are to
the condition. “Celiac is a medical condition which has crept into our
`ceralised' country, from the Western world.What's wrong in having a wheat
paratha for breakfast?
Ours
is a country that functions on carbs, with north India primarily being a wheat
eating region and the south a rice eating region -there is nothing wrong with
both,“ says Dr Shashank Joshi, Endocrinologist, Bhatia Hospital, who also
believes that the problem lies in consuming refined cereals.
Diwekar
calls the gluten-free diet `hogwash' and just another trend, similar to the
rise of kale, quinoa and chia seeds as the new super foods. “Most of us don't
like to believe that eating right and exercising consistently will help us lose
weight and stay off diseases.Like true love, we look for the elusive answer to
our weight loss issues. And if it comes in the form of rubbishing home grown
wisdom and having neatly pack aged goods from foreign shores, then we simply
latch on to it.
It
makes us feel very cerebral about our weight loss issues.
There
is something called the nocebo effect, similar to placebo, which makes you feel
good because you are not doing something. Like avoid ing gluten for example,“
she points out. “Many people who avoid gluten eat oats, which is often made in
the unit where wheat is packaged.
Chances
of contamination are very high and yet, how come there are no intolerance
issues there?“ she questions.
Dr
Raut, however, insists that gluten intolerance was always present in India and
that it probably went undiag nosed or under-reported earli er. “And now, with
an increase in awareness, better medical understanding of the disorder and
advanced diagnostic tests, more people are able to find out whether they are
gluten-sensitive or not.Also, depending on the severity of inflammation, many
dieticians, nutritionists and healthcare experts may ask patients to avoid or
stop gluten,“ he explains. A study conducted by GeneSupport, analysed 75
individuals from Pune and Bangalore for gluten sensitivity and only four among
them were not sensitive to gluten on a genetic basis, explains Raut. The rest,
who displayed low to high sensitivity to gluten, rectified the condition by
following a temporary or permanent gluten-free diet which helped tackle issues
of body inflammation. Raut cites the case of sixyear-old Vishal Mathur, who
suffered from stomache aches, stunted growth and slow weight gain, when a gene
test diagnosed him as being lactose and gluten sensitive. A prescribed gluten
and lactose-free diet helped him gain 1.5 kilos. He also grew by 2.3 cm a
month, as his stomach aches reduced considerably. Another case in point is
32-year-old IT professional Mihir Hansotia who showed significant symptomatic
relief from joint pain, severe gastric distress and migraine, after following a
prescribed gluten-free diet.Apparently, there is more to gluten-free diets than
weight loss.
GOING
BACK TO THE BASICS
Signs
of inflammation, however, do not necessarily mean you are gluten sensitive and
although reaching out for home-made alternatives instead of packaged foods is
always a good idea, people tend to go off gluten without seeking a proper
consultation from doctors. Dr Joshi cautions that this might lead to
undernourishment which could, in turn, cause or aggravate medical conditions
such as diabetes and high cholesterol.
So
how much is too much? Dr Raut says that the sensible thing to do is undergo a
blood and genetic test to determine the extent to which the individual is at
risk to experience inflammation. “This can help people understand the extent to
which they are gluten sensitive and also whether gluten has to be avoided
temporarily, conditionally or permanently,“ says Dr Raut.
MM
7SEP15
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