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So What IS Gluten? by Aurelie Pare
Recently, we have been hearing more and more about eating gluten-free as people discover they have Celiac disease, yet many people are unsure as to what gluten is. A type of pesticide? A type of cholesterol? Something you can’t have too much of, like fat and sugar? Not quite…
Gluten is, in fact, a type of protein that is most often found in wheat products. Gluten gives wheat many special qualities that make it great for baking- elasticity, absorbency, and structure. So what’s wrong with that? Sound pretty good to you, you say?
There is, in fact, nothing wrong with gluten… unless you have the auto immune disease called Celiac disease (or gluten intolerance), in which case gluten can be very dangerous. According to the Celiac Disease Foundation, in the
On their website, the Celiac Disease Foundation explains to us exactly what happens to an individual with Celiac Disease. The villi (small hairs that line the small intestine and absorb nutrients) of people who have Celiac disease are damaged when gluten is eaten, thus rendering the villi less effective at their job of absorbing nutrients, which in turn causes many problems for the person with Celiac disease because they are basically suffering from malnutrition.
It’s easy to see why someone with Celiac disease doesn’t want to consume gluten at all costs and very easy to see how hard that is, since today’s society is used to eating a diet filled with prepared foods that use wheat based fillers and thickeners to mimic fresh foods. Since many people know someone who has to eat a gluten-free diet, the latest popular reaction to gluten is that it is evil, evil, evil, and absolutely everywhere.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Homemade food, when made without wheat or gluten contaminated grains (gluten-free oats, which are tolerated by many Celiacs, can be bought), is almost always gluten-free and if you don’t have Celiac disease or a gluten intolerance, gluten is perfectly safe to eat- humans have been eating it for centuries.
So what is the final word on gluten? Gluten is safe to eat for people who don’t have Celiac disease or gluten intolerance, but is very harmful for people diagnosed with Celiac disease. Prepared food tends to contain gluten much more often than homemade food, as wheat (which contains gluten) is often used as a filler or thickener.
Aurelie Pare is the young author of The Healthalciously Good Cookbook, a book that guides you throught the basics of eating healthy and that features truly healthy recipes.
Visit The Healthaliciously Good Cookbook at the Aurelie's Healthy Cuisine Inc. website at http://www.aurelieshealthycuisine.com to learn more or contact Aurelie at aurelie@aurelieshealthycuisine. This article has been reviewed by Jennifer Birge, MS,RD,CDE at www.bioslifeslim.com/jenbirge Want to use this article on the web? Feel free to, but you must include the above author signature and make sure the link works. If interested in publishing this article in print, please contact us at info@aurelieshealthycuisine.com.