Gluten-free fad raises concerns

Wheat growers see dark clouds on the horizon, and in this case it’s not a summer thunderstorm threatening a timely harvest. Gluten-free – It’s a diet fad that, when combined with the hype of modern marketing, creates a recipe for trouble when it comes to long-term wheat demand.

“Flour consumption has not declined in total because the population is growing, but per capita it has declined,” said Glenda Mostek, communications and marketing director for Colorado Wheat and a member of the Wheat Foods Council, which oversees farmer-funded promotion of wheat-based foods.
In fact, according to one study by a market research firm in Chicago, sales of fresh bread declined 4.5 percent in 2011, a large drop for a single year. Meanwhile, the market for gluten-free products, the protein in wheat and other bread-making grains, has grown 30 percent since 2005 with no signs of slowing.

“It’s definitely one of those fad things,” said Sara Olsen, a wheat farmer from Yuma, Colo., and another representative of the Wheat Foods Council. She fears people are being lead to abandon common sense and risk developing lifelong eating problems and even physical deficiencies in the process.

Since the 1940s, the U.S. government has mandated that white bread be fortified with folic acid and other essential nutrients.
“When you travel to places like the Philippines, as I have, where they have health problems because they never had enhanced grains, you realize how blessed we are,” Olsen said.

Diet drawbacks
According to the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research, only about 7 percent of the U.S. population has a genuine gluten sensitivity, allergy or intolerance.

The most serious of these afflictions is celiac, a rare gastrointestinal disease that affects about 1 in 133 Americans — roughly 1 percent of the U.S. population — causing gluten to harm the intestinal tract. Despite that relatively low percentage, gluten-free is clearly the new buzzword in food marketing.

Preventive cardiologist William Davis, of Milwaukee, exemplifies the backlash against wheat gluten. Davis invented a predicament he calls “wheat belly” and then wrote a best-selling book by the same name.
“Wheat is a perfectly crafted poison for humans,” he writes on his blog. He contends wheat contains an opiate that stimulates appetite and recommends replacing all wheat flour with things like ground nuts, garbanzo beans or coconut meat. “Lose the wheat,” he claims, “and lose the weight.”

The hype surrounding gluten-free as the latest celebrity diet is having an impact.
“It is very much an issue on people’s minds,” said Lois Illick, a family and consumer science extension agent for Colorado State University’s Pueblo office. Earlier this spring she offered an educational class on the topic in Pueblo, which attracted a wide variety of participants. “Some people actually have celiac disease. Others may have gluten sensitivity. Other people just think it’s a healthy way to eat. And quite honestly, it’s not.”

Celiac can develop suddenly and unexpectedly when triggered by a virus, she said. Fully 95 percent of celiac sufferers are believed to go undiagnosed, according to information compiled by CSU. Less than one-half of one percent of the adult population is believed to have a gluten allergy. Allergic reactions to wheat are common in children, but are often later outgrown.
By contrast, gluten sensitivities cause discomfort rather than intestinal damage, Illick explains. There is no reliable screening test for those.
“It’s hard for people to identify,” she said. “The best way is to eliminate gluten from their diet and then ask themselves if they feel better.”
Still, a gluten-free diet has a number of drawbacks, Illick said, starting with the fact that it is harder to get the full array of essential nutrients.

“You may be lacking in calcium or you may not be able to absorb it,” she said. “You may not be getting enough iron or Vitamin B-12. Those are found in wheat products, and they are important.”
Gluten-free breads are also more difficult to prepare. Replacing gluten with a substitute like guar gum, made from ground bean, is a “touchy process,” she notes.
Finally, gluten-free products tend to be more expensive. “It’s not a cheap way to go,” she said. “And for most people, it’s not necessary.”
So why is gluten-free eating becoming so widespread?
Illick believes that while celiac sufferers are diligent about seeking out good nutritional information to manage their condition, those with less serious symptoms tend to go online and adopt random nutritional theories they come across while browsing.
“That’s where I get worried,” she said.
For sound nutritional advice, she advocates looking to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “my plate” graphic (online at www.choosemyplate.gov), a new variation on the old food pyramid that promotes a balanced “everything-in-moderation” approach.
“In that sense, we do eat too many carbs,” she said. “They are cheap, and they are easy.”
But swapping out one processed carbohydrate for another one — even if carries a gluten-free label — doesn’t translate to improved health.
“Everybody’s looking for the magic bullet, the thing that will solve every problem,” she said. “Our bodies are way too complicated for that.”

Getting back to basics
Kara Rowe, the outreach and affairs director for the Washington Association of Wheat Growers, confirmed many of those same observations after starting her blog My Wheat Belly, which chronicles her experience going gluten free and then adding gluten back into her diet over the span of a month.

“Part of the journey was to better understand what gluten-free diets are and what people with celiac disease go through on a day-to-day basis,” said the wife, mother and self-proclaimed “farm girl trying to make a difference” from her office in Spokane.
What she’s learned so far is that eating healthier foods on a daily basis is the real challenge.
“I feel no different off gluten as I do on gluten,” she said. “I have lost weight, just by limiting my calories.”
She’s come to the conclusion that the wheat belly approach — which goes beyond gluten to eliminate all refined cereals and pastries — is simply “a new spin on a low-carb diet.”
There is a bright side to all the negative media attention, she said.
The same trend that is potentially hurting wheat demand is creating new marketing opportunities for other commodities, including alternative grains like quinoa and sorghum, which is predominately marketed as a feed grain in the U.S. but is widely consumed as a human food in other parts of the world.

“We in agriculture tend to find silver linings in things,” she joked. “I noticed recently potato chip bags with the gluten-free sticker on them. We’ll jump at any opportunity.”
On a more serious note, her blog has offered a chance to “bridge the gap” with consumers, something she believes every agricultural producer needs to do.

Wheat advocates are being coaxed to tell their story and to gain a better understanding of the science behind the grain’s proud role in human history.
“I think every industry can do more on the nutritional value of our commodities,” she concluded. “We can never stop raising the bar on that.”

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