Making Sense of the Gluten-Free Food Frenzy

cool article. what i cannot understand though, is why no one is addressing the REAL question... and that is this: WHY IS THERE A RISING EPIDEMIC OF GLUTEN INTOLERANCE ???.

seriously. it is not simply that we have become 'more aware' and that its a 'fad diet' as many naysayers are pontificating. as someone who suffers from digestion now, i can assure you that if someone goes gluten free, it is not because they are a trending fad dieter. living gluten free is insufferable. no one would do it unless they 'had to' because it is so hard to avoid everything you always loved eating and replace it with... expensive 'crap' substitutes.

so this is my question to all you bloggers out there. what is CAUSING this epidemic? i have read reports that say it is on the rise and will continue to grow exponentially. that is not simply more awareness!! there is something 'going on'...

its the only possibility that makes sense to me, that they have done something new to the food supply. i have no idea if its even wheat to blame... perhaps some of these new created sugars or salts have modified peoples tolerance and created a gluten epidemic. i dont know. i have no answers but this is the only possibility that makes sense in my opinion to explain the new gluten epidemic. a few people whining about gluten sensitivities is not going to create the kind of thing we are seeing now. there is widespread intolerance now that never existed before.

also that guy that said wheat is not geneticaly engineered needs to do more research... while it may not 'technically' be called GMO, all wheat that exists now is hybridized to contain higher amounts of gluten. the original wheat does NOT exist anymore and was completely bred out of the food chain since the 50s. Not even organic wheat is the original wheat, its all been altered. Since ive only been alive since the 80s, I have to conclude something has gotten worse in the food over the course of my life and the single only thing i can conclude is rampant uncontrolled genetic engineering. genetic experimentation to devalue the nutrient content of my diet and increase the caloric value. this has resulted in obesity epidemics and growing food intolerances.

why are they screwing with our food? it feels like the world is trying to ruin mass production so bad that we can no longer exist as a society and it will force everyone to grow their own food and live on a smaller scale.

''there's no conspiracy, there's only you and me. the real conspiracy is our stupidity.''

syn of CA 11:04AM February 12, 2013

Found the article very informative, interesting and easy to "digest." Rachel writes beautifully!

susan h rosin of FL 12:31PM June 13, 2012

The article is fairly informative. As a diagnosed celiac I'm exstatic with the increase in GF foods available. It's a bit disappointing that there is not more emphesis on the positive aspects of this developement for those of us who must eat GF vs. the fad dieters. It's also misleading to site Whole Foods as a bastian of GF products. I wish they knew something about the foods on their shelves. i.e. was this prepared in an environment safe from cross contamination? My experience with them is they think most anything that's organic is about all one needs to know before eating it. They don't have much of a clue about GF. Now compare them to Wegmans. Here's a company that has over 1500 of their own label brand that are GF. They carefully vet all foods prepared for their brand, and drop some occcasionally when it can't be verified. They also label foods for gluten,lactose,fiber,heart healthy, as well as vegan. Some foods may have 3 or 4 icons. It's a no brainer to shop there. You can be certain of NO cross contamination on their GF products. Plus, if you ask one of their isle clerks,checkout staff, supervisors about one of their products most can answer the question on the spot. If not, they'll find someone who knows the answer which may be obtained in their store or by phone back to the main offices in Rochester,NY. And lets suppose you don't get the answer while you're still shopping, you will be personally contacted by phone with the information you requested. I've even been called early in the evening on a Saturday night with the info I sought a day or two before. Shopping in California for a month this past winter took me hours sifting through ingredient lists on the store brand, and national brand items carried at Ralphs, Vons, Trader Joes, and Whole Foods whereas, had I been at Wegmans, it would have been a very satisfiing 20-30m minutes. To conclude, I recently samples several new pasta, and baking products Wegmans rolled out last month. They spent 3 years developing their own pastas which are better than any of the nationally stocked GF brands like Schars,Jovial,Hodson Mills et.al. And the cake and brownie mixes are as tasty, and authentically textured to compete with those using wheat flowers. I should mention, the cost is only slightly higher than your typical national brand GF product. I can only hope other grocers around the country can get close to the user friendliness of this amazing supermarket. It's no wonder they are in the top 5 best places to work in the country year after year after year. And no I don't work for them; I'm a retired dentist in Lakewood,NY

Rocky Siegel of NY 11:40PM June 06, 2012

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored! Www.enterolab.com has a stool test for gluten sensitivity. Traditional medical practitioners failed to help my family find out why we had health issues. Dr. Fine is brilliant and progressive and his research and lab tests changed our life. Proactive prevention is the key to optimal health and well being!

Denise Miller of VA 10:13AM June 06, 2012