Diet and Nutrition

Dining In or Dining Out With Celiac Disease

Is a gluten-free diet safe if a person does not have celiac disease?

Well, though there may not be any harm in having gluten free diet, even if you do not have celiac disease, but neither avoiding gluten-free diet has any benefit. US department of health cautions that switching to gluten free diet without celiac disease may increase the risk of malnutrition or deficiency of certain nutrients. There are no proofs that gluten free diet is low in calories or it can reduce the body weight (4).

It is also important to understand that there is lots of misinformation regarding the usage of wheat in food, which has resulted in increased consumption of gluten-free products. US department of health caution against the theories that food high in gluten may cause leaky gut or any similar kind of problem. Wheat has been a staple food for billions of people for centuries, and no such thing like leaky gut has been found to be associated with it. Thus NHS recommends viewing such claims with skepticism(5).