Is gluten free healthy?

"Good gluten-free choices include naturally gluten-free foods, such as lean meats, low-fat dairy, vegetables, fruit, whole gluten-free grains and healthy fats." The Mayo Clinic

Let me say at the outset that this post is not at all original - it's all been said before - but I'm a bit gluten focussed at the moment so I thought I would add my voice to the wealth of words on the net.

Why am I gluten focussed? Two reasons. One - a friend with a genuine gluten intolerance is coming to dinner, so I don't want to maker her ill. Two - Aldi next week are featuring their gluten free products. On the left is the first page of their catalogue spread. Below is the second. You will notice that virtually all of the products on display here are not healthy. There are cake mixes, biscuits, lollies, pancake mixes, chips and unhealthy

snacky things. I mean - fudge - for me, much as I love it, just about the ultimate in decadence as it is almost pure sugar. In fact I'm not really sure there is any gluten in fudge anyway. Basically it's sugar, butter and milk. Real fudge anyway. Even pasta could be said to be unhealthy. Depends what you cook it with - and the display includes what it calls pasta side dishes - which I assume is some kind of sauce to go with it - cheese or carbonara are the choices - both not particularly healthy because of the fat content.

There are even some gluten free rice noodles - but isn't rice gluten free anyway? And a falafel mix - I think there is only a tiny bit of flour in a falafel so something gluten free could be easily substituted. And then there is a bread mix, which I guess is fair enough. But bread is also not that healthy necessarily - not if you love it like I do.

When we scoured the gluten-free aisle the other day searching for some gluten-free flour for Saturday and David's gluten-free bread, the Aldi catalogue emphasis on unhealthy foods was there for us to see on the shelf. There was hardly anything healthy there. And sure you can say that flour - the main culprit - is not really a healthy product - mostly because of what it is used for - but grains in themselves are a very valuable source of fibre in the diet and should not be ignored. And there are plenty of grains that are gluten-free - quinoa (maybe that's why this is so fashionable), millet, buckwheat, corn and rice to name just the more well-known ones.

"Foods containing gluten are typically cakes, biscuits, pastries, pancakes and muffins – the foods associated with weight gain and other dietary diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Those conditions have everything to do with the calorie, sugar and fat content of these products, and not much, if anything, to do with the gluten. ... a gluten-free equivalent cake or biscuit, with nothing different other than the removal of gluten, will be no healthier than their gluten-containing equivalents. Sometimes gluten-free products can even be higher in fat, sugar and salt to improve their flavour or texture." Rozzie Batchelar on the Jamie Oliver website

It's a multi-million dollar industry and growing every day. A fashionable trend encouraged by fear. Every supermarket now has a substantial section of gluten free foods and most restaurants will have gluten free options. But a backlash is creeping in I think - I have seen a few programs on the television saying all of the above, and, as I said, the net has hundreds of articles.

The net will correctly tell you that if you have coeliac disease and a couple of other medically diagnosed conditions, then yes - you really mustn't eat anything with gluten in it. It will make you ill. And I am absolutely convinced that this is so. But I think the figure was .75% (not 75%) of the population has coeliac disease. So a very small proportion - though, rather worryingly, the figure seems to be rising slightly. There are also other conditions for which it is highly recommended that gluten is avoided. But I suspect that the vast majority of people who do not eat gluten do not fall into either of these categories.

And I really do think that most of them are being taken for a ride.