The real reason people are cutting gluten hints at a much bigger problem
With all of the new options to avoid gluten, there's got to be something about the ingredient that's bad for you, right?
Wrong.
As Alan Levinovitz points out in "The Gluten Lie," the scary-sounding ingredient is not to be feared.
Far from a dangerous toxin, gluten is a type of protein found in wheat and other similar grains, from hearty barley to bitter-tasting rye. It's what makes bagels chewy and lets fresh-baked bread rise.
Still, a minority of people can't eat the delicious stuff. Roughly 1% of Americans have celiac disease, a genetic, autoimmune disorder that causes people who eat gluten to experience damage to their small intestine.
Another 0.63% to 6% of people may be sensitive to gluten without having celiac disease, meaning that when they eat gluten, they experience some or all of the symptoms that people with celiac do. (This condition, called non-celiac gluten sensitivity, is a bit controversial, however, with several studies suggesting it's either overblown or doesn't exist.)