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AIBU?

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Original poster

Its fine to bring my children up gluten free

582 replies

Ironfistfunkymum · 28/08/2015 17:37

I've been gf for 6+ years, not alergic or anything but feel so much better for it. People seem generally fine with this.

However now I have children people do seem to judge bringing them up gf. But why would if feed them something that I dont think is very healthy (grains hard to digest) and something that I don't think is very ethical (wheat production is causing more deserts due to its growing conditions).

Aibu to expect people to respect my choice and leave it at that?

OP posts:
PrimalLass · 02/09/2015 09:15

Reubs she is a medical professional so I'm sure she knows all that.

Reubs15 · 02/09/2015 09:29

I was just letting you know in case she didn't know! Sorry! Confused

CallieG · 02/09/2015 11:23

The 'Gluten Free" diet is a fad , most people don't even know what gluten is or why they are on a gluten free diet and for 99% of us it is completely unnecessary, the only people that need a gluten free diet are people with coeliac disease . Contrary to those that like to listen to pseudo weekend scientists, your children are more likely to develop an allergy if they are NOT exposed to as many substances as possible, Gluten is a natural substance found in most grains and it has been demonized by the boffins of the day the same way that butter, milk, cream & animal fats were 20 years ago.

PrimalLass · 02/09/2015 12:36

Most people don't know what it is Callie? Are you sure?

If you have bothered to read the thread you will see that it is not only people with CD who have to avoid gluten.

I am hypothyroid, my DD is gluten intolerant - neither of us has CD but both have to restrict gluten.

Toria2014 · 02/09/2015 12:55

Gluten free is not a fad, its a realisation. It is no secret that our modern food is messed about with. Ancient wheat had three strains of DNA. Modern wheat has over 40. Its been basterdised in the name of progress with no consideration to the consequences to public health. The consumption of wheat by humanity is a tiny percentage of our time here on earth. We are not designed to eat grasses. Ruminants are.

I am sure that in years to come it will become common knowledge how damaging gluten can be. But just the same as cigarettes, people will still consume it despite the damage it does.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 02/09/2015 13:01

We aren't eating grass, though, are we, Toria? We're eating the seed it grows from.

And actually, as a child, I did eat grass - sweet stems of it.

leedy · 02/09/2015 13:02

Well, in terms of "design", I believe one of the reasons for human success in evolutionary terms is that we're essentially animate dustbins who can survive on pretty much anything. Omnivores FTW.

Avoid gluten if you want, but don't bring "design" into it.

Toria2014 · 02/09/2015 13:11

Just saying what I have learned through researching my own illness.

I encourage others to do their own. But personally I will not eat gluten again based on my own experience and what I now know about it.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 02/09/2015 14:19

Toria - it will be interesting to see whether Callie acknowledges your early post where you say you have a medical condition - not coeliac disease - for which you were advised to give up gluten, and that doing so has improved your health.

Maybe that will change her belief that only people with coeliac disease need to be gluten free.

Caprinihahahaha · 02/09/2015 14:28

Ah CallieG, I must just past your insight on to my daughters consultant who will know doubt be shocked that having done years in this field and having done all manner of tests on my daughter, she must be wrong and you know way more than her.
Poor woman.

JanetBlyton · 02/09/2015 16:42

People get very upset by these kinds of threads but there is no need. Doctors are not always taught that much about nutrition although doctors seem to be ahead of the curve compared with nurses and dieticians in the NHS about the latest research on what we should eat.

I think it's pretty simple - just go back to basics, what have we always eaten and you cannot go far wrong.

By the way anyone interested in our history do watch the first of the new 4 part series tonight on TV or iplayer - The Ascent of Woman BBC 9pm as it goes into how culture was and the power of women before we made that rather disastrous move to settle down and grow wheat and men started to grab power about 10,000 years ago.

CoteDAzur · 03/09/2015 08:54

"Gluten free is not a fad, its a realisation. It is no secret that our modern food is messed about with. Ancient wheat had three strains of DNA. Modern wheat has over 40."

Are you under the impression that those original few strains of wheat did NOT have gluten?

JanetBlyton · 03/09/2015 08:58

Modern fruit has a lot more sugar than 40 years ago and even more than 150 years ago. That's agriculture for you. We all just make our own choices.

Agriculture and wheat is one reason we now dominate the planet and whether you think that's bad or good is up to each individual. We are certainly killing off the planet because we settled down, had more children and grew wheat.

CoteDAzur · 03/09/2015 08:59

Less than 1/3 of NCGS sufferers actually react to gluten.

From the introduction:

The perception that gluten causes gastrointestinal and extra gastrointestinal symptoms in patients who do not have coeliac disease (CD), and are not allergic to wheat, is an increasing clinical problem.[1] It is thought that there are now more people taking a gluten-free diet (GFD) following a self-diagnosis of gluten intolerance than there are with CD.[2] This has been called noncoeliac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) in an international consensus statement.[3] However, it is purely a clinical diagnosis as, in contrast to CD, it has no biomarker or characteristic intestinal biopsy findings.[4] Currently, its existence remains controversial, and if it does exist, its cause and prevalence are unknown.[5] The name NCGS implies that gluten is the trigger for the reported symptoms. However, other components in cereal could be responsible.

BetaTest · 03/09/2015 09:22

Janet - a very good point on the cultural significance of wheat and the spread of the 'Western diet'.

It initially spread from Iran with Alexander the Great because armies can only march over long distances with a compact food source that can be carried. Wheat was the food that allowed Alexander the Great and later the Romans to conquer the known world.

Interestingly [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einkorn_wheat Einkorn] which is the ancient wheat used by the Romans is lower in gluten than modern wheat. I have baked with it for my family and produces a less well risen dough. I cant eat it because I have to be totally gluten free but I come from a farming background and the drive for very high gluten wheat used in modern breadmaking in the 1970s is something I remember very well and my father talking about how much more he got paid for 'high gluten wheat'. It became the be all and end all of wheat plant breeding.

My strong feeling is that modern wheat has now simply overwhelmed the capacity of some people to digest it. Hence the rise of IBS and non coeliac gluten intolerance. Humans simply are not genetically able to digest large amounts of gluten and some people are much less tolerant of it than others and women and older people are even more pre-disposed because of their naturally slower gut transit times.

echt · 03/09/2015 09:26

Modern fruit has a lot more sugar than 40 years ago and even more than 150 years ago. Evidence for this? And relevance?

We are certainly killing off the planet because we settled down, had more children and grew wheat. Do you mean, er…lived? Or something more nuanced. Like an argument, with evidence. Sort of thing.

YeOldeTrout · 03/09/2015 09:53

Western Europeans (& Japanese) have up to 6 genes to make amylase enzymes that enable us to digest carbohydrates very well. Only 2 copies (but no fewer) in groups of humans that stuck with hunter-gatherer lifestyle longer: as a group, us Europeans are very well adapted to eating lots of carbs and thriving on them.

CoteDAzur · 03/09/2015 10:15

"modern wheat has now simply overwhelmed the capacity of some people to digest it. "

You don't become unable to digest something just because it is offered in higher concentration, even if it's true that modern wheat has more gluten than in ancient times.

"Hence the rise of IBS and non coeliac gluten intolerance."

More likely, increased "prevalence" has to do with recognition and awareness, not to mention scaremongering & paranoia. Previously, we didn't know about IBS & CD, and people would say "I ate too much, I feel bloated" whereas now people self-diagnose as NCGS.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 03/09/2015 10:53

"Gluten free is not a fad, its a realisation. It is no secret that our modern food is messed about with. Ancient wheat had three strains of DNA. Modern wheat has over 40."

This made me wonder, genuinely - how different or similar are we genetically to humans from that time, when ancient wheat only had three strands of DNA?

JanetBlyton · 03/09/2015 11:04

I am all for looking at the science although a lot of it is paid for by those with a vested interest (in fact I'm sitting here writing a contract for one).

I am not saying don't eat fruit. I am saying modern fruit is less good for you. It's not a big deal but I am pretty sure the good science is there on that one - this is just a link to an article www.scientificamerican.com/article/soil-depletion-and-nutrition-loss/

I must watch last night's programme but the idea behind it was that women and men were pretty equal until we settled down and started growing wheat - that for much of history for say 200,000 years there was male/female equality but staying in one place, gathering wealth, women, wheat stores and all that then followed led to male domination.

Now of course having a steady source of farmed products is going to be most people's first choice. There was a study of bones in Orkney I think it was of some peoples who farmed (very hard because of the conditions and wind) and for 2 or 3 years they had to revert to sea foods, fish, crab etc which shows in the bones probably because of sand covering the crops. As soon as they could get back to farming rather than gathering they did presumably because as soon as you have a lot of people you don't have enough resources just to go out there and pluck your fish from the sea. Hunter gatherers had on average about 6000 acres per person.

JanetBlyton · 03/09/2015 11:04

Wheat is not our biggest challenge. It's soft drinks and junk food.

zoemaguire · 03/09/2015 11:45

CoteDazure's link shows what a lot of the nonsense there is on this thread. The study shows that only one third of those with self-diagnosed gluten 'sensitivity' (i.e. not coeliacs) were actually able to identify which flours contained gluten and which didn't.

In other words: 2/3rds of you who think you are sensitive to gluten are actually nothing of the sort, it is all in your head.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 03/09/2015 11:50

I thought that what that link was saying was not that 'it is all in the heads' of 2/3rds of people who think they are gluten-intolerant - but that the reactions they are suffering are not necessarily to gluten - they are intolerant to something else.

"...However, other components in cereal could be responsible."

PrimalLass · 03/09/2015 11:54

CoteDazure's link shows what a lot of the nonsense there is on this thread. The study shows that only one third of those with self-diagnosed gluten 'sensitivity' (i.e. not coeliacs) were actually able to identify which flours contained gluten and which didn't.

In that study of only 35 people. I don't think a study of that size can necessarily be taken as gospel as applying to the whole population. But I'm not a scientist, so could be wrong.

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