To ask if everyone who is 'gluten-free' has an actual allergy to it?

[Caribou58]

I'm not being disingenuous here. Time was when people suffering from coeliac disease were few and far between, but yet another acquaintance has declared themselves suddenly 'gluten-free' (when we were out as a group for dinner recently).

I wasn't near enough to ask her about it discreetly.

Has there been a sudden upsurge in allergies?

OP, the simple answer to your question is no.

I never really understand why it matters whether you’re allergic or not- gluten is hardly an essential food group is it? Plenty of people live without it, and lots of people follow diets like paleo/ Keri/ Atkins which exclude it now anyway.

People react as though you’re excluding an essential food group when they hear someone say they don’t eat gluten

I’m not celiac according to the blood test but gluten gives me the shits badly. Bloody awful

Gluten can't pass into breast milk, it's not physically possible.

People are allowed not to eat gluten even if they aren't coeliac or gluten intolerant. Maybe some of them do it because they see it as fashionable (which is silly), but others do it because they find that eating bread, pasta etc makes them gassy or bloated.

There are plenty of foods that 'disagree' with some people. Oddly enough, if I said that oysters or cucumber disagreed with me or gave me indigestion, nobody would bat an eyelid. But if I said grain products disagree with me, I must obviously be lying unless I have a medical diagnosis.

I eat gluten and I don't understand why others get so wound up about others not eating it.

I was only diagnosed as coeliac last year at the age of 44 and shortly after became lactose intolerant and now it seems onion is causing a problem so perhaps incidence rates are increasing?

I've suffered with IBS for over 20 years with no medication helping in the slightest- the only thing that does is being pregnant!

I recently gave up dairy which has really helped with wind and bloating. So now I'm trying to cut gluten too to see if that helps the rest of the symptoms. So far, it's vastly improved it, although I've only cut the big sources for now..bread, pasta, etc.

I am certainly not 'gluten free' but if cutting back is helping my symptoms at last, then I'm definitely sticking with it. And no, it isn't a fad for me...it's a bloody lifeline to finally helping some painful and frankly embarrassing symptoms.

I think it's similar to 'vegetarians' who eat fish, not a problem so long as it doesn't lead to people thinking that vegetarians all eat fish and then providing fish as the only vegetarian option. More apparent vegetarians might also have some side benefits in more actual vegetarian options being offered to everyone. However given that those with allergies can become very ill and those with coeliac disease can suffer long term harm from eating gluten the consequences in too many people coming across individuals who claim to be gluten free but who then are seen to eat gluten containing products could be very problematic.

Some people make a big "look at me" song and dance about being gluten free. I've found that these are usually the ones doing it as a fad.

Rhubarb it's probably worth you trying FODMAP elimination for a while (better with a dietician to guide you but there are some good web based resources) so you can identify the specific food that are causing you issues. If you are lactose intolerant you can probably eat more diary than you think as (for example) aged cheese and butter are low lactose. Can you eat onions and garlic without issue? If so you are probably OK with wheat, although with intolerance the volume is also a factor (ie I can eat one piece of bread or one tablespoon of onion without issue, but more than that and I'm bloated and cramping for hours).

I don’t eat gluten because it sets off my other auto immune disorders. A few people have ‘tested me’ without me knowing. One time I couldn’t walk for a week & was thinking what had I done. I hadn’t - someone thought it would be funny.

Dc1 is allergic to wheat so being gf makes it easier to explain! Much easier to get things now so life easier.

GP now thinks dc2 is coeliac even though last test was negative so repeating again in a few weeks.

I was diagnosed coeliac just over 2 years ago at 35. My blood test was negative but my endoscopy was positive. My only symptom was the inability to absorb any kind of oral iron. I had undetectable ferritin stores and fainted at least twice a day, despite massive iron supplements. My GP retired the week after my diagnosis and said I'd been his first coeliac patient in over 40 years. He said they used to only test people who were malnourished with floating stools, so he wondered how many he'd missed over the years. So it's quite possible there are more diagnosed cases today.

It's not an allergy and it increases your risk of all sorts of unpleasant things, including cancer and osteoporosis.

I gave up gluten on the advice of my consultant. When I eat it, I get violent stomach cramps and diorreah. For a long time it was thought I had coeliac disease, then I was diagnosed with "gluten intolerant Crohns disease" now they think coeliac and Crohns. Ultimately they don't know why I can't eat it but, clearly, I can't.

There is a lot of research going on that's linking gluten intolerance to a wide variety of autoimmune conditions. Not just allergies.

Dd is gluten intolerant. She was tested for coeliacs but thankfully it seems she probably doesn't have it, though she may need to be re tested, but 6 weeks back on full gluten would be horrendous for her.

She, and us, probably appear like people jumping on the GF bandwagon because sometime she will eat bits of gluten and othertimes not. However, this has been recommended by her doctor as cutting it out completly may make her intolerance more severe. She can eat small amounts of gluten but too much makes her very poorly. Deciding whether or not she can have something with gluten in depends on various factors such as what else she has eaten in recent days, whether or not it is one of the worst triggers for her, and how quickly we can get her to a toilet. Nobody wants to restrict their small child's diet but it's far better than seeing how unwell she was before we cut it down.

To respond to those who think it bothers me - as I tried to indicate, I was curious.

Many thanks to those who informed me coeliac was a disease, which I did say in my OP. Apologies again to those offended by my use also, within the same OP, of the term 'allergy' - I was (as I tried to indicate) aware that the serious condition of Coeliac disease was rare, but was trying to discover if (like other allergies which have increased greatly within my lifetime - and no, I don't think they're fake, I know they're real) there has been a similar upsurge.

Loads of people are sensitive to gluten without being full on celiac in the same way that many people feel I or bloated after having milk even though they aren't entirely lactose intolerant.

Coeliac disease isn’t actually that rare - 1/100 people have it in the UK this rises to about 1/40 in Ireland. But it is serious and can cause life limiting conditions if unmanaged. No offence taken here OP

I’m gluten free due to intolerance not coeliac - although my gastric consultant seemed unwilling to test just advised that he thought I was either wheat intolerant or gluten intolerant
Once I’d cut it out I couldn’t be tested and am not willing to feel so ill again just to test a theory
My IBS is so much better, I don’t blow up anymore (used to look 7+ months pregnant)
I’m less tired and so on
The only thing I don’t do is eat substitutes - pricey and taste awful - I’ve worked out what works for me
I do have many other allergies though and that just means I avoid certain situations and eat clean

My daughter is a coeliac and her friend has just been diagnosed recently some of her symptoms were different to my daughters, I do think if you have a sensitive gut, wheat would most likely up set it, I’ve got IBS but was tested after my daughter was diagnosed with coeliac disease luckily it came back negative.

@DoJo

Poor wee lamb

That’s great you got him diagnosed so quickly. You’ve probably saved him a months, if not years, of pain and discomfort!

I eat gluten free whenever I can. Not due to an allergy or anything. I just like that I don't feel completely bloated after eating it! Tastes no different to me really. Saying that though, if I go to a restaurant I don't worry if I'm eating gluten free or not. I just prefer to eat it at home x

When I went to the doctor about my wheat intolerance I was met with a less than sympathetic response and told we all have to make "lifestyle" choices. I was furious because choosing whether to have involuntary exploding diarrhoea on public transport is not a bloody lifestyle choice! So I self-diagnosed ten years ago and haven't looked back. The actual test for coeliac or gluten intolerance involves 3 months back on those foods that make you ill- which would mean 3 months of not being able to go to work - which was not an option for me, given my symptoms. So yes, I say I say i'm coeliac in restaurants and to friends and acquaintances because frankly I don't know, but I'm not prepared to risk my health and let's face it, dignity, by eating food that does that to my body.

I dont know, but since I gave up gluten 5 years ago I havent had a single episode of diarreah & vomiting all night (used to be a couple of times a month), havent been hospitalised because my bowel literally stopped working (just the once) and am not in daily abdominal pain. Ive eaten it once by mistake since and was doubled over in pain within 30 minutes. So really dont care what anyone thinks of my lack of diagnosis, Im not eating it. Im actually considered probably ceoliacs due to family history.

I'm really glad more people are going gluten free for whatever reason because it makes more choice available for everyone else. I have one child that can't have wheat and one that can't have any gluten (because they're intolerant). it's slowly getting a lot easier to feed them when out and about