The improvement of intestinal comfort in healthy people on a gluten-free diet is more related to the amount of fiber than to the reduction of gluten.
It has become a real trend, but are gluten-free diets recommended for non-allergic people? Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have looked into the matter. Their study, published in NatureCommunications, shows that the improvement of intestinal comfort in healthy people on a gluten-free diet is more related to the amount of fiber than to the reduction of gluten.
Fibers
60 Danish adults with bloating followed a low-gluten diet (2 g of gluten per day) or a high-gluten diet (18 g of gluten per day) for eight weeks, separated by a withdrawal period of at least least six weeks with a usual diet (12 g of gluten per day). Both diets included the same amount of dietary fiber. However, the composition of the fibers differed significantly from one to the other: the fibers of wheat and rye were replaced in one of the two diets by those of vegetables, brown rice, corn, oats and quinoa. .
Based on their observations of altered food fermentation patterns of gut bacteria, the researchers concluded that the effects of low-gluten diets in healthy people are not primarily due to a decrease in food intake. of gluten, but rather to a change in the composition of dietary fibres.
An alarm signal
Low-gluten diets are already offered to patients with inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome, disorders that affect up to 20% of the population. But “our study is a wake-up call for the food industry. The absence of gluten is not necessarily as healthy as people think, as most gluten-free foods on the market today today are massively devoid of dietary fiber,” the researchers conclude. Today, the gluten-free industry weighs almost 3 billion euros.
Gluten is a protein found mainly in many cereals, starting with wheat. It is therefore present almost everywhere in staple foods: bread, pasta, pizzas, industrial prepared meals and even in certain cold cuts.
Among the gluten intolerant, we find those who are really affected by celiac disease, but also the “hypersensitive” (non-celiac sensitivity to gluten or SNCG). A hypersensitivity which results in bloating, poor digestion or flatulence, but also in more general signs: fatigue, cognitive difficulties or mood disturbance.
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