Contents:
- Medical Video: What is celiac disease?
- A gluten free diet is specifically for people with celiac disease
- Impact that occurs if the body is healthy but undergo a gluten free diet
- 1. Possibility of experiencing a lack of certain nutrients
- 2. Weight loss, not solely because it doesn't eat gluten
- 3. Be careful this can interfere with heart health
- 4. Do not just choose gluten-free products, see also other ingredients
Medical Video: What is celiac disease?
Many people decide to follow a gluten-free diet even though they don't experience celiac disease or are allergic to gluten. This diet is considered to make the body healthier and can lose weight. This assumption makes it as if gluten is the reason why someone is not healthy and can be fat. Some other people are finally interested and follow this diet. So, what actually happens if people who don't have celiac disease do this gluten-free diet?
A gluten free diet is specifically for people with celiac disease
A gluten-free diet is the only choice for people with celiac disease, which is severe gluten intolerance. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, rye. This protein helps bread, cereal, and pasta to have the shape and texture you often encounter.
Normally, gluten is not harmful to the body. Indeed, several studies state that gluten has health benefits. However, in people who experience celiac disease, the protein in wheat is not digested properly, causing various symptoms.
Impact that occurs if the body is healthy but undergo a gluten free diet
If you are healthy and don't have celiac disease or are allergic to gluten, you don't need to stay away from gluten. If you do, you will even experience a variety of adverse effects. So, what are the possible effects when a healthy person is on a gluten free diet?
1. Possibility of experiencing a lack of certain nutrients
If you want a gluten-free diet, you must understand that there will be some foods that must be abandoned. You must be prepared to leave food such as bread, cereals, pasta, and various preparations of wheat flour. Gluten is also available in several factory-processed food products, processed frozen vegetables, sauces, soy sauce, some medicines, and natural flavorings.
That means, it is also possible to experience a lack of certain nutrients. For example, cereal is the main source of vitamin B because most cereals are fortified with vitamin B. When you choose a gluten-free diet, you will lose the opportunity to meet the needs of B vitamins that are usually easily obtained from cereals.
A gluten free diet has the potential to make people lack fiber, iron, folate, niacin, thiamine, calcium, vitamin B12, phosphorus, and zinc. Grains that contain gluten are good sources of fiber, vitamins and minerals. While products with gluten-free labels are often made with processed grains and low in nutrients.
If you choose to do so, make sure that you can replace your nutritional needs from other food sources that are naturally gluten free. You also have to balance the diet with lots of fruit and vegetables.
2. Weight loss, not solely because it doesn't eat gluten
Many people who think gluten-free diets make them lose weight. In fact, this decline is not due to avoiding gluten. Some types of foods that contain gluten are sweet foods that have high calories, sugar and fat, such as pastries or other sweet cakes.
Now, when people who are on a gluten free diet avoid these sweet foods, of course the calorie intake per day will decrease. This then makes the weight down.
So, there's really nothing magical about removing gluten. You can lose weight. Every person who reduces or leaves pastries from their food and replaces them with vegetables and fruit which is also done in a gluten diet will definitely have better conditions.
3. Be careful this can interfere with heart health
One reason people go on a gluten free diet is to reduce the risk of atherosclerosis or heart disease. A gluten-free diet is considered to prevent both diseases because it can prevent inflammation.
In fact, reported on Medscape's website, a study that tested a gluten-free diet in ordinary people who did not experience celiac disease in 2017 actually found the opposite results.
In the study it was reported that respondents who had the lowest gluten intake had a higher risk of developing coronary heart disease than those who consumed high amounts of gluten.
This study clearly shows that a gluten-free diet does not always prevent heart disease, it can be a danger to the heart because in this diet ordinary people without celiac disease must avoid certain foods such as grains, for example in wheat seeds.
Though grains contain mono and polyunsaturated fats that are healthy and important to prevent inflammation and maintain the normal structure of cells in the body.
4. Do not just choose gluten-free products, see also other ingredients
If you are on a gluten-free diet, you still need to be careful about the food products you choose. If something is removed from a food product, then the question is what substances are added to the product?
The answer is, substances containing sugar, calories, and fat according to doctor Leonard were reported in Medscape. So you need to be careful because this diet can actually make you excess calories.
