A lot of confusion is around gluten being the villain in your life. But fundamentally it isn’t bad for most of the people who consume it on a regular basis. All of us have gobbled gluten for ages altogether – it is present in roti and all the bread as well. For eras, food that contains gluten has been the source of nutrients, protein, and soluble fibre for us humans.

Talk about gluten as a whole thing and the ones which are seen in whole grains – these usually aren’t bad for people who have a healthy gut and those who can bear the same. For making some processed foods like potato chips, and crackers, wheat is frequently cut down. While these are refined product, it does not hold similarities to the actual whole wheat plant, and that wheat plant is high in nutrition. These mostly contain starches, flour, and white rice (nothing close to whole grains)

There is a complete misconception about gluten. Following some trends, people like to have a gluten-free living but they still add processed foods to their diet, this many times add to health issues like fluctuations in sugar levels, weight gain, etc. In short, it’s not the gluten that is the devil here for the entire health problem but the amount of added preservatives, sodium, and sugar in them.

How to know if you are gluten intolerant? 

It is harmful to people who have the following health issues

Gluten ataxia - Gluten ataxia is an immune referred disease caused by the ingestion of gluten in genetically vulnerable individuals. A condition where the autoimmune reaction to gluten damages the brain causing the advanced balance problem

Wheat-allergy – It is just limited to wheat and not to any other grains and also not related to gluten

Celiac disease – A prolonged digestive and immune condition which is triggered by consuming gluten. It creates irritation that harms the lining of the small intestine which leads to non-absorption of few nutrients and medical problems

Non-celiac gluten intolerance – Condition that is categorised by intestinal & extra-intestinal indicators which leads to indigestion of foods that contains gluten but they don’t have any kind of wheat allergy or celiac disease. Its symptoms are very similar to people who have celiac disease

For those who think they suffer from gluten intolerance –

Just in case you have symptoms that are similar to someone who already is gluten intolerant and that has started to affect your health, you would need to talk to your doctor about it. They would then suggest some blood tests by which you will come to know if you have a wheat allergy or you suffer from celiac disease. Always remember that anything which is natural and that is removed will have an ill effect on the body, so before you go ahead and altogether remove gluten from your diet, do take the help of a good dietician who will help you in creating a customised diet plan which will be suitable for you and your body.