Non-Coeliac Gluten Sensitivity Probably Doesn’t Exist
Debunking the popular health fad of going gluten free.
As the husband of someone with coeliac disease, I’m very familiar with being gluten free. Sometimes it’s easy, like when you’re travelling in Vietnam and all you have to do is avoid the bread. Sometimes it’s less easy like when you want to make mapo tofu and even after YEARS of looking you still can’t find Chinese fermented soybeans that are made without wheat. Seriously, if anyone knows a brand please leave a comment, I’ve left them unlocked. Same with gochujang.
Aside from the odd Asian product, however, it is true that being gluten free has never been easier. I remember when we first started dating, 13 years ago, there was only one commercially available brand of gluten free bread. They had 2–3 loaves, which were all some variation on baked rice and corn flour with some thickeners and raising agents to make a loaf. Now, there is an entire section of the supermarket with dozens of loaves marked GF, and our local bakery even has a beautiful — and expensive — freshly-baked coeliac friendly sourdough.
The remarkable turnaround is partly because coeliac disease has become more widely understood. The rate of coeliacs in the population varies widely, likely due to genetics, from around 1 in 500 in some Asian…
