Gluten Free Diet

I hear on one side, the gluten-tolerant side, how this whole gluten-free movement is just a fad and will dwindle away and yet on the gluten-intolerant side, I and many other bloggers are receiving hundreds of new followers weekly – hummm something is wrong – so I decided to look into it a bit more.

Here are some facts – between 2006 and 2010, the gluten free food and beverage market grew 30% according to Packaged Facts’ (Rockview, MD) market research report, “Gluten-Free Foods and Beverages in the U.S”., 3rd Edition.

Yes, only 1 out of 133 people have Celiac Disease (a disorder where eating gluten erodes the small intestine and makes it difficult to absorb nutrients from food diagnosable by a simple blood test).

Where the discrepancy comes in is that according to the non-profit National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA), 7% to 8% of the current American population is gluten intolerant.

Now add the “I just feel better” people and those who find their diets work better without gluten and the “fad factor”, and you get 15% of the population asking for gluten-free foods in the supermarkets – according to NFCA. That is no small number!

That means that if you invite 8 people to dinner, chances are that one of them is following a gluten-free diet. – so now do you see why you need to learn to cook and bake gluten free?

When any movement is driven by consumer demand, corporate America and its marketing and manufacturing machines get into the mix real fast and viola, new food growth patterns are created – especially in the health sectors. Gluten-free is a $2.6 billion a year industry currently and projected to grow steadily well into 2012 – reaching $2.8 billion soon.

Add the factor that children’s allergies grew 18% from 1997 to 2007 and you can see the explosion of allergen awareness in America today.

The distinguishing feature about this gluten free movement is that the people involved with gluten intolerances are extremely loyal customers. Why? Because they get sick if they have gluten! And the last time I checked, most people don’t like getting sick on purpose!

According to Dr. A, Fasano, a leading authority on gluten issues, only 5% of the population who have Celiac Disease have even been diagnosed so far! The math of that leaves 95% still to be diagnosed!

And try as medical science and the pharmaceuticals will to create a drug to counter gluten intolerance, who will consume the pills when all one has to do is eliminate gluten from your diet and all the health problems associated with it simply go away?

So now it makes sense why all those hundreds of people every week are joining the gluten free bloggers websites and newsletters in an effort to get more educated in healthful solutions for their body problems.