Gluten Free Diet – Pros and Cons

As the trend comes and goes, the gluten free diet has also been in modern trend since five to seven years. People have been switching to gluten diets just because of modern times. There are definitely certain people who have the need to be on gluten free diets.

Starting this type of gluten free diet can have various reasons. Two of the main reasons are supposed to be either celiac gluten sensitivity or non celiac gluten sensitivity. The external reasons could be weight loss, energy and misconceptions or myths about gluten.

So, the main question arises, what is celiac disease? It is an autoimmune situation where even a small amount of gluten can harm your body. It can lead to minor symptoms or even to organ damage. This is known as celiac gluten sensitivity. 

The minor symptoms could be stomach pain, diarrhea, inflammations, fever and hormonal damage.There might be some people who do not have celiac disease but are resistant to gluten. The range of their allergy might be from lowest to highest. 

It leads to various symptoms and becomes dangerous for a person to carry on with the daily metabolism procedure. This is known as non celiac gluten sensitivity.The only cure to any of these conditions is to go on a gluten free diet. Gluten has to be abstained completely.

Those who are gluten free without any physical problems are on diet just by choice. This type of diet plan might harm your body and can have various side effects.This article will be completely focusing on the benefits and harmful effects of the diet on the body.

PROS OF GLUTEN FREE DIET

For the people who have had celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, the gluten free diet is a boon to them. There might be some benefits for the normal, diseased free people as well which will be mentioned respectively.

DIGESTIVE HEALTH

The major organ which gets affected by the gluten is the gut region. It starts damaging the respective portion and after a while damages the whole stomach or intestinal wall.

Gluten free diet leads to better digestive health and also helps to fix the wall of the organ. Gluten can also disrupt the digestion procedure and worse conditions might lead to diarrhea as well. 

This type of diet will improve your digestion and will help the good gut bacteria to do their work properly.The diseased free people can also go on a temporary gluten free diet to improve their digestion and detoxify their bodies.

 CHOLESTEROL LEVELS

Gluten free diet tends to eliminate all the food products which are high in cholesterol and also you will have limited outside food.

This starts promoting HDL, the good cholesterol and reduces the bad cholesterol (LDL). The balance of cholesterol levels is helpful for the high cholesterol and genetically heart disease patients.It also focuses on the healthy heart and prevents heart diseases.

PREVENTS UNHEALTHY EATING

It has also been noticed that a gluten free diet focuses on the prevention of any kind of processed and unhealthy foods. Unhealthy and high carbohydrate food itself solves many problems in the body.The diet will promote all the healthy and nutritious food products.

Except celiac disease and gluten sensitivity, it will help you to fight with many other diseases.

Autism – People with autism tend to have certain conditions because of the gluten. They tend to have increased amounts of IgG antibodies. This increased amount of IgG has a higher chance to react with the gluten and cause problems in metabolism.The continuous intake can also worsen the condition.

Epilepsy – Researches have shown that epilepsy is interlinked with celiac disease. Sensitivity of gluten can be in people with epilepsy as well. It is advised to keep a note and avoid gluten foods.

Schizophrenia – Even the schizophrenia people tend to have the antibodies which are already involved in celiac diseases as well. For this reason, people might get sensitive to gluten. To those who have the antibodies shall avoid gluten at any cost.

CONS OF GLUTEN FREE DIET

Instead of these pros and benefits there are some disadvantages as well. Those who don’t have any medical condition should think about it twice. The risks are:

 LACK OF FIBER

Most of the gluten products contain fiber as well. The major source of fiber is wheat or whole wheat bread.

Those who are already struggling with the disease ten to ignore all the side effects because of their condition. Whereas there are people who opt gluten free because of the trend and believing the fact that it might lose their weight.

These people tend to harm their bodies. The lack of fiber can affect their digestion procedure and instead of weight loss might lead to weight gain.Lack of fiber also leads to deteriorating gut health, antioxidants and inflammation actions.

TYPE 2 DIABETES

At times people might also eliminate the gluten which is necessary to maintain the balanced diet. Although, the possibility of type 2 diabetes is very less still it might lead to the disease.In type 2 diabetes the body becomes resistant to insulin and the pancreas stops producing it as well.

There are various healthy foods which have gluten and are healthy for the body. Avoiding gluten completely can misbalance the metabolism of the body. It is not rational until and unless there is any medical choice.

LACK OF VITAMINS AND NUTRIENTS

It is also true that gluten foods have many vitamins and nutrients. They include Vitamin B, Folic acid, Iron, Zinc, Niacin, Thiamine, Riboflavin, Calcium and Phosphorus.

Deficiency of any of the nutrients or vitamins could lead to a harmful effect to the body.Iron and folic acid are closely important for the formation of hemoglobin in the body. If there is a lack of these nutrients, it will lead to the anemia and its symptoms.

Those who have celiac disease are advised to incorporate multivitamins in their diet. It also becomes important for them to keep finding new ways to include nutrients and vitamins.But for dieters, it could be a hectic process and would lead to stress.

WEIGHT GAIN

Some of the people tend to leave gluten because they think that it might help them to lose weight. Instead it results in weight gain.It does not support weight loss because the gluten free food is relatively higher in calories and sugar intakes. It will lead you to increase your weight.

By this, it has become a lot clearer that each and everyone should not start with the gluten free diet just for the sake of losing weight or misconceptions of a healthy diet. Those who are with medical conditions are in actual need of the gluten free diet.It is important that you read all the sides of the story before starting any diet. It is about your health and your body metabolism.

Keep researching and keep having a balanced diet!

‍