Gluten consumption seems to reduce the long -term risk of development of type 2 diabetes, metabolic disease that already suffers from more than 350 million people.
Gluten is a protein present in cereals, especially in wheat, barley and rye, which confers elasticity to the dough of flour and is responsible for the elastic and fluffy consistency of breads and baked masses.A protein that, however, should not be consumed by people with celiac disease - or celiacy -, autoimmune disorder caused directly by a permanent gluten intolerance.
So those affected, more than 450,000 in our country, are forced to follow a gluten -free diet.But, beyond avoiding the appearance of free symptoms of celiacy, do these gluten -free diets have any health benefit?
This would explain why this food is increasingly popular among people without the disorder, to the point that the offer of gluten -free products has grown 136% in just two years - between 2013 and 2015–.
Because according to a study carried out by researchers from the School of Public Health T.H.Chan from Harvard University in Boston (USA), gluten -free diets, far from being beneficial for the population without celiac disease, seem to increase the risk of development of type 2 diabetes.
As explained by Geng Zong, director of this research presented within the framework of the 2017 Scientific Meeting on Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health of the American Heart Association (AHA) that is being held in Portland (USA)«Our goal was to assess whether gluten consumption somehow affects the health of people who have no apparent clinical reason to avoid it.And it is that gluten -free foods generally contain less amount of dietary fiber and other micronutrients, so they are less nutritious.And also, they usually have a higher price ».
damages without benefits
In the study, the authors estimated the daily intake of gluten over three decades of a total of 199,794 women and men participating in three large observational studies –69,276 women of the health study of the nurses (NHS), 41,908 men of the males of theProfessional Health Monitoring Study (HPFS), and 88,610 women from the Health Study of Nurses II (NHSII) -.And for this, they evaluated the results of the questionnaires about dietary habits answered every 2-4 years by the participants themselves, obtaining an average daily gluten consumption of 5.8 g in the NHS, 6.8 g in the NHSII and7.1 g in HPFS.
And exactly, what were the main sources of gluten of the participants?Well, pasta, cereals, pizzas, muffins, pretzels and bread.
Gluten -free foods usually contain less fiber and other micronutrients, so they are less nutritiousNGeng Zong
Once the 30 years of follow -up has been completed, a total of 15,947 cases of diabetes were recorded.And once the authors included participants in five groups - or 'quintiles'– depending on their daily gluten consumption, the results showed that, regardless of their cereal fiber intake, participants in the greatest consumption groupGluten had a risk of up to 13% of suffering from type 2 diabetes than those included in the last group - in which gluten intake did not reach 4 g/day.
As Geng Zong indicates, "people without celiac disease must reconsider the limitation of their gluten intake for chronic disease prevention, especially diabetes."
without gluten, with diabetes?
In short, it seems thatThe greater the consumption of gluten, the lower the long -term risk of appearance of type 2 diabetes. Consequently, and of continuing to grow in popularity, gluten -free diets could contribute to the expansion of this metabolic disease that they already sufferMore than 350 million people worldwide.
More;It should be taken into account that the study compared the major and minor intakes of gluten, not the major intakes with the absence of gluten in the diet, so it can be assumed that the long -term risk of type 2 diabetes of the people whoThey follow a gluten -free diet is even superior.
As the authors conclude, "most participants were included in the studies before gluten -free diets became fashionable, so we have no‘ abstemious ’data for gluten."
