The ‘gluten-free’ market is a booming industry in recent years and is showing no sign of slowing down.
People are converting to a gluten-free life-style with the intention of helping various health conditions.
Celiac disease is one of the more commonly known conditions that often benefits from a gluten-free life. There are numerous other health conditions that ‘gluten-free’ is thought to help, such as Autism, Attention Deficit Disorder, Irritated Bowel Syndrome, Crohn`s, and MS to name only a few.
Fifty years ago, a Minnesota study using frozen blood samples taken from Air Force recruits has found that intolerance of wheat gluten, is four times more common today than it was in the 1950s.
*About one out of every 133 Americans, or 2.8 million, suffers from celiac disease. People affected are unable to eat foods with gluten, the storage proteins found in wheat, rye and barley.
*These proteins, or gluten, for example, give bread its structure. Celiac disease sufferers produce antibodies that attack the intestine. Left undiagnosed and untreated, the disease can lead to other auto-immune disorders as well as osteoporosis and infertility. For now the only cure is to avoid gluten.
*In 2010, gluten-free foods racked up $2.5 billion in global sales, accounting for more than a quarter of all food-intolerance purchases, according to Euromonitor International.
*sales are up 92 percent since 2005 and are forecast to hit $3.4 billion by 2015. In the U.S., sales reached $1.2 million last year, more than double that of five years ago. Euromonitor is forecasting $1.7 billion in sales by 2015.
*http://www.cnbc.com/id/43006008/Gluten_Free_Foods_Paying_Off_Big
The Weston A Price Foundation has an extensive article on the history of wheat and why many people may be sensitive to the more modern wheat varieties.
“Recent genome mapping of modern bread wheat with an eye to its toxic influence in celiac disease has isolated a small chain of peptides on a portion of the gluten protein which is directly responsible for stimulating the reaction in those with the celiac genetic inheritance.”
http://www.westonaprice.org/digestive-disorders/against-the-grain
Study finds Link between GMO’s and Current Health Care Crisis:
Did genetic manipulation of grain cause celiac disease?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qntgtaTkqgE
The following is a clip from The Food Renegade’s site called, “The Rise Of Gluten Intolerance”
- Some people may possess as-yet unidentified genes that cause their immune system to think an undigested fragment of the gluten protein looks like a microbial invader.
- Some people who consume gluten may have dysbiosis — damaged gut flora — from antibiotic use or consuming foods that they cannot digest. Feeding infants grains before they are able to digest them may raise the risk of dysbiosis. In this scenario, the immune system may see the products of microbial invasion from the dysbiosis and the undigested gluten fragment at the same time and be tricked into thinking that the gluten fragment is the microbial invader.
- Low-nutrient diets may interfere with the body’s ability to suppress immune cells that are capable of attacking harmless proteins. For example, one of the chemicals the body uses to suppress these immune cells is TGF-beta,c which is upregulated by vitamin A.d A diet deficient in vitamin A, then, might undermine the body’s ability to keep its immune system from attacking harmless proteins like gluten.
For the rest of the article please follow the link below:
http://www.foodrenegade.com/the-rise-of-gluten-intolerance/
How to Eat Simple, Good, Gluten-Free, and Tasty
http://simplegoodandtasty.com/2010/03/17/how-to-eat-simple-good-gluten-free-and-tasty
Gluten-Free Food and Beverage Market: Trends and Developments Worldwide
Bliss Specialty Foods 