This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Its hard not to notice that the range of gluten-free foods available in supermarkets has increased massively in recent years. This is partly because the rise in the number of people diagnosed with coeliac disease and gluten sensitivity, and partly because celebrities, such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Miley Cyrus and Victoria Beckham,have praised gluten-free diets. What used to be prescription-only food is now a global health fad. But for how much longer? New research from Harvard University has found a link between gluten-free diets and an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Gluten is a protein found in cereals such as wheat, rye and barley. It is particularly useful in food production. For example, it gives elasticity to dough, helping it to rise and keep its shape, and providing a chewy texture. Many types of foods may contain gluten, including less obvious ones such as salad dressing, soup and beer.

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Loaves of bread are seen at a Metro cash and carry store in Kiev, Ukraine, August 17, 2016. Gluten-free versions are not healthier than traditional bread. Valentyn Ogirenko/REUTERS

The same protein that is so useful in food production is a nightmare for people with coeliac disease. Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disorder in which the body mistakenly reacts to gluten as if it were a threat to the body. The condition is quite common, affecting one in 100 people, but only a quarter of those who have the disease have been diagnosed.

There is evidence that the popularity of gluten-free diets has surged, even though the incidence of coeliac disease has remained stable. This is potentially due to increasing numbers of people with non-coeliac gluten sensitivity. In these cases, people exhibit some of the symptoms of coelaic disease but without having an immune response. In either case, avoiding gluten in foods is the only reliable way to control symptoms, that may include diarrhoea, abdominal pain and bloating.

Without any evidence for beneficial effects, many people without coeliac disease or gluten sensitivity are now turning to gluten-free diets as a healthy alternative to a normal diet. Supermarkets have reacted to meet this need by stocking ever growing free from ranges. The findings of this recent study, however, suggest that there could be a significant drawback to adopting a gluten-free diet that was not previously known.

What the Harvard group behind this study have reported is that there is an inverse association between gluten intake and type 2 diabetes risk. This means that the less gluten found in a diet, the higher the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

The data for this exciting finding comes from three separate, large studies thatcollectively included almost 200,000 people. Of those 200,000 people, 15,947 cases of type 2 diabetes were confirmed during the follow-up period. Analysis showed that those who had the highest intake of gluten had an 80 percentlower chance of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those who had the lowest levels of gluten intake.

This study has important implications for those who either have to avoid or choose to avoid gluten in their diet. Type 2 diabetes is a serious condition that affects more than 400m people worldwidea number which is certain to increase for many years to come.

Collectively, diabetes is responsible for around 10 percentof the entire NHS budget and drugs to treat diabetes alone cost almost 1 billion annually. There is no cure for type 2 diabetes and remission is extremely rare. This means that once diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, it is almost impossible to revert back to being healthy.

It is important to note that the data for this study was retrospectively gathered. This allows for very large numbers to be included but relies on food-frequency questionnaires collected every two to four years and the honesty of those recruited to the study. This type of study design is rarely as good as a prospective study where you follow groups of people randomly assigned to either have low- or high-gluten diets over many years. However, prospective studies are expensive to run and its difficult to find enough people willing to take part in them.

While there is some evidence for a link between coeliac disease and type 1 diabetes, this is the first study to show a link between gluten consumption and the risk of type 2 diabetes. This is an important finding. For those who choose a gluten-free diet because they believe it to be healthy, it may be time to reconsider your food choices.

James Brown, Lecturer in Biology and Biomedical Science, Aston University

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Gluten-Free Diets Actually Increase Risks of Type 2 Diabetes - Newsweek

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Mediterranean Diet vs. Statins to Prevent Heart Attack and Stroke? New York Times A. Both the Mediterranean diet and statins can be effective in helping to lower the risk of potentially fatal complications of heart disease. A large and rigorous study published in 2013, for example, found that switching to a Mediterranean diet ...

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Mediterranean Diet vs. Statins to Prevent Heart Attack and Stroke? - New York Times

Do men and women fare better on certain diets? Not exactly: The truth of the matter is, it really depends on the person, Robin Foroutan, a dietitian and the national spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, told Fox News. A persons activity levels, family history, and genes can all determine what particular diet they are best suited for.

THE DISEASES YOU'RE MORE LIKELY TO GET AS A MAN AND WOMAN

Instead, the main difference between men and women is in calorie needs, Rabia Rahman, assistant professor of nutrition and dietetics at Saint Louis University, told Fox News. Men tend to have more lean muscle, which is more metabolically active meaning men burn more calories even at rest, and thus have higher calorie needs, she explained.

Still, there are some nutrients that deserve a bit of extra attention. While men and women should both strive to get adequate amounts of each nutrient, there are a few in particular that they should take extra care to get:

1. Calcium (Women) Women usually require more calcium for bone health, Litsa Georgakilas, an R.D. and LDN at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, told Fox News. Georgakilas noted that dairy products like milk, yogurt, and cheese are all good sources of calcium, along with foods such as almonds and fortified cereals.

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2. Zinc (Men) Zinc is important for testosterone production and immune function, Foroutan said, and can be found in sources like beef and lamb, sesame seeds, and pumpkin seeds. But dont stress too much about this nutrient: Your zinc levels would likely have to be extremely low to have an impact on your sexual function or reproduction organs, Rahman told Fox News.

3. Iron (Women) Women often require more iron to replace what is lost during menstruation, Georgakilas explained. Red meat is a good source of iron, along with certain legumes like lentils, or leafy greens. But, Georgakilas said, if youre getting your iron through plant-based foods, make sure to add in a source of Vitamin C like lemon juice or a citrus vinaigrette because iron from plant sources can be harder for the body to utilize on its own.

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4. Selenium (Men) Selenium is important for certain detoxification processes in the body, Foroutan noted, which can help men detoxify compounds, like the hormone estrogen, appropriately. Selenium can be found in foods like Brazil nuts, seafood, grass-fed beef, and organ meat.

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Do men and women fare better on different diets? - Fox News

Eating a diet lacking in healthy foods and/or high in unhealthy foods was linked to more than 400,000 deaths from heart and blood vessel diseases in 2015, according to an analysis presented at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention / Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health 2017 Scientific Sessions.

Eating more heart healthy foods, and less foods with high amounts of salt and trans fats, could save tens of thousands of lives in the United States each year, researchers said.

"Low intake of healthy foods such as nuts, vegetables, whole grains and fruits combined with higher intake of unhealthy dietary components, such as salt and trans-fat, is a major contributor to deaths from cardiovascular disease in the UnitedStates," said Ashkan Afshin, M.D., M.P.H., M.Sc., Sc.D., lead study author and acting assistant professor of global health at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle. The institute is home of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study , which conducted the new analysis. "Our results show that nearly half of cardiovascular disease deaths in the United States can be prevented by improving diet."

The new analysis was designed to pinpoint how diet impacts heart and blood vessel disease; it relied on 1990-2012 data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, food availability data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as well as other sources.

Looking at U.S. cardiovascular deaths in 2015, researchers found less-than-ideal dietary choices -- both a lack of healthier foods and an excess of less healthy foods -- played a role in the deaths of an estimated 222,100 men and 193,400 women. Researchers also evaluated the degree to which leading dietary risk factors were linked to cardiovascular disease deaths:

The team's systematic approach in quantifying how diet can contribute heart disease deaths, and in defining the healthiest diet to prevent it, are the research's key strengths, Afshin said.

The American Heart Association emphasizes the importance of eating a healthy dietary pattern that is rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry and limited in fatty or processed red meat. The association also suggests limiting sugary soft drinks, salt (sodium), saturated and trans fats.

Afshin's co-author is Patrick Sur, B.A., for the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 Risk Collaborators.

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Materials provided by American Heart Association. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

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Unhealthy diets linked to more than 400,000 cardiovascular deaths ... - Science Daily

Before I moved to Tokyo, I was always curious how Japanese women stayed slim.

When I looked up the perks of a Japanese diet, however, I came across the health benefits of exotic ingredients like miso, natto (fermented soybeans), seaweed and a whole bunch of ingredients I couldnt possibly source on a regular basis in the US.

But after moving to Japan,I wound up losing 40 pounds, and it didnt really have to do with any of those special ingredients.

It had to do with how the foods were arranged, and thats something you can totally copy no matter where you are in the world.

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See, any country you go to is going to have the same basic ingredients: animal products, grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, probiotics, etc.

The difference is how the food is combined, consumed and the thought process that goes behind the way of eating.

So, let me share with you seven diet tips I learned in Japan that helped me lose 40 pounds and keep it off no matter where I travel.

One big difference between Japanese meals and Western meals that often gets overlooked is that theyre hydrating.

In the West, if you have a sandwich with a coffee for lunch, the bread itself is dry (because water is baked out), cold cuts have zerowater content and the coffee is dehydrating.

But in a Japanese meal, the rice has been cooked in water, the vegetables themselves have high water content and traditional mealsinclude hydrating soups.

So, if youre the kind of person whos been lugging around a 2 liter water bottle and trying to stay hydrated (but feeling uncomfortable from the water sloshing around your stomach), then you should ask yourself if the meals youre eating have enough water content.

Instead of trying to hydrate your body by drinking a lot of water, its worth analyzing if the meals themselves are dehydrating or hydrating.

As I mentioned in the previous point, instead of adding even more water to your meal, go forhydrating foods that contain high water content like soups.

And if you want to have even more liquids, make sure they are ones that help aid in digestion like warm herbal teas, rather than water itself.

Most people think that Japanese portion sizes are small, but the overall volume of their meals are similar to what you would have in other countries.

The difference is, they add in more variety of dishes and have small portions of many kinds of foods.

One way you can go about this is to create a meal made out of deli portions of food.

For example, instead of having a large steak with a side of a large portion of green vegetables, which is common in the West, try having smaller portions of steak and vegetables, and add in a few more other dishes.

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By having a variety of foods, youre not only giving your body a variety of nutrients, but youre also increasing your satisfaction with the meal by experiencing many flavors and textures.

And to note, most people who are trying to lose weight tend to cut out major food groups, be it carbs or animal products or oils.

But the Japanese recognize that inner peace after a meal comes from having a bit of everything, rather than leaving your body craving a missing piece.

The Japanese are very conscious about combining foods in a way that optimizes digestion.

Whenever you have oily or fried foods in Japan, youll find grated radish as a garnish that helps the body digest oils.

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Whenever you have fried foods, aim to add in foods that ease the digestion of fatty foods. This includes mushrooms, burdock, radishes and citrus like a drizzle of lemon juice.

So if youre out with some friends and the only food at the bar is fried chicken, just ask for a lemon wedge to squeeze on top, and youre good to go.

The foods that stay constant in Japanese meals are protein sources like animal products or beans, plus rice, soup and pickles.

The other side dishes you add to the meals should be seasonal so you can enjoy what nature has to offer during their peak offering.

In food energetics, which is an Eastern way of looking at a food-mood connection, youll findthat eating seasonal foods helps your body acclimate to the climate.

So instead of eating imported foods and concentrating on nutrient density, the way to get one step closer to health is to trust the foods local to you are going to make you feel the most comfortable in your environment.

Japanese can have miso soup and fermented vegetables with each meal, which both aid the body in overall digestion.

But, you dont have to have miso soup to add in probiotics. Some sources you can easily try are cultured vegetables like pickles, kimchi and sauerkraut.

If youre not lactose intolerant, you can incorporate high quality yogurt. And if youre really into probiotics, you could try kombucha or travel around with probiotic supplements.

Just adding in a bit of probiotics to help your body with digestion is one of the easiest ways to help with your weight.

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If I was reading this for the first time and had no clue about the Japanese diet, I probably wouldnt think that any of this works because I grew up in the US, where weight loss is all about nutrient density and calories.

But weight loss can be easier than you think, and it has to do with eating a variety of foods and making sure your bodys systems are functioning smoothly.

When your functions are working optimally, its really hard for your body to be out of balance.

If youve ever felt curious about the Japanese diet, but felt like it would be too tough to get used to in your own culture, then these are the elements you can focus on to reap the same benefits.

Focus on variety, season and digestion, and youll be on your way to better health.

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Katheryn Gronauer, the Lifestyle Nutritionist, shows driven gals who are frustrated with their diets how to reconnect with the way they're meant to eat. She is the creator of FOODBOSS, the super unconventional online program to put you in ...

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In the pantheon of fad diets, there is perhaps none more hated on than gluten-free. And despite how annoying fad dieters are (if I hear one more person order a salad because theyre gluten-free and then ask for croutons), its not unreasonable to want to avoid foods that might possibly be bad for you. But is gluten actually bad for people who dont have a problem with it?

Theres no real evidence that avoiding gluten leads to tangible health benefits, assuming that you dont have celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity. But there also havent been many studies that actually asked that questiontheres just not much information out there. On Thursday we got some preliminary answers...kind of.

People who eat low gluten diets are at a higher risk of getting type 2 diabetes, according to results presented on Thursday at the American Heart Association Meeting. Its crucial to point out here that these researchers werent looking at people on gluten-free diets. The researchers were only studying associations between eating less gluten and getting diabetes. Their study size was massive199,794 peoplebecause they looked at data from three of the largest long-term studies in the United States: the Nurses Health Study, the Nurses Health Study II, and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. These studies have been following hundreds of thousands of medical professionals for decades, gathering data of all kinds about their lifestyles and overall health, with the intention of understanding more about disease risk. That gives scientists a plethora of data to figure out what lifestyle factors make you more likely to get particular diseases.

When these studies began in the 70s and 80s, though, gluten-free diets werent a thing. They were a thing if you were among the less than one percent of people with celiac disease, but beyond that most people had never even heard the word gluten. So instead the researchers had to estimate gluten intake based on the study participants' answers to questionnaires about their diet, and then look to see how many people who ate low or high gluten diets ended up with type 2 diabetes. These large data sets are perfect for finding significant links between certain lifestyles and diseases.

Theyre not so great at finding causesin that they cannot determine causality at all. For example, the data could tell you that theres a statistically significant link between eating nuts and heart health, but it cant tell you that eating nuts causes a healthier heart. It may be that people who eat nuts tend to exercise more, or that people who eat nuts also eat other foods that are good for the heart. Or maybe nuts really do directly improve your cardiac capabilitieswe just cant tell that from correlational data.

So its not that eating less gluten causes an increased risk of diabetes. Its that eating less gluten is associated with an increased risk. And theres an important confounding factor there: foods that are low in gluten also tend to be low in fiber, and eating fiber found in whole grains decreases your risk of stroke, heart disease, obesity andwait for ittype 2 diabetes. Its possible that gluten intake actually has nothing to do with diabetes risk, its that people who eat less gluten also eat less fiber, and the lack of fiber is whats affecting the likelihood of getting diabetes. We just dont know yet.

If what these researchers found has more to do with fiber intake, then at least this negative outcome of eating less gluten could be mitigated by eating foods high in fiber. There are plenty of gluten-free grains that have high fiber, like quinoa, sorghum, teff, buckwheat, and oats (especially steel-cut ones). Swapping in those grains could help compensate for a lack of wheat, barley, and rye, the three grains people avoiding gluten cannot touch.

But there are other potential problems with eating gluten-free if youre otherwise healthy, many of which come back to the way we make gluten-free substitutes for common bread products.

Because the goal is often to try to create something as close to the gluten-y counterpart as possible, companies use things like processed rice flours, potato and tapioca starch, or other refined grains that can work together to create something resembling white sandwich bread or dinner rolls. Those refined ingredients tend to lack not just fiber, but also iron, folate, vitamin B12, calcium, and other essential vitamins and minerals. Plus, as one 2010 study found that healthy people who went on gluten-free diets had significant changes in their microbiome. Wheat provides about 70 percent of two types of carbohydrates that promote growth of certain helpful kinds of gut bacteriacarbs that many other grains dont have. And again, if youre smart about your diet, you can easily eat a gluten-free diet thats also replete with the right nutrients. Substitute in high fiber, nutritious grains to compensate for the lack of vitamins and fiber. Eat more bananas, onions, and garlic to get those bacteria-promoting carbohydrates. But dont just change your diet without thinking about it.

Its easy to cut out gluten, feel better, and attribute that to the lack of gluten when really what youve done is reduced the amount of junk food you eat. Suddenly you cant eat the cupcakes that your coworker brought in, and that croissant staring at you as you order your coffee is off limits. Youre eating less sugar and fewer simple carbohydrates and wow, you feel so much better! The trouble is that long term youre likely to become deficient in other areas of your diet unless youre careful. Which many fad dieters may not be.

All this means that the upshot is more complicated than all you gluten-free dieters are idiots or see I told you that gluten wasnt bad for you! The upshot is something closer to be thoughtful about your diet. If you think you feel better not eating gluten, dont eat gluten. Whatever. Its frankly boring and obnoxious to sit around bashing other peoples food preferences to make yourself feel superior. Let people eat what they want. Just please take your diet seriously.

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How healthy are low-gluten diets anyway? - Popular Science

Over the course of my life, I have come up with great ideas for novels, only to see them published as I prepare to put pen to paper.

Game of Thrones, 2001, War and Peace, The Bible (King James Version), and now I find it happening again as I sat to write about gluten.

It just so happens that CNN came out with a very detailed article (found here) which does a truly excellent job of going through the whole history of the discovery of its role in celiac sprue, to todays toxin du jour.

I nearly gave up until I realized that most of my readers have fairly short attention spans, meaning that theyd much rather read a few paragraphs here, than an entire article.

So, without further ado, let me explain gluten.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye and barley.

Patients with celiac sprue are now recognized to have an autoimmune disorder. Yes, they are allergic to gluten, but thats not the issue. The issue is that when their body is exposed to gluten, it attacks their intestines as well.

Our intestines are covered in villi which is where all of the absorption of liquids and nutrients occur. People with sprue attack that lining leaving the intestine unable to absorb. This will produce severe diarrhea.

Theres no cure, but, by simply avoiding gluten, these individuals can lead completely normal lives.

Now, Americans are usually loathe to let only a small group of individuals enjoy the notoriety of an uncommon disease. So gluten sensitivity evolved.

Which has created an entirely new line of foods at the grocery store, which proudly display the gluten free sign.

It is literally on everything, including things that one would never have imagined to have gluten anyway, like popcorn, which is made of corn (this is true).

Im waiting to see these labels on things like bleach soon.

It also allows them to be picky at dinner parties, without having to rely on the vegetarian excuse. (Which is a choice, as opposed to having a condition.)

But the real question is how did this come about?

The CNN article says it was started in the 1980s when a paper describing gluten sensitivity emerged. This meant some people suffered GI distress, like bloating, when they ate gluten, but did not have sprue.

I have another theory.

In the 80s and especially the 90s, the Atkins diet was all the rage.

Now, in this particular diet, which I will confess I tried, and lost 20 pounds, you avoid all carbs.

The good news is it really does work. The bad news is that you are constantly in a state of ketosis, meaning you have foul breath, are cranky and have no energy. Its a bad diet.

However, I believe that partly due to its success, variants arose, like the paleo diet, that didnt exclude good carbs, like fruits and vegetables, but left out things like bread.

These diets also work, and you dont have the side effects of the Atkins diet.

Once again, things like bread, were vilified, but now it was because of the fact it contains gluten.

Finally, as alluded to in the CNN article, gluten has now been associated with numerous diseases including schizophrenia and autism.

Because, why not.

After all, those societies that for millennia used wheat as a major component of their diet were all schizophrenic and autistic.

The bottom line is this.

Bread is not a bad food. Gluten, for the overwhelming majority of people, is not bad for you.

Too much bread is bad, because it will make your ass look big in those jeans.

And thats not glutens fault.

So, until next time: Stay Skeptical!

Please sign up for my blog, comment, and like!! Also, dont hesitate to send me ideas for future topics you might like to see.

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Health Care Mythologies - ChicagoNow (blog)