{"id":9333,"date":"2014-12-02T03:00:20","date_gmt":"2014-12-02T09:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/?p=9333"},"modified":"2014-12-01T20:17:59","modified_gmt":"2014-12-02T02:17:59","slug":"consumer-reports-lays-down-the-facts-about-gluten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/2014\/12\/02\/consumer-reports-lays-down-the-facts-about-gluten\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumer Reports lays down the facts about Gluten"},"content":{"rendered":"

CR survey finds 63% of Americans believe a gluten-free diet would improve physical or mental health\u2014but cutting gluten isn\u2019t always more nutritious or better for most people<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"ConsumerYonkers, NY<\/strong> – Gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye, has become the latest dietary villain, blamed for everything from forgetfulness to joint pain to weight gain. But Consumer Reports (CR) is shedding light on common misconceptions about going gluten-free.<\/p>\n

The report points out that a gluten-free claim doesn\u2019t mean the product is necessarily more nutritious, it may actually be less so; that consumers may increase their exposure to arsenic by going gluten-free, and a gluten-free diet might cause weight gain\u2014not weight loss. And, most gluten-free foods cost more than their regular counterparts.Still, a new survey of more than 1,000 Americans conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center found that about a third of people buy gluten-free products or try to avoid gluten.<\/p>\n

Among the top benefits they cited were better digestion and gastrointestinal function, healthy weight loss, increased energy, lower cholesterol, and a stronger immune system.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile people may feel better on a gluten-free diet, there is little evidence to support that their improved health is related to the elimination of gluten from their diet,\u201d said Trisha Calvo, deputy content editor, health and food, at Consumer Reports. \u201cBefore you decide to ride the wave of this dietary trend, consider why it might not be a good idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Truth About Gluten<\/h3>\n

Unless someone has a gluten sensitivity or celiac disease \u2013 an autoimmune condition in which gluten causes potentially life-threatening intestinal damage \u2013 Consumer Reports says there is little reason to eliminate gluten, and doing so may actually be a disservice to one\u2019s health. Less than seven percent of Americans have these conditions.<\/p>\n

A quarter of the people CR surveyed thought gluten-free foods have more vitamins and minerals than other foods. But CR\u2019s review of 81 products free of gluten across 12 categories revealed they\u2019re a mixed bag in terms of nutrition. Many gluten-free foods aren\u2019t enriched or fortified with nutrients such as folic acid and iron as many products that contain wheat flours are.<\/p>\n

And according to CR\u2019s survey, more than a third of Americans think that going gluten-free will help them slim down, but there\u2019s very little evidence that doing so is a good weight-loss strategy; in fact, the opposite is often true. Ditching gluten often means adding sugar, fat, and sodium, which are often used to pump up the flavor in these foods; these foods also might have more calories and consuming them could cause some people to gain weight.<\/p>\n

What Consumers Can Do<\/h3>\n

For those who must cut out gluten, Consumer Reports recommends doing so in a healthy way and has some suggestions on how to do so below:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Eat grains. <\/strong>For those on a gluten-free diet or not, eating a variety of grains is healthy, so don\u2019t cut out whole grains. Replace wheat with amaranth, corn, millet quinoa, teff, and the occasional serving of rice.<\/li>\n
  2. Shop the grocery store perimeter. <\/strong>Stick with naturally gluten-free whole foods: fruits, vegetables, lean meat and poultry, fish, most dairy, legumes, some grains, and nuts.<\/li>\n
  3. Read the label. <\/strong>Minimize the intake of packaged foods made with refined rice or potato flours; choose those with no-gluten, non-rice whole grains instead. When buying processed foods, keep an eye on the sugar, fat, and sodium content of the product.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Consumer Reports\u2019 full report on gluten also features a list of a dozen gluten- and rice-free foods that passed taste-tests, but cautions consumers to be mindful of nutrition.<\/p>\n

    The full report, \u201cThe Truth About Gluten,\u201d is available online at ConsumerReports.org<\/a> and in the January 2015 issue of Consumer Reports, which hits newsstands next week.<\/p>\n

    About Consumer Reports<\/h3>\n

    Consumer Reports is the world\u2019s largest independent product-testing organization. Using its more than 50 labs, auto test center, and survey research center, the nonprofit rates thousands of products and services annually. Founded in 1936, Consumer Reports has over 8 million subscribers to its magazine, website and other publications. Its advocacy division, Consumers Union, works for health reform, food and product safety, financial reform, and other consumer issues in Washington, D.C., the states, and in the marketplace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    CR survey finds 63% of Americans believe a gluten-free diet would improve physical or mental health\u2014but cutting gluten isn\u2019t always more nutritious or better for most people Yonkers, NY – Gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye, has become the latest dietary villain, blamed for everything from forgetfulness to joint pain to weight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[4785,3765,678,2517,2828,3762,8341,8627,2992,3766,1853,3764,3365],"class_list":["post-9333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","tag-arsenic","tag-barley","tag-consumer-reports","tag-diet","tag-folic-acid","tag-gluten","tag-gluten-free-foods","tag-iron","tag-protein","tag-rye","tag-weight-gain","tag-wheat","tag-yonkers-ny"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9333"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9334,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9333\/revisions\/9334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}