Almost a third of Americans avoid gluten. About 1% of them actually have a medical need to.

Gluten-free foods have swept across America. Millions of consumers are convinced that a diet devoid of gluten—a protein found in wheat, barley and rye—is the cure-all for everything from dementia and schizophrenia to diabetes and obesity. This fear has become so widespread that the market for gluten-free foods is estimated to hit $15 billion by the end of this year, according to the research firm Mintel. Food marketers have even slapped the gluten-free label on products that never would have contained it: For instance, Hint sells fruit-flavored bottled water that it proclaims as gluten-free. No kidding.

Countless nutritionists and health reporters have called out the gluten-bashing for what it is: overblown. Yet the fad speaks to a long-held American tendency to value foods based on what they lack, rather than on, say, their taste, seasonality or overall nutritional value................Read more

Source: THE WALL STREET JOURNAL