Gluten Privilege

I’ve sat down half a dozen times to write this post. Every time I bump up against the thought that it really doesn’t matter. Sure, gluten can be troublesome and yes, gluten sensitivity is a real thing. And there is certainly data to support avoiding it for myriad reasons including the sheer fact that we don’t produce the enzymes to properly break it down, the likelihood that it causes neuro-inflammation, and the most obvious; celiac disease.1

But I don’t believe that the world needs another white woman telling them what to eat or that one of the most commonly used and cheaply available ingredients is causing health problems. There are plenty of wellness folks spreading that message and doing it quite well. So what does a nutritionist write about if not what foods to avoid, how to maximize wellness, or new fad diets? What do I have to offer on the subject of gluten if not to tell you what to eat or scare you into some amount of food shame?

Let’s start here; there’s a huge amount of privilege in eating gluten-free. And a huge amount of privilege in understanding what some of the issues are around eating it. This makes me incredibly uncomfortable. Here I am with two degrees, time on my hands, plentiful accessibility to grocery stores (there are 3 major grocery retailers within a half mile of my apartment), and the added bonus of being born in a place that values food… who the hell am I to put added pressure on anyone to avoid anything?2 Our entire (European/modern) food system is built on the consumption of large amounts of grain, mainly wheat, and to move away from that is to push hard against what is available for most folks. My invitation is this; instead of focusing so hard on making the world gluten-free or agonizing over whether to eat the stuff, can we engage in conversations that nourish the food lives of our communities? 

Would I love it if everyone had access to a whole foods, limited grain, veg heavy diet? Absolutely. Is telling someone to avoid gluten helping to achieve that aim? Nope. 

Secondly; the news is full of the last five years and all the trauma that has come with it; Trump, Kavanaugh, RBG, Roe, Floyd, Taylor, mass shootings. The week I’m starting this the data was published that guns are the leading cause of death for children.3 The week I’m editing it for publication, the most recent murder victim of police brutality is being buried. There's a literal war on not to mention the continued careening of rampant capitalism. Who the fuck cares if we eat gluten? Not me. Not in this moment and not for the past few months. Life happens. The world happens. And lots and lots of shit happens. Your stress over whether to eat gluten or not is (outside of celiac disease and auto-immunity) adding to the symptoms you experience when you eat the stuff due to the impact of stress on the microbiome and thus on gut permeability.4,5 

I know. I hear you. I should be over here giving reasons to not do it. To not eat that croissant or holiday cookie. And I can do that. As I said, the data is there. But how useful is that? How helpful is it for me to give you that information when so many others are doing just that? Making you second guess every bite you take or catastrophising what you eat is not how I imagined my career working out. I went to school to help people. Both degrees. And somehow that ain’t it.

So should you avoid gluten? Maybe. Are there bigger issues in the world? Yes. Do I care more about people enjoying their lives, having access to nutritious food, and not dying violent deaths while the republican minority continues to plot its takeover? Uh-huh.

I also care about your suffering. Those headaches, fatigue, upset tummies, brain fog, joint pain, and skin issues…. Yep. Those could all be related to gluten. Or stress. Or dysbiosis. Or any combination of things. It may be worth cutting out gluten for a month and seeing if you get better. It may also be too stressful to upset your life that intensely, and THAT'S OK. Here’s the thing, the issue with gluten is that it adds to our overall inflammatory burden which can tip us over the edge or fill our tolerance bucket to overflowing. The environment, our stress levels, genetics, sugar, and toxins like pesticides and herbicides all contribute to that bucket. Cutting down on any of them reduces the overall burden. This is likely why eating gluten on vacation doesn’t cause the same level of issues for you. On the flip side, eating gluten-free can have a negative impact on your microbiota if done unnecessarily by impacting the butyrate-producing bacteria that we need for intestinal health.4 Despite what you’re seeing in the media, eating gluten-free is not the panacea that food companies would like you to believe. Like most things, it’s more nuanced and subtle. 

So my radical idea is this; see to the other parts of your life that are increasing inflammation before you launch into GF living. Take exquisite care of yourself and those around you. But do it with awareness of food privilege and the wider world. 

References:

1. Fasano, A. All disease begins in the (leaky) gut: role of zonulin-mediated gut permeability in the pathogenesis of some chronic inflammatory diseases. F1000 Research. Published January 31, 2020. 

2. Bowen, S. Brenton, J. Elliott, S. Pressure Cooker: Why home cooking won’t solve our problems and what we can do about it. Oxford University Press. Published March 1, 2019. 

3. Gebeloff, R. Ivory, D. Childhood’s Greatest Danger: The Data on Kids and Gun Violence. The New York Times. Published December 14, 2022.

4. Caio G, Lungaro L, Segata N, et al. Effect of Gluten-Free Diet on Gut Microbiota Composition in Patients with Celiac Disease and Non-Celiac Gluten/Wheat Sensitivity. Nutrients. 2020;12(6):1832. Published 2020 Jun 19. doi:10.3390/nu12061832

5. Karl JP, Hatch AM, Arcidiacono SM, et al. Effects of Psychological, Environmental and Physical Stressors on the Gut Microbiota. Front Microbiol. 2018;9:2013. Published 2018 Sep 11. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2018.02013