A reader writes:
Be grateful that you are NOT gluten-intolerant or celiac! Whew! The possibilities are so much wider with a wheat allergy than they are with those problems. The increased diagnosis and awareness of gluten intolerance, however, is a real boon to those who cannot tolerate wheat.
Another writes:
I am weirdly pleased by this announcement – not for your sake, but for the sake of the growing numbers of people who are discovering they have celiac or who are also allergic to wheat. Celiac disease is has gone from being a crackpot idea a few years ago to a condition considered by some doctors to be among the most underdiagnosed in the population. ( I believe the estimate is now 1 in 200 people.) And it can be a very difficult condition – I know a couple of people with celiac, one a little girl whose parents thought she was dying of cancer before she was finally diagnosed at age 4, and a medical professor in his 60s who was only diagnosed a couple of years ago – before, he looked absolutely awful, easily 10 years older than he was – scrawny, blotchy, and weak. "I'm a believer now," he said, after starting his gluten-free diet.
Another:
I'm a long-time reader. I'm also a gastroenterologist and researcher specializing in celiac disease, and would like to offer the following:
Going gluten-free is absolutely necessary in patients with celiac disease. This is diagnosed via intestinal biopsy during a gastrointestinal endosocopy. This condition is increasingly common and now occurs in 1% of all individuals in the US. Physicians often fail to recognize the symptoms of celiac disease, and a recent study by our group has found that biopsy practices nationwide often fall short of the recommended practices, i.e. physicians are not submitting an adequate number of specimens during biopsy, further contributing to underdiagnosis.
At the same time, there are many people in this country who do not have celiac disease but are going gluten-free. Some, as in your case, have an allergy test that suggests a wheat allergy. Many others go gluten-free without the advice of a physician or dietician, and report improved symptoms of all sorts (such as abdominal pain and bloating, depression, and energy level). Most of these patients, when tested for celiac disease, do not have it. The scientific community is only starting to study this phenomenon, which is called "gluten sensitivity" – a medical term that hides the fact that we do not understand why or how some people feel better when restricting gluten.
I do not believe that gluten is toxic in the general population. At the same time, if someone is suffering and going gluten-free leads to an improvement, it stands to reason that he should stay gluten-free, even if he does not have celiac disease.
That said, going gluten-free has its downsides. In addition to being expensive, inconvenient, unpalatable for some, and potentially socially isolating, a gluten-free diet can be deficient in certain essential vitamins and minerals. Unlike wheat, gluten-free substances are often not fortified. I have seen patients on a long-term gluten-free diet develop vitamin B12 and other B vitamin deficiencies. For this reason, I recommend that individuals on a gluten-free diet (regardless of whether the patient has celiac disease) take a daily multivitamin and have vitamin levels checked periodically.
Another:
Going gluten-free has been a fad for some folks and a necessity for those with celiac disease. But both groups have made the world easier to live in for anyone who must or wishes to remain wheat-free. Product labels, recipes and some restaurant menus have been rejiggered in such a way to make your allergy more of an inconvenience than a huge life change.
The Dish 