Gluten-Free Diet: Myths and Facts (Updated 2026)

One of the immune disorders is celiac disease (CeD). CeD is not an allergy, but a chronic autoimmune disease in which the immune system abnormally attacks the lining of the small intestine in response to gluten — a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye — in genetically susceptible individuals. This leads to inflammation and damage, impairing nutrient absorption.

Untreated or active CeD can cause serious health problems, including stunted growth in children, osteoporosis, infertility, miscarriage, anemia, neurological issues, and increased risk of other autoimmune conditions or intestinal cancers.

CeD affects approximately 1% of the global population (with seroprevalence around 1.4% based on blood tests and biopsy-confirmed rates around 0.7%, varying by region, sex, and age — higher in females and children). However, many cases remain undiagnosed, potentially underestimating the true burden.

A landmark 2009 study by Rubio‑Tapia et al. (published in Gastroenterology) highlights both the potential long‑term consequences of undetected CeD and the clear rise in its prevalence in the U.S., with undiagnosed cases increasing 4‑ to 4.5‑fold over roughly 50 years. Although later studies report mixed findings on mortality risk—some noting modest increases, others finding no excess risk in certain groups or shorter follow‑ups—the evidence reinforces the importance of screening and early diagnosis.

In this article, we will discuss what could be the main causes of immune disorders such as celiac disease, focusing on multifactorial factors beyond genetics and gluten exposure.

Could It Be the Food We Eat?

Foods we eat sometimes can make us sick. The stress response in our body created by "foreign" molecules in food is called xenohormesis^[4]. They produce a stress response triggering the whole cascade of stress-related cellular signals that makes us sick. In [3], Dr. Rawlings have listed wheat and gluten products as one of such substances.

How come we have seen more immune-mediated diseases such as celiac disease in the past half century. Could it be the food we eat—wheat and gluten products? Here are some results that scientists have found:^[5]

• Could we haven't eaten wheat long enough to adapt to it as a species?
• Wheat was first domesticated in southeastern Anatolia perhaps 11,000 years ago.
• An archaeological site in Israel, called Ohalo II, indicates that people have eaten wild grains, like barley and wheat, for much longer — about 23,000 years.
• Adaptation to a new food stuff such as milk can occur quickly — in a few millenniums in this case. So if it happened with milk, why not with wheat?
• Could modern wheat varietals contain more gluten than past cultivars, making them more toxic?
• According to recent analysis by Donald D. Kasarda, a scientist with the United States Department of Agriculture. He analyzed records of protein content in wheat harvests going back nearly a century. It hasn’t changed.
• Do we eat more wheat these days?
• Wheat consumption has, in fact, increased since the 1970s, according to the U.S.D.A. But that followed an earlier decline.
• In the late 19th century, Americans consumed nearly twice as much wheat per capita as we do today.

Based on the above findings, the food we eat —wheat and gluten products—alone cannot answer our question. As Dr. Jabri has said, our default response to gluten , is to treat it as the harmless protein as is (i.e., not to respond).^[5]

Could It Be the Genes We Inherit?

Active celiac disease can cause severe health problems. you’d anticipate that the genes associated with celiac would be gradually removed from the gene pool of those eating wheat. But, that didn't happen. Scientists have found that:^[5]

• Not only were celiac-associated genes abundant in the Middle Eastern populations whose ancestors first domesticated wheat; some celiac-linked variants showed evidence of having spread in recent millenniums.
• Reason: the benefits of having these genes (survival) may have outweighed their costs (autoimmune disease).

Perhaps the best support for this idea (i.e., genes is not the culprit) comes from a place called Karelia. It’s bisected by the Finno-Russian border. Celiac-associated genes are similarly prevalent on both sides of the border; both populations eat similar amounts of wheat. But celiac disease is almost five times as common on the Finnish side compared with the Russian. The same holds for other immune-mediated diseases, including Type 1 diabetes, allergies and asthma. All occur more frequently in Finland than in Russia.

WHAT’S the difference? The Russian side is poorer; fecal-oral infections are more common. Russian Karelia, some Finns say, resembles Finland 50 years ago. Evidently, in that environment, these disease-associated genes don’t carry the same liability.

What Could Be the Answers?

Further reading: companion piece available here

Summary

For gluten-free diet, we recap as follows:

• Gluten—a protein found in wheat, barley, spelt, and kamut—could be a toxic protein to some people, which then should be avoided
• Doctors at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, were surprised to find so many elderly celiac patients with dementia and cognitive decline. A gluten-free diet has been found to help reverse their memory loss and other cognitive problems.
• Published in the BMJ on 05/02/2017, a new study found that restricting gluten can have harmful health effects on people who don’t suffer from celiac disease.^[22]
• That’s because, according to researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, going gluten-free means a person reduces their intake of whole grains, which are known to have cardiovascular-health benefits. So, cutting out gluten unless medically necessary can potentially increase a person’s risk of heart problems.
• It is possible that people develop more gluten issues because of
• Glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide, Roundup®, could be one of the most important causal factor in this celiac epidemic.  
• Recently, some researches based on the study of fishes have suggested that glyphosate may interfere with the breakdown of complex proteins in the human stomach, leaving larger fragments of wheat in the human gut that will then trigger an autoimmune response, leading to the defects in the lining of the small intestine that are characteristic of these fish exposed to glyphosate and of celiac patients.^[19,20]
• Impaired digestion and a leaky gut due to a lack of beneficial gut flora^[7]
• A gluten-free or grain-free diet can pose risks if you're healthy^[28]
• If someone is experiencing symptoms that might be related to celiac disease, that person should get tested first, before starting a gluten-free diet.
• A gluten-free or grain-free diet is not recommended for someone who is not highly sensitive to gluten. Such a diet is also unlikely to provide any benefits.

Video 1.  How to Diagnose Gluten Intolerance (YouTube link)

Photo Credit

• glutenfreegigi.com

References

1. Is oatmeal gluten-free, or does it contain gluten?
2. Leaky Gut Syndrome and Autoimmune Disease
3. "Food that Helps Win the Battle Against Fibromyalgia" by Deirdre Rawlings, N.D., Ph.D.
4. Gluten-Free Quinoa
5. The Myth of Big, Bad Gluten
6. Fibromyalgia misconceptions: Interview with a Mayo Clinic expert
7. How Does the Gut Flora Influence Our Health?
8. Th1 and Th2 responses: what are they?
9. The ‘hygiene hypothesis’ for autoimmune and allergic diseases: an update
10. Hepatitis A and Allergic Diseases (Travel and Health)
11. Health Alert – Fatty Liver Disease and Celiac Disease
• According to the book, "Recognizing Celiac Disease", 3.4% of people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease have SILENT Celiac Disease.
• Most patients DO NOT have gastrointestinal symptoms.
12. he Epithelial Gatekeeper Against Food Allergy
• Intestinal epithelial barriers play a crucial role in the maintenance of gut homeostasis by limiting penetration of luminal bacteria and dietary allergens, yet allowing antigen sampling via the follicle-associated epithelium for generation of tolerance.
13. USDA Claims Pesticide Residues in Food Is Safe—Here’s Why They’re Wrong
• Another reason for the rise of celiac disease
• Samsel and Seneff's research shows that glyphosate destroys the villi in your gut, which reduces your ability to absorb vitamins and minerals.
14. The Precautionary Principle (PP) Requires to be Interpreted Critically and Pre-emptively for its Proper Application to the Unique Risks of GM crops
15. Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance (31 citations)
• Fish exposed to glyphosate develop digestive problems that are reminiscent of celiac disease.
• Celiac disease is associated with imbalances in gut bacteria that can be fully explained by the known effects of glyphosate on gut bacteria.
• In the paper, the authors show that gut dysbiosis, brought on by exposure to glyphosate, plays a crucial role in the development of celiac disease.
16. Immune homeostasis, dysbiosis and therapeutic modulation of the gut microbiota
17. How Gluten and Modern Food Processing Contribute to Poor Health (Dr. Mercola)
18. Increased Prevalence and Mortality in Undiagnosed Celiac Disease
19. Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases
20. Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance
21. Virus May Be a Trigger to Celiac Disease, Study Says (important)
• Some viruses (i.e. reovirus ) could be a trigger in a genetically susceptible individual
• When the viral infection and exposure to proteins like gluten happen at the same time, the immune system gets confused and sees dietary proteins as being dangers
22. You Shouldn’t Go Gluten-Free Unless You Have Celiac Disease, According to a Study
23. A glance on celiac disease (Dr. Saad S Al Ani)
24. Non-celiac gluten sensitivity: literature review.
• Clinical presentation of NCGS is a combination of IBS-like symptoms (e.g., bloating, abdominal pain, bowel habit abnormalities [either diarrhea and/or constipation]), and systemic manifestations (e.g., foggy mind, headache, fatigue, depression, joint and muscle pain, leg or arm numbness, dermatitis [eczema or skin rash], and anemia)
25. Celiac Disease and Nonceliac Gluten Sensitivity—A Review
26. Unraveling the Mystery of Gluten
27. Gluten-free diet (Mayo Clinic) 
28. Is There a Downside to Going Gluten-Free if You’re Healthy?
29. It’s Not All in Their Heads: Non-Celiac Gluten Intolerance’s Immunologic Basis (Cleveland Clinic)
30. Allergy or Intolerance: How Can You Tell the Difference?