Nearly one-third of Americans are following a gluten-free diet, and about 1% are diagnosed with Celiac.
The top major food allergens include: peanuts, shellfish, wheat, milk, fish, tree nuts, egg, soy, and sesame. What happens to the 1/3 of American people that need more than these nine labels?
A common argument is that Celiac Disease and gluten-intolerances are not "allergies," and there is no possible way to be allergic to gluten. This may be true, as Celiac is an autoimmune disorder that affects the small intenstine and gluten-intolerances may be caused for a multitude of reasons, but we neglect to realize the effects of being exposed to the protien.
There are over 200 known symptoms caused by Celiac, some being long-term (such as congnitive imparment, peripheral neuropathy and hyposplenism). The list goes on. There is a factor that is instant and physical, for some highly symptomatic Celiacs, but commonly, the symtoms linger, and it can take weeks or months to fully recover.
Although, in the United Kingdom, gluten is reciognized as one of their 14 major allergens, with only 10% of their population avoiding gluten. Their aknowldegment of gluten is required by law to display gluten contents in any given dish or product.
For many, eating gluten-free is essential for health and well-being, but this need is not highly reciognized within the United States.
At the time of my diagnosis, I was living on the New York-Canadian border. A short 10 minute drive from my house allowed me to cross into a territory that reciognized gluten and had this effectively labelled by law. I was a new Celiac at the time, but shopping under this regulation had simplified the idea of scanning labels and web searching every item.
In 2020, the border closed, and I was forced to turn back to American shops and hope that I would be able to have a positive experience on this side of the line. I did not. Small-town America does not effectively understand "far-fetched" diets, nor did they carry certified gluten-free items, from my expereince. I reverted in time, and I was forced to feel like starting over again.
The times of trial and error, and the times of being "glutened" while trying to properly read labels, continued for two years as the border was shut tight.
The list of ingredents that have gluten is nowhere near comparable to the typical wheat, barley, rye, and trictical that we hear today.
Aside from this, there are "Certified Gluten-Free" products, meaning that a third party verified the safety within their instution and granted a certification. Only 26% of gluten-free products are labelled, this due to it being an optional decision, some companies will mislabel their products.
Distrust is created within the gluten-free community when companies self-label their products as GF, when they are not. The lack of regulation surrounding gluten, as an allergen, is due to company freedom to believe that their product is "safe" and declare it to be that way. This is not something that happens to those included on the top allergens list, which is why I believe it is negelectful to mislabel products and cause serious harm to consumers. For example, here is a list of potential mislabelled products.
In 2014, the FDA regulated gluten-free claims if the product contains less than 20 ppm (parts per million). "However, because a “gluten-free” claim isn’t required to be on a food package, it may not appear even if the food is, in fact, gluten-free," the FDA wrote. This regulation was a step in the right direction, but not one that will fully solve an issue.
Gluten is found in hundreds of products, and hides behind large names and "may contain" labels. But, the act of optionaly labelling items continues to blur the lines of what does and what does not include gluten.
FDA regulation of other allergens requires all items including, or traces of, each product to hold a notice on their nutrition label.
According to the FDA, wheat is a top allergen, and gluten is not. Therefore it is up to a comapnies discretion as to what they would like to add to their product's packaging.
Celiac and gluten-intolerances may not be "allergies," but that does not define the 200 symptoms and issues that are strung to gluten-included diets. Other countries have taken the step towards requiring gluten labels on products, and America is still a few strides behind.
In the meantime, I highly reccomend using the Gluten-Free Scanner app while shopping for unlabelled gluten-free groceries (about 75% of them).
Some more food for thought from this past Sept.
The fact that Cuba lists Gluten as an allergen but the US does not is absurd