Gluten phobia and the disturbing gullibility of the post-American cattle-masses

Great Bruce Bialosky column at Townhall today.  In the course of getting a diagnosis about his digestive tract, he does some research and makes some interesting findings:

Personally, I was a naysayer on the subject of gluten as the California crazies hopped on the bandwagon of the mania. That was until my endocrinologist told me that avoiding gluten would help me control my blood sugar level while I was losing weight which aided my avoiding diabetes. Mr. Kimmel sent me to the internet to research the subject to avoid the pratfalls of other health-crazed Californians.

What I found was that gluten is a protein found in grains – particularly wheat, rye and barley. Gluten causes dough to rise and gives it a chewy texture. It is true that some people have intolerance to gluten, but it is not an allergy – it is just an intolerance. That is estimated to be one person out of every 133. Here is where the fun starts – there has never (yes, never) been a study that has shown that avoiding gluten for the other 132 people without an intolerance has any beneficial effect. But don’t try to convince the crazed people who have sworn off gluten as if it were a deadly poison.

Then I found out that corn, rice, and potatoes have no gluten. Being the cynical person I am, it occurs to me who might be behind this entire fad. Certainly there is no science behind it, but there sure is plenty of push to avoid gluten. Could it be corn, rice, and potato growers have banded together to convince the American public to eat their product and avoid those other foods? No that would never happen – would it? We never been told something was good for us and then later experienced an Emily Litella (Gilda Radner) moment – Never Mind.

He then discusses how Australian researcher Peter Gibson had to reverse himself on the position he took in a paper based on some subsequent experimentation.

Gibson did not have the “settled science” lobby breathing down his neck and redid his testing. He discovered that the reactions found in the first tests were not actually related to gluten. As stated in the article in Real Clear Science, “The rise in non-celiac gluten sensitivity seems predominantly driven by consumers and commercial interests, not quality scientific research.”

Bialosky goes on to look at new perspectives on animal fat and heart disease as well.

The point is that, just as with climate hooey, we have become a society willing to swallow the most preposterous, urgently-delivered warnings to drastically alter our entire way of life, and it's gotten to the point where ridicule and ostracism result when one doesn't get in line.

The same mindset by which we elected a radical socialist without a patriotic bone in his body.