Gluten-free foods do not make you lose weight, but it has become a trend to consume them even when you are not celiac, believing that it is gluten that causes poor digestion, abdominal bloating and even weight gain because it slows down the metabolism.

In reality, it seems that people make a lot of confusion between complex carbohydrates and gluten, a protein compound found in some grains, so also in whole grain products. That is rye, oats, wheat or wheat (including Kamut and spelled) and barley, together with all products based on these flours or seeds.

Let’s take a few examples: the traditional couscous contains gluten, as it is produced from durum wheat. Seitan and wheat muscle contain gluten, because in this case gluten is added, even though these are protein foods.

Therefore corn, rice, false cereals such as quinoa, buckwheat, millet or teff, amaranth, have no gluten. And of course, the foods that provide us with starches, but that are neither cereals nor false cereals, have no gluten: for example, all tubers and legumes.

Why gluten-free foods don’t make you lose weight

• Those who follow a gluten free diet generally do not choose those cereals or complex carbohydrate sources that do not naturally have them. On the contrary, he often buys up gluten-free products such as baked goods such as breadsticks, taralli and biscuits, ice cream and so on.If celiacs have every right to choose some of these products to vary their diet, being suffering from a disease autoimmune, others can and should choose traditional products. Which, among other things, thanks to gluten provide a minimum amount of protein which reduces the glycemic impact.

Furthermore, there is no scientific evidence, research or anything else that confirms that gluten-free foods make you lose weight.

But anyway, the consumption of gluten-free foods has reached unexpected peaks, given that they are also consumed by those who are not celiac and therefore would have no particular reason to buy them.

• Yet research conducted by the University of Maryland had already established that a gluten-free diet made you fat rather than lose weight. This is because to avoid the pasta dish with a simple sauce, people often make substitutions that are more caloric. 100 grams of durum wheat bread provide 260-270 calories.
  100 grams of gluten-free bread of the same type as durum wheat bread, the sliced ​​loaf, so to speak, ranges from 290 to 320 calories. 
  Multiply this small variation by all the gluten-free foods you consume. In one day, you can exceed 200 calories by consuming the same amount of food.

• The reason for the caloric variation is often in the ingredient list.

  In fact, we find emulsifiers such as oils or lecithins, aggregating agents, added sugar. The attempt of the companies is to give the same flavor and appearance of the traditional product. But that leads to different ingredients, and a few more calories.

• Furthermore, it is not true that gluten swells the belly and therefore causes particular digestive problems to those who are not intolerant.

  A more recent research, conducted by prof. Peter Gibson, reiterates that eating foods with gluten does not create any bloating or an increase in the waistline.
  More generally, foods that contain carbohydrates such as FODMAPS (Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols) create intestinal bloating.
  In practice, the Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols would cause constipation and bloating in those who already have digestive problems.

  Peter Gibson himself has conducted research with Monash University in this regard. We can find FODMAPS in some dairy products, in fructose and therefore in fruit, in some sweetening substances such as maltylol. And yes, even in wheat.

  Gibson argues that people who consider themselves sensitive to gluten, but are not celiac, are likely sensitive to these fermentable elements , but some do not need to consume gluten-free foods.

• Finally, for those who still want to avoid intestinal bloating, it would be enough to eat balanced, that is to remember to eat a dose of proteins even when consuming carbohydrates to digest them better (and also lower the glycemic load). A plate of wholemeal pasta with courgettes and shrimp tails, for example, so gluten-free foods do not make a flat stomach and let alone drop the scales.