How healthy is a gluten-free diet?

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• chez christina

  Christina Hubbeling

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The main thing is gluten-free: the range of alternative types of flour is growing. In the Zeitgeist kitchen, varieties like banana flour are popular. But is a diet without gluten healthy at all?

Until recently, spelled or chickpea flour was considered something special, but these alternatives to wheat flour have now become commonplace. The current favorite product of the lifestyle community is called banana flour. He has a legendary aura: miracle flour is supposed to be a true superfood that provides us with many valuable nutrients and tastes really good at the same time – like wheat flour, with a hint of banana and peanut. Above all, it should be good with a conscious diet. And it’s gluten free.

Only 1 percent really have celiac disease

Gluten is a hot word in modern nutrition. More and more people do without it. But does that make any sense? Is this nutritional hype healthy?

Only people who have celiac disease have to consistently avoid gluten. Because with this autoimmune disease, the consumption of gluten leads to serious side effects. Those affected – around 1 percent of the Swiss population – should under no circumstances eat foods containing gluten.

From a medical point of view, however, the remaining 99 percent who are not proven to have celiac disease are advised not to use gluten altogether, which “outweighs the potential disadvantages and risks of a medically unfounded gluten-free diet,” as the Food Allergy Working Group of the German Society for Allergology and clinical immunology (DGAKI) in one position paper writes. The reason given for this is, among other things, that a complete renunciation of a fat metabolism disorder, an undersupply of nutrients, constipation (“constipation”) up to a possible rectal disease can arise.

Anyone who eats pathologically “healthy” runs the risk of developing an eating disorder. The authors emphasize that if there is a suspicion of celiac disease, a comprehensive medical examination should be carried out – they advise against self-diagnosis. However, there is nothing to be said against restricting the consumption of foods containing gluten.

Is banana flour suitable as a supplement?

The trendy green banana flour is actually healthy: it contains potassium, magnesium and vitamin C. Because it has a low glycemic index, it has a satiating effect for longer. It is said to even raise serotonin levels and thus improve mood. This flour is made from still unripe, peeled and dried plantains. It can be used in the kitchen like conventional household flour and replaced 1: 1 in terms of quantity. It is suitable for baking cakes or bread as well as for tying food.

However, if you are looking for a climate-neutral diet as close to your heart as possible, you should look for local wheat from regional cultivation and local production in search of a wheat flour alternative and, for example, rely on buckwheat, corn, millet or linseed flour.