Are Gluten-Free Diets More Nutritious? An Evaluation of Self-Selected and Recommended Gluten-Free and Gluten-Containing Dietary Patterns.

Amy Taetzsch,Amy Krauss,Susan Roberts,Sai Das,Carrie Brown,Rachel Silver

doi:10.3390/nu10121881

Amy Taetzsch, Amy Krauss + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10121881

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Abstract

Gluten-free (GF) eating patterns are frequently perceived to be healthier than gluten-containing (GC) ones, but there has been very little research to evaluate this viewpoint. The effect of GF eating patterns on dietary composition was assessed using two independent approaches. One approach compared macronutrients and typical shortfall nutrients between MyPlate example menus developed with either GC or equivalent GF foods. In this analysis, the GF menus were significantly lower in protein, magnesium, potassium, vitamin E, folate, and sodium (p = 0.002–0.03), with suggestive trends towards lower calcium and higher fat (p = 0.06–0.08). The second approach was a meta-analysis of seven studies comparing information on the nutrient intakes of adults with celiac disease following a GF diet with control subjects eating a GC diet, and differences were evaluated using paired t-tests or Wilcoxon Signed rank tests. In this analysis, consuming a GF diet was associated with higher energy and fat intakes, and lower fiber and folate intakes compared to controls (p < 0.001 to p = 0.03). After adjusting for heterogeneity and accounting for the large mean effect size (−0.88 ± 0.09), the lower fiber remained significant (p < 0.001). These combined analyses indicate that GF diets are not nutritionally superior except for sodium, and in several respects are actually worse.

Highlights

Gluten-free (GF) eating patterns have become a mainstream phenomenon during recent years, and nearly one-third of Americans report having attempted to eliminate or reduce the amount of dietary gluten they consume [1]
A comparison of calculations for MyPlate menus that included GC products or substituted GF products demonstrated that the GF menus had significantly lower amounts of several micronutrients that are defined as limiting in the U.S diet, including magnesium, potassium, vitamin E, and folate [10]
Diet is likely due to the lower consumption of grain products [19], as our separate analysis of MyPlate dietary patterns indicated similar fiber intake when GF dietary grains are substituted for equivalent GC grains including oats, which were historically excluded from gluten free-diets

Summary

Introduction

Gluten-free (GF) eating patterns have become a mainstream phenomenon during recent years, and nearly one-third of Americans report having attempted to eliminate or reduce the amount of dietary gluten they consume [1]. A small number of reports on the nutritional composition of foods based on package labels have indicated the composition of GF products are similar in energy, macronutrients, and/or micronutrients to gluten-containing (GC) products, with the exception of slightly lower protein content [8,9]. These analyses have limited translation to the nutrient composition of a GF diet, as they do not account for the nutrient consumption of people following a GF diet or what the target composition of Nutrients 2018, 10, 1881; doi:10.3390/nu10121881 www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients

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