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Reasons to avoid gluten

Have you decided to give up gluten? There are a number of reasons why you might:

digestive health.

People diagnosed with celiac disease (known as coeliac disease in the UK) are instructed to remove gluten from their diet. That means anything that contains wheat, barley or rye – and usually oats too. This may also help people diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

skin health.

People with dermatitis herpetiformis are also advised to avoid gluten – and some studies have found that people with psoriasis are also helped by a gluten free diet. I have also heard that eczema can be helped in this way too.

mental health.

‘Brain fog’ is often cited as a symptom that people with CD suffer pre-diagnosis. Depression may be relieved with a gluten free diet – and many, many parents report that the behaviour of children improves when diagnosis of CD is made, and a gluten free diet started. But there are other (sadly, less reversible) reasons to exclude gluten. In some cases of autism, a gluten-free casein-free diet can help; schizophrenics are also advised that a gluten free diet can help.

allergic reaction.

While not necessarily celiac, some people can have an allergy to the protein found in wheat – as to any other food – that requires a wheat-free diet (which need not necessarily be a gluten-free diet).

Whichever is your reason for choosing to avoid eating gluten, I hope that you find something useful in this blog. If you’re new to avoiding gluten, you could start with: