James Hamblin, M.D. with a good piece on gluten research for The Atlantic:
In fact, not only does gluten not cause heart disease in the general population, but people who go gluten-free seem to actually be putting themselves at an increased risk of heart disease, insofar as it means eating fewer whole grains. This discovery is among those slowly painting a picture of a diverse array of harms that come with blindly avoiding gluten. The finding comes from a group of prominent nutrition and gastrointestinal researchers at Harvard and Columbia. In a prospective cohort study in the latest BMJ, they concluded that people without celiac disease “should not be encouraged” to adopt gluten-free diets.
— James Hamblin, Science Has Begun Taking Gluten Seriously
The article and the news it reports should surprise no one, but it’s notable for the opportunity it provides to view the backfire effect1 in practice. The comments section is raging with anti-gluten crusaders who violently refute the possibility that scientific studies have any weight in comparison to their own beliefs and perceived experiences.
For another good explaination of this, see this Oatmeal comic. ↩︎