Endurance sports nutrition advice for athletes sensitive to wheat

Suddenly it seems as if the phrase “Gluten-Free” is printed on every third product package at the supermarket—or at least the natural foods market. Americans are now reportedly spending $2 billion on gluten-free products. What is gluten, anyway, and why are so many people trying to avoid it?

Gluten is essentially wheat protein. More exactly, it is a composite of two plant proteins and starch that is found in the greatest abundance in wheat and is also present in smaller amounts in other grassy grains such as rye and barley. Between 0.5 and 1 percent of the population experiences an inappropriate immune response to the protein, which causes such symptoms as diarrhea, gastrointestinal complaints, weight loss, and anemia. This condition, known as celiac disease, is genetic. Medical research has identified two gene polymorphisms—known as DQ2 and DQ8—that affect white blood cell behavior in a way that creates a predisposition for the disease.

Running The Numbers

One percent of the population is a small figure. It cannot support the large number of gluten-free products now packing the shelves of health food markets. There is clearly a huge demand for gluten-free foods among people who do not have celiac disease. Why? Because there is a rapidly growing population of people who believe they have a milder condition that is variously referred to as gluten intolerance, gluten sensitivity, and gluten sensitivity enteropathy.

The mainstream medical establishment does not recognize the existence of gluten sensitivity, perhaps largely because it is not even able to detect it. A PubMed search of the term “gluten intolerance” yields only research on celiac disease proper. A search on the term “gluten-sensitivity enteropathy” yields scores of studies, but a closer look reveals that this term is used synonymously with celiac disease within the mainstream medical establishment. For example, in a recent Spanish screening study for gluten sensitivity enteropathy involving 1,868 subjects, only 15 were found to have the condition.

Yet there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that some form of non-celiac gluten sensitivity does exist. The typical gluten-free dieter is someone who discovered a pattern of suffering from gastrointestinal issues after eating gluten-containing foods and found relief upon switching to a gluten-free diet.

The Blame Game

Even recognizing that a non-celiac form of gluten sensitivity does exist, the current gluten-free diet trend is no doubt larger than the true prevalence of gluten sensitivity in the population. In other words, gluten is probably being scapegoated to some degree, perhaps because the preceding low-carb diet trend trained the public to think of grains as evil foods.
 
Lately many parents are even blaming gluten for causing or exacerbating the symptoms of autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in their children. Is there any scientific evidence of such a link? The short answer is no. In a recent Newsweek article on the gluten-free diet trend, Peter Green, director of the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University, is quoted as saying, “All this gluten intolerance, and using the diet to treat autism, ADHD … there's no documented scientific reason for that at all.” Experts like Green attribute the many anecdotal reports of improvement in autistic and ADHD kids placed on gluten-free diets to a placebo effect.

Gluten and Your Endurance Sports Nutrition Plan

If you suffer from regular GI distress with no known cause, it can’t hurt to try a gluten-free diet. How should you adapt your marathon training diet or triathlete diet? Simply remove all foods containing wheat, rye, and barley from your endurance sports nutrition plan and replace them with alternatives made from corn, rice, millet, etc. This is trickier than it may sound, as gluten is hiding in all kinds of foods where you would not expect to find it, such as some brands of soy sauce. To help you, check out one of the several popular gluten-free diet books currently on the market. But don’t be surprised if you don’t experience any relief, as the balance of evidence suggests that non-celiac gluten sensitivity is more hype than reality.