Gluten-free diet in French adults without coeliac disease: sociodemographic characteristics, motives and dietary profile

Abstract

The number of people avoiding gluten is growing in many Western countries. However, little information is available on their sociodemographic and dietary profiles. We aimed to describe sociodemographic, behavioural and dietary profiles of participants avoiding gluten in the NutriNet-Santé cohort. Participants of the NutriNet-Santé cohort – excluding coeliac patients – who completed a questionnaire about food exclusions, with complete data on sociodemographic characteristics and dietary intake were included (n 20 456). Food group consumptions and nutrient intakes according to self-reported avoidance of gluten were estimated using ANCOVA adjusted for age, sex and daily energy intake. Based on principal component analysis, three dietary patterns (DP) were identified. Association between DP and avoidance of gluten was investigated using multivariate logistic regression. All data were weighted on the French census. A total of 10·31 (95 % CI 9·90, 10·73) % of the participants declared avoiding gluten, of which 1·65 % totally. They were more likely to be women, older persons, non-smokers, to have a lower educational level and declared more food intolerances. They had higher consumption of fruit, vegetables and lower consumption of dairy products, salty/sweet and fatty foods and alcohol. After adjustments on confounders, a healthy dietary pattern was positively associated with total gluten avoidance (ORQuintile5vsQuintile1 = 14·44, 95 % CI 8·62, 24·19). Our study highlighted that, in this population, individuals who avoid gluten from their diet tend to have a diet more favourable to health. These results can serve as a basis for future studies investigating the potential consequences of a gluten-free diet in non-coeliac population.

Gluten-Free Products: From Dietary Necessity to Premium Price Extraction Tool

“…A 2017 article of the Financial Times [13] reported that the global gluten-free retail market has grown from $1.7 billion in 2011 to $3.5 billion in 2016, and is forecast to grow to $4.7 billion in 2020, with the U.S., Italy and the U.K. leading this growth. While such growth positively affects the availability and variety of GF products, it nevertheless may be associated with a negative fact—namely that the market growth has been triggered by the growing number of non-celiac people choosing GF products on the assumption that avoiding gluten can have positive health effects and helps in losing weight [14,15]. While there is no evidence of a GFD as a healthier option for the general population [16], its risks instead have been widely investigated [8,17,18].…”

Organic food consumption and gluten-free diet, is there a link? Results in French adults without coeliac disease

“…These results appear consistent with the motives reported by individuals avoiding gluten, including health: individuals without CD who avoid gluten are concerned by health and adopt this behaviour considered healthier (6,7,(9)(10)(11) . In our previous study, gluten avoiders reported as main motives are physical well-being (26 and 39 % for total and partial avoiders) and belief of a long-term health impact (22 and 28 %, respectively) and the total avoiders also reported allergy and/or intolerance (20 %) (24) . It seems that gluten avoidance, like the consumption of organic food (42)(43)(44) , belongs to a global attitude for a healthy diet.…”

“…It is important to identify their behaviours to be able to clearly determine their impact on health. In previous studies, including ours (24,25) , it has been shown that individuals avoiding gluten adopt an overall healthier food profile with greater consumption of fruits and vegetables, and fewer sweetened beverages. Christoph et al (25) also reported that individuals considering organic products healthy were also four times more likely to consider gluten-free food healthy, like those who favour unprocessed products (six times more).…”

Biostimulant Effects of Glutacetine® and Its Derived Formulations Mixed With N Fertilizer on Post-heading N Uptake and Remobilization, Seed Yield, and Grain Quality in Winter Wheat

“…Because they contribute to baking quality, a balanced mixture of these components is crucial (Barak et al, 2013). However, these proteins are also related to celiac disease (Gell et al, 2017;Perrin et al, 2019) and especially the α-gliadins (Sollid et al, 2012;Zörb et al, 2013). A downregulation of these proteins, while still maintaining dough proprieties, might be a solution for celiac disease patients (Altenbach et al, 2020).…”