Why do people see gluten-free diets as a fad?

Images from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33486177

10,000 years ago in a time before the production of bread and grains every person lived a gluten-free diet however the introduction of mass cultivating of grains lead to a boom in civilisation and technology, allowing people to be more sustainable and increase the population. 

Now, 'In the UK, The pollster YouGov reports that 60% of adults have bought a gluten-free product and 10% of households contain someone who believes gluten is bad for them.'

So why is now seen as a fad diet?

'This view, that gluten isn't just bad for coeliacs but for everyone, is endorsed by bloggers, best-selling nutritionists and celebrities. A report on the US gluten-free market by Mintel values it at almost $9bn, because "the health halo surrounding the gluten-free category continues to drive general consumer interest". The singer Miley Cyrus encapsulated the mood in a tweet: "Gluten is crapppp anyway!"

It is apparent to consumers that the drive for gluten free products has been mainly endorsed by celebrities who favour a gluten free lifestyle not because they are coeliac but often due to having an intolerance or wanting to live a 'healthier lifestyle.' 

'The tennis star Novak Djokovic believes he owes his stellar 2011 season to giving up gluten. In his book Serve to Win, he describes the moment his nutritionist Igor Cetojevic gave him a slice of bread and told him to hold it against his stomach while he held his other arm out straight. Then Cetojevic pushed down on his arm. "With the bread against my stomach, my arm struggled to resist Cetojevic's downward pressure. I was noticeably weaker," the tennis star writes. "This is a sign that your body is rejecting the wheat in the bread," Cetojevic told him.'

In this way, other people believe that gluten free is a lifestyle that has been spread by word-of-mouth mainly, from sufferers discussing their symptoms and thinking 'that sounds similar to me' to celebrities we idolise losing weight and seems like a healthy way to do so to seeing on social media or reading books about the 'demon' that is gluten. 

It is hard to see why people aren't influenced.

However Fasano, an Italian scientist who has run vast tests on the effects on gluten describes how through countless studies he believes that gluten-free diets could be a 'placebo' effect. He discusses how the patients will come to him with gluten intolerant symptoms and through a 'treatment' discover their symptoms have been eradicated - although it was all in their minds. He also mentions how in an attempt to raise awareness of coeliac disease in the USA he didn't realise that the pendulum would go the opposite way, with more people than ever identifying with a gluten intolerance. In this way, it raises the argument that a gluten-free lifestyle is a way for people to 'fit in' with celebrities and disguise other, perhaps more life-threatening illnesses, with the consumption of gluten. It also brings into question who is actually 'authentically' gluten-intolerant and who, it appears, does it to lose a few extra pounds.

For instance 'Wheat Belly by William Davis, and Grain Brain by David Perlmutter, have been particularly influential in steering healthy Americans away from the "dangers" of wheat and gluten. Both books make frequent reference to Fasano's research, but he says they are full of exaggeration and generalisation ("Gluten and carbs are destroying your brain," reads the back of Perlmutter's book). Frustrated by the sensationalist coverage, Fasano published his own book last year, Gluten Freedom, written with Susie Flaherty.'

To conclude, another writer in this field discusses that he sees the gluten-free fad diets as a way of 'connecting powerful myths of past paradise with a trendy anti-corporate attitude to the food industry.'

When conducting my campaign, I must make it clear I am identifying with those who actually suffer and for those is a lifestyle choice rather than promoting it as a quick way to lose weight.