Is this advice the same for people living in countries where fortification has been banned i.e. Sweden?
I have seen it posted on here that yo... - Gluten Free Guerr...
I have seen it posted on here that you should not go gf unless you have seen a doctor so you do not miss out on fortified 'normal' food?
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KathrynS_UK
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I think the reason for not going gf before seeing a doctor is that you have to be eating gluten for the testing to be accurate. You can then give it up if you test positive.
Yes and I agree with that. I was questioning the value of other posts that have been left telling people not to go gf as they will miss out on fortified foods.
FionaGFGAdministrator
Karthryn this site is primarily UK focused although we do discuss many Coeliac related health topics that cut across countries worldwide. You are quite right that many posts on here advise people not to go gluten free unless:
- they have a diagnosis of Coeliac Disease - or have been diagnosed by a Doctor as gluten / wheat intolerant or sensitive
- another auto-immune disease where their Dr recommends they go gluten free
For anyone to go gluten free without a medical reason risks means risking their health. Many traditional grains and cereal products contain a variety of minerals and vitamins that are vital for a healthy body. Cutting these out without a valid diagnosis means that someone could quickly become deficient in these without realising the damage they are causing themselves. In addition in the western world many cereal based products are fortified with vitamins and minerals (e.g. iron, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, folic acid, vitamin D) - cutting these out again risks health problems unless they are replaced.
All diagnosed Coeliacs should have annual health checks. Part of these checks monitors vitamins and mineral levels e.g. iron, ferritin, Vitamin D, B12, Calcium and sometimes Zinc and Magnesium.
If someone jumps on a gluten free diet without guidance from a medical Doctor they risk not having health checks to monitor their key vitamins and minerals and depleting their health.
If someone choses to go gluten free without a medical diagnosis they should do so after consultation with a doctor and nutritionist so that they can have regular health checks and their vitamin and mineral levels are monitored. They'll also then be advised on how to ensure they get the vitamins and minerals they would've normally received from grains from naturally gluten free foods.
FionaGFG, I can see where you're coming from - any diet which excludes a whole category of foods means you will probably have to replace whatever positive dietary elements you'll be missing - but if you don't mind, I think there's room for some sensible middle ground between do and don't. 
My understanding is that many (most?) people who feel the need to be gf, including coeliacs, receive little guidance or support from their doctors on related matters. Those of us who are in this position need to do what we can to feel better. My gp wouldn't give me a 'health check' in a month of Sundays.
Lots of people won't be absorbing vitamins before they go gf, so for those people the gf diet will provide them with better nutrition than before. And is there any reason to believe that a gf multivitamin isn't sufficient to make up the difference? I wasn't able to improve my low vitamin D until I was gf. It hovered around 10-12 (severe deficiency), despite taking a loading dose (which I had to research and buy myself) for three months, and six month after I went on a gf diet it went up to 100, even months after I had stopped taking the supplements.
I agree that extreme/exclusion/frivolous diets can be unhelpful, but for me the provisos are 1) make sure you do your research and take into consideration the nutritional issues you're letting yourself in for, 2) realise that you can't and won't be diagnosed with cd while you're on the diet, so be prepared to get as far as you can with your doctor before you cut out gluten, 3) if you think it will help at all, include your gp and agree a plan on how to go forward if you see improvements on the diet and 4) give yourself a time limit, and if you're not getting any joy from being gf, consider that it might not be helping.
People with autoimmune conditions or nonspecific symptoms are often held accountable for our own health problems (fussy, lazy, hypochondriac, anxious, etc) and then when we think we finally have a grip on what's causing the problems, we get little help from doctors, and sometimes the more we urge them to help us the more neurotic we're thought to be. In pursuit of health and well-being, it's often necessary to do some personal experiments, and I'm sure a lot of people here have found the courage to press their doctors for further action only after seeing the improvements a gf diet can bring.
Sorry for writing a tome.
And sorry for the big block of text. Somehow indents don't show up.
I think that what was being said, although badly phrased, was that going onto a very restricted diet isn't something a person should do lightly. A gluten free diet can be extremely healthy but needs thinking through. Removing a major food group has a knock on effect to other foods that you eat. No longer having sandwiches every day can, if like me, mean you no longer have tuna or cheese as often and can lead to other deficiencies. I've also heard of people buying 'freefrom' foods because they are under the impression that they are healthier...whereas the opposite is often true, especially with gf breads and biscuits etc.
agree entirely about check ups; my medical notes just state I feel 'better not eating gluten so I'm not eating it any more' there are no new appointments, no nutritionalist to see and no follow up blood tests.
The point I was really making I suppose was if you're already relying on the food industry to ensure you have enough (very selective) vitamins you are already not eating well. Any fortification is a sales ploy so you don't analyse the ingredients (sugar etc) too much.
Yes, spot on.
The reason some foods for coeliacs are fortified is because coeliac disease is also called malabsorption syndrome. It's such an insidious disease that we don't know that other people don't feel as wretched as we do. It's why we have blood tests, DEXA scans ets.
Ditching the gluten on diagnosis didn't just result in feeling better but also put a halt to the daily 40 plus trips to the toilet.
I for one didn't rely on the food industry to provide me with packaged food which probably resembles cardboard, but eat/ate a well-balanced diet.
