Is gluten from wheat bad for you?

Charlyn Fargo, Contributor

One of the latest diets focuses on avoiding gluten from wheat, whether you have celiac disease or not. One of the latest books touts that wheat makes us fat, is addictive, and causes everything from heart disease and diabetes to obesity. Modern wheat supposedly is worse than table sugar because it's been altered by selective breeding.

The truth is, hybrid varieties have been developed for wheat to be sturdier and have higher yields, better quality and greater resistance to disease. There's no clinical evidence that differences between today's wheat and older varieties have adverse effects on our health, according to the University of California, Berkeley Wellness Letter (August, 2012).

Any single food won't make us fat. Per capita wheat consumption in the US has dropped since 2000, while obesity rates have increased. As to diabetes, whole grains (including wholewheat) have been linked with a reduced rate of diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Wholewheat actually helps people control weight and even lose weight if it replaces refined-wheat products.

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The bottom line is there aren't good and bad foods - just foods to choose more or less often. Wheat isn't bad for you. Unless you have celiac disease or another type of gluten intolerance or sensitivity (if you're not sure, have your doctor test you for it), there's no reason to avoid wheat. No doubt, many of us eat too much refined wheat in the form of cookies, cakes, pizza and other foods loaded with sugar, fat and sodium.

Cutting down on those wheat products can help people lose weight and improve their overall diet, provided they substitute lower-calorie foods. But 100 per cent wholewheat and other whole-grain products can fit well into a healthy diet, as can many refined-wheat dishes that include nutritious ingredients, such as pasta with vegetables. The motto remains - everything in moderation, balance and variety.

In one controlled trial, in which 25 participants were required to eat similarly excessive calories, body fat increased equally in all groups, regardless of whether people were consuming low, normal or high levels of protein.

Bottom line: whether your goal is to lose, maintain or gain weight, do make sure each meal totals up adequate protein from beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains and vegetables, as well as dairy, seafood, poultry and meat if you choose them.

But don't think of protein as some magic food that goes only to muscle; excess calories from any source still promote excess body fat. This is important, since the real link to increased risk of cancer and Type 2 diabetes is not weight itself, but excess body fat.

Charlyn Fargo is a registered dietitian at Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, website at www.creators.com.

Calories from protein

Q: Eating more calories than I should won't cause a weight problem as long as they're largely from protein, right?

A: No; if you eat too many calories, you will add body fat, even if the calories include lots of protein. It's true that protein is important for weight management and healthy body composition.

Studies now show that protein helps keep hunger satisfied longer than either the carbohydrate or fat that we eat. What's more, getting enough protein is important to build and maintain lean body tissue like muscle and to maintain metabolic rate, which is probably important to long-term weight control.

- Information courtesy of the American Institute for Cancer Research