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Research suggests that the gluten-free food market may grow by nearly three billion dollars by the year 2025. We’ve all seen the gluten-free train speeding up in recent years, with nearly every product from soy sauce to pasta to pizza dough now available in not one but dozens of gluten-free varieties, and major chain restaurants as well as mom-and-pop cafés and restaurants offering alternatives. Even packaging has changed on items that have always been gluten-free to now explicitly note that they are, like many kinds of cereal or yogurts. The statistics do show that one year, in particular, caused the boom, with the sales of gluten-free products rising by 81 percent between 2012 and 2013. And by 2013, surveys were finding that one-third of Americans claimed to be following a diet free of it.
It feels like nobody even knew what gluten was a decade ago, and now, you hear the word as often as you hear that same popular song on the radio. Keep in mind that many individuals who do not eat gluten don’t actually have celiac disease. So what are they after? Maybe the alleged health benefits of a gluten-free diet. Some juries are still out on whether or not going without the proteins is actually beneficial to those without sensitivities, but here are some changes in your body you might experience if you quit it.
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You may digest lactose better
If you were gluten intolerant but eating it for many years, that choice might have caused damage to your intestines. There are several diseases including celiac and giardia that damage something called the brush border of the intestines, which ultimately makes it harder to digest lactose. When you remove gluten from your diet entirely for a prolonged period of time, the intestines have a chance to finally heal, and as a result, you may find that you tolerate lactose better. Of course, you’ll want to speak to your doctor to identify the cause of your lactose intolerance, rather than just hitting the ice cream hard the moment you quit gluten.
