The Dangers of Going Gluten Free
Krista Hood
Article Summary
“The Dangers of Going Gluten Free” by Katherine Tallmadge, published 12 August 2015 on livescience.com
Currently, many Americans are making the switch to gluten-free foods. Some are doing this because they are allergic to gluten, whereas others are doing it for many other, non-vital, reasons. According to Tallmadge, 1% of all Americans are actually diagnosed with celiac disease, and gluten can be detrimental to their health. However, 21% of all Americans partake in gluten-free diets, coming from a Gallup poll. For those who do not have celiac disease, this diet can be unhealthy. Those who choose gluten free but do not need to can be losing the key nutrients from wheat, barley, and rye, such as iron, fiber, zinc, and so on. People are cutting out gluten all-together when all they need is to eat whole wheat with the three parts of the grain. Many refined wheat’s only have the endosperm which contains very minimal nutrition, thus providing the idea of going gluten-free would be healthier. Whole grains contain the bran, germ, and the endosperm, and majority of the nutrients come from the bran and the germ. Those who are able to and make the switch from gluten-free to whole grains could have a less likely risk of acquiring many cancers (specifically colorectal).
Article Critique
The credentials of this author allow this to be a credible source. Katherine Tallmadge is the president of Personalized Nutrition. This article she has written is under a part of the website entitled “Expert Voices”, thus giving her more of a credible voice to the public. She is a frequent writer on this website, giving her higher, well-known, esteem from the website itself. Katherine Tallmadge is the author of “Diet Simple: 195 Mental Tricks, Substitutions, Habits and Inspirations” published by LifeLine Press. Although her accolades give her a fair amount of credibleness, her educational accomplishment of a registered dietician licensure has given her the knowledge to make these sources correct. Her writing is straight forward, with no signs of being impartial. She bases all of her information off of her knowledge and studies by others; she shows no personal bias on the topic. This article is written on Live Science, a website that has articles on an array of topics by a multitude of different writers with educational backgrounds on the issue. This allows me to think this site is a credible source.
All of the studies mentioned in the article were tested within a year of the publication date. This shows the accuracy of the information. The information presented was organized well and related to each other in some way. All of Tallmadge’s facts were tied back to the evidence, whether that was scientific based or percentages based on polls taken. I believe this article holds credibility, and gives a short and sweet reasoning for why gluten-free diets can be dangerous.
References
Tallmadge, K. (2015, August 12). The Dangers of Going Gluten-Free (Op-Ed). Retrieved April 07, 2016, from http://www.livescience.com/51826-gluten-free-diets-can-be-unhealthy.html