Researchers compile gluten-free food database, find that gluten-free foods are over twice as expensive and don't offer additional health benefits for non-celiac consumers.

Of course I think a concession always needs to be made for incomplete understanding. Nutrition is by no means a simple field and really to get an understanding you'd almost need to view every single element of a persons diet including all allitropes and decay products of what they ingest pharmacokinetically when we haven't even been able to culture many elements of the intestinal biosphere in the lab, never the less build a complete picture of the unique inter-operation of the complex ecosystem that exists inside of every person. It feels a little like the more you learn about in any field the more an more difficult it gets to talk about that field in absolutes and I would by no means call myself an expert in anything to do with nutrition. There is clearly a lot we don't understand the case with your girlfriend kind of goes to show that. Honestly if a gluten free diet seems like it's helping someone I usually don't say a word about it. Unless I invite them over for dinner and they tell me about it five seconds before we eat... Generally people who eat that way have had to cut out a lot a bread, beer, and other high calorie foods which inadvertently makes their diet healthier anyway.So it isn't something I'm about to argue against and I don't really think it's my place to insert my personal opinions into someone else's lifestyle. As I mentioned though the advice I've given has basically only consisted of telling people what I do, and specifically to people who ask for it.

Aside from that I was just mentioning some misconceptions I see represented way too often this is the internet though where opinions run rampant including my own and everyone knows better than their peers so I can understand interpreting that as a more general statement. I didn't mean to suggest there is only one way to do things or that my way is necessarily the only or correct one, merely expressing some of my own experiences with people who cut gluten because they read once that it was good for them, then proceed to smoke a pack a day and drink themselves under the table every other night. As well as the massive number of people I've met personally who think there's some unattainable magic to weight management without just taking a look at their lifestyle.

/r/science Thread Parent Link - peerj.com