A Population Survey of Dietary Attitudes towards Gluten

• Published in: Nutrients 2019-06, Vol.11 (6), p.1276
• Main Authors: Croall, Iain D, Trott, Nick, Rej, Anupam, Aziz, Imran, O'Brien, David J, George, Harvey A, Hossain, Mohammed Y, Marks, Lauren J S, Richardson, Jessica I, Rigby, Rebecca, Hadjivassiliou, Marios, Hoggard, Nigel, Sanders, David S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Allergies; Attitude to Health; Celiac disease; Celiac Disease - diagnosis; Celiac Disease - epidemiology; Celiac Disease - psychology; Chronic fatigue syndrome; coeliac disease; Diagnosis; Diagnostic Self Evaluation; Diet; Diet Surveys; Diet, Gluten-Free - psychology; Encephalomyelitis; Ethics; Fatigue; Female; Food; Food allergies; Food intolerance; Food Intolerance - diagnosis; Food Intolerance - epidemiology; Food Intolerance - psychology; Gluten; gluten sensitivity; Glutens - adverse effects; Headache; Humans; Irritable bowel syndrome; lifestylers; Male; Mental depression; Middle Aged; people who avoid gluten; Polls & surveys; Population; population survey; Prevalence; Questionnaires; Sensitivity; Signs and symptoms; Teaching hospitals; United Kingdom - epidemiology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu11061276

It is unclear how the prevalence of people who believe the gluten-free diet (GFD) to be generally healthy ("Lifestylers") is impacting the overall rates of self-reported gluten sensitivity (GS). We repeated a population survey from 2012 in order to examine how attitudes towards GS have changed over time. Our survey ( = 1004) was administered in Sheffield (UK) in 2015, replicating the 2012 experiment. The questionnaire included a food frequency survey and assessed self-reported GS as well as associated variables (prevalence, current diet, pre-existing conditions, etc.). The overall rates of key variables and chi-squared analysis in comparison to the previous survey were as follows: self-reported GS was 32.8% (previously 12.9%, < 0.001), pre-existing coeliac disease (CD) was 1.2% (previously 0.8%, = 0.370), following a GFD was 3.7% (previously 3.7%, = 0.997). Self-reported GS was positively associated with some pre-existing conditions, including anxiety, depression, chronic fatigue, headaches, and other food allergies/intolerances (including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS); chi-squared analyses, all < 0.001). Over a 3-year period, the fraction of people who self-reported GS increased by over 250%. Despite this, arguably more meaningful indications of underlying physiological GS remained comparable. This research suggests that the public perception of gluten is causing a marked increase in the number of people who erroneously believe they are sensitive to it.