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. 2020 Jun 26;12(6):1892.
doi: 10.3390/nu12061892.

Living with Gluten and Other Food Intolerances: Self-Reported Diagnoses and Management

Magdalena Araya  1 , Karla A Bascuñán  1   2 , Dana Alarcón-Sajarópulos  1   3 , Francisco Cabrera-Chávez  3 , Amaya Oyarzún  1 , Alan Fernández  2 , Noé Ontiveros  4
Affiliations

Living with Gluten and Other Food Intolerances: Self-Reported Diagnoses and Management

Magdalena Araya et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

People suffering from a food intolerance (FI) tend to initiate restrictive diets such as a gluten-free diet (GFD), to alleviate their symptoms. To learn about how people live with these problems in daily life (independent of their medical diagnoses), 1203 participants answered a previously validated questionnaire and were divided into: G1 (those self-reporting symptoms after gluten consumption) and G2 (those informing no discomfort after gluten consumption). Self-reported clinical characteristics, diagnoses and diets followed were registered. Twenty nine percent referred some FI (8.5% in G1). In G1, self-reported diagnoses were more frequent (p < 0.0001), including a high proportion of eating and mood disorders. Diagnoses were reported to be given by a physician, but GFD was indicated by professional and nonprofessional persons. In G2, despite declaring no symptoms after gluten consumption, 11.1% followed a GFD. The most frequent answer in both groups was that GFD was followed "to care for my health", suggesting that some celiac patients do not acknowledge it as treatment. Conclusion: close to one third of the population report suffering from some FI. Those perceiving themselves as gluten intolerant report more diseases (p < 0.0001). A GFD is followed by ~11% of those declaring no symptoms after gluten ingestion. This diet is perceived as a healthy eating option.

Keywords: celiac disease; food intolerance; gluten sensitivity; gluten-free diet.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart and description of self-reported food intolerances in the study groups. Celiac disease, CD; wheat allergy, WA; non-celiac gluten sensitivity, NCGS; dermatitis herpetiformis, DH; no diagnosis, ND; gluten free diet, GFD.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Self-reported gastrointestinal and extraintestinal symptoms associated with gluten consumption.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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