I have a relative who is a retired nurse practitioner, she is constantly pushing this "probiotic" stuff on us, lots of supplements.

She's healthy, but annoying.

Just too many dietary fads, and dietary evangelists out there.

and was trying to track down yet another rash by elimination of various things for a week at a time that the thing I thought it would never be because allergy in adults is so uncommon is wheat. I was disgusted because I loved to bake, loved pasta, loved wheat based cuisines.

It's mild--wheezing, itching, heartburn--but just annoying enough for me to avoid it as much as I can.

Yes, it's a fad. I sincerely hope my old body gets over it because I hate being part of a fad. Besides, wheat free substitutes are weird.

of this gluten bullshit.

While there are people who actually are gluten intolerant, they are, as I understand it, less than one percent of the population, so I'm tired of what seems like very third person claiming this.

Am I the only person who has noticed that all those people, well a good number of them anyway, who are vegetarians, or vegans, or take many nutritional supplements, who scrupulously don't consume any known gluten, and so on, really aren't quite as healthy as us omnivores?

My niece is a celiac (and the only family celiac) and I thought there might be a possibility that I could be one.

It turns out that I have pernicious anemia instead of celiac disease. I'm happy to know this because I wouldn't want to give up bread. It's quite rare.

I remember my big sister being concerned about my niece's health. It took a dozen of visits to doctors before my niece was dx'd.

I know about two dozen people who've self-diagnosed as "gluten intolerant," and every single one of them is strikingly aggressive in defending their self-diagnosis.

Curiously, they're all equally quick to rationalize a gluten-heavy snack now and then, like pizza or cupcakes, but they insist that they're really intolerant and can't stand to ingest even a gram of gluten.

Well, they can buy all the wheat substitutes they like, but if they're actually harboring another, undiagnosed condition, then those fancy breads aren't going to do them a bit of good.

Your expreience with pernicious anemia is a perfect illustration of this, and it highlights the danger of consulting Dr. Google.

And it wouldn't hurt for more people to eat less wheat (especially the processed kind) and more vegetables and fruits This is one of those fads that even though the pocketbook takes a hit, it doesn't do any actual damage.

One of the nicest shop owners I ever met had a gluten free/low carb/sugar free store that she opened after having such a hard time finding special food products to feed her son (I think he had downs syndrome). I used to go there to buy low carb baking mix and pasta before it became available in the local supermarket. I wish I still lived in the area.