Gluten-free foods may not be healthful, study warns

As more and more people are adopting a gluten-free diet, a new study investigates the nutritional content of gluten-free products and finds them lacking.  The researchers evaluated the nutritional content of 654 gluten-free foods and compared them with 655 products that contained gluten.The study found that gluten-free products had a higher energy content than gluten-containing items. Additionally, foods with gluten contained up to three times more protein than their gluten-free counterparts.Bread, pasta, pizza, and flour all had a particularly high protein content. For children, passing up on this nutritional content may have a negative impact on their development, and the shortcomings of gluten-free products found in the study raise the risk of childhood obesity. The study also found that gluten-free breads contained considerably more lipids and saturated fats. Furthermore, gluten-free pasta was found to have less sugar than pasta with gluten, and gluten-free biscuits had considerably less protein and more lipids than their gluten-containing equivalent.