Originally published August 2 2005
Gluten-free foods emerging as increasingly popular
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Gluten-free products intended for people with a wheat allergy are finally being introduced en mass in our nation's supermarkets.
For about 2 million Americans, the bread basket used to be filled with a tasteless, brick-like loaf that crumbled when sliced.
That was the bleak world of food Bernie Mansbach found 25 years ago when he was diagnosed with celiac disease, or an intolerance to a wheat protein called gluten.
Now manufacturers are rolling out gluten-free equivalents of everything from pizza crusts to doughnuts, buns and cakes.
Once banished to the dusty bottom shelves of obscure grocers, the gluten-free revolution is surfacing in the aisles of major supermarkets.
The retailing giant is requiring suppliers to identify whenever gluten is used in its private-label products, said Bob Anderson, general merchandise manager of the company's Great Value brand.
Last year, the National Institutes of Health held its first conference on the condition, concluding the prevalence of celiac disease in the United States was much wider than previously believed.
The only way to manage the condition is to banish gluten --- a trickier feat than one might expect.
A bowl of spaghetti simply wasn't worth the consequence for Mansbach --- but he also wasn't ready to resign himself to the dreary world of rice cakes.
Mail-order food became routine; stashed in his freezer at any given time are a half-dozen loaves of bread from a Canadian company called Kinnickinick.
But these days, stores carry a range of gluten-free cookies, pastas and bread, using substitutes like rice flour, arrowroot, potato and tapioca.
A loaf of gluten-free bread, for example, costs $3.99 compared to 99 cents for a loaf of house brand wheat bread at Hannaford Supermarket in New York.
Whole Foods Market lists more than 800 gluten-free items, up from about 250 seven years ago.
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