Gluten free diet,higher levels of heavy metals

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One of the purported treatments for autism is the Gluten-Free/Casein-Free (GFCF) diet. Studies have failed to find a benefit, but the idea persists. Especially among those who believe that autism is a vaccine injury (it isn’t) and that mercury in vaccines contributed to the rise in autism rates (it didn’t).

So there is a huge irony in the possibility, as a recent study suggests, that people on a gluten-free diet have higher levels of mercury and other heavy metals

The study is The Unintended Consequences of a Gluten-Free Diet.


https://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/2017/ ... t+Brain%29

Research that conducted recently show that gluten free which is used as a substitute for wheat, has more toxic metals that can increase the risk of cancer, heart disease and neurological illness. Based on the studies show that the arsenic and mercury get into the rice via fertilizers, soil and water.

As the person above has pointed out, I think it's important that it's not a "gluten free diet" that raises mercury levels. It's many foods labeled "gluten-free" and food alternatives that may have mercury. Like rice, if the person above is correct.

If you go wheat-free, and only eat lean meats like turkey and chicken, along with vegetables and potatoes for carb sources, it's definitely healthy.

I've personally noticed a huge change in my mood, ability to process information, etc. from eating this way.

I have coeliac disease and no choice but to live on a gluten free diet. It's not about curing anything, it's living without the very adverse consequences of ingesting a substance my body can't process and which causes severe auto immune issues. I wish people understood what living with CD is like, and scare stories like this don't help. The study you linked focused on rice ingestion as a source of heavy metals, and there is no need for a gluten free diet to include rice. (I rarely eat it). It seems irresponsible to me to conflate rice with the whole of a GF diet and overclaiming in sensational ways like that may make CD sufferers unnecessarily anxious.

I think that the study is trying to sensationalize the concept that a gluten free diet = higher intake of heavy metals. B19 is right, what is being eaten and how it is processed are huge factors on the amount of heavy metals being consumed on this diet (and any diet). Rice does indeed absorb various heavy metals (As and Cd are but two of them). However, they do not distribute themselves evenly within the rice kernel. The brown outside coating is a repository for some of the heavy metals. Removing the outside shell to make polished white rice does affect how much heavy metal concentration is left in the processed rice.

**The reason why we even know so much about the absorption by rice has a bit to do with how heavy metals were disposed of improperly in Japan during WWII. The Japanese military used to dump Cd waste in land that eventually became rice fields for others. The rice absorbed the Cd over time and people consumed the contaminated rice. Once in the body, Cd2+ knocks out the Ca2+ in the bones causing "Itai-Itai" disease.**

In a way, the report is related to the old mercury concentration issue in large fish. Yes, mercury does bioaccumulate in aqueous organisms, especially larger ones. I can remember back when the newspapers freaked out about it and advised everyone not to eat certain fish. But, does that warrant cutting out all fish out of a diet? No, but one must be aware on the risks if one just eats shark, swordfish and tuna all of the time. Occasionally eating a large filet of fish will expose you to a small amount of mercury, but you would likely be exposed to that amount just being out in the environment and eating other things.

Thank you for that informative post QC.

The rice most commonly sold in New Zealand supermarkets is grown in Australia, where there is probably (?) less contamination and more regulation..