大型超市里,無麩質(zhì)(gluten-free)食品越來越普遍,許多好萊塢明星和健身達人對無麩質(zhì)飲食推崇備至,甚至貼上減肥的標簽,盡管這種區(qū)分標簽的初衷是為了應對對麩質(zhì)過敏的人們。不過無麩質(zhì)飲食真的有益健康嗎?
測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識:
row upon row of 鱗次櫛比;一排排
gluten-free 無麩質(zhì)(gluten:面筋;麩質(zhì))
proliferation 擴散;分芽繁殖[pr?,l?f?'re??n]
coeliac disease 乳糜瀉(患者進食麥麩后會出現(xiàn)嚴重腹瀉)
autoimmune 自體免疫的[,??t???'mju?n]
tummy 肚子;胃['t?m?]
gluten protein 面筋蛋白
fermentable 可發(fā)酵的;沸騰的[f?'m?nt?bl]
culprit 罪魁禍首['k?lpr?t]
polyols 多元醇
digestive 消化的;助消化的[da?'d?est?v; d?-]
gut 腸子,消化道[g?t]
carbohydrate 碳水化合物;[有化] 糖類[kɑ?b?'ha?dre?t]
elimination 淘汰;除去[?,l?m?'ne???n]
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By Charles Wallace
* * *
Walk down the aisles of any high street supermarket these days and there is often a section in the baked goods aisle that you rarely saw until recently: row upon row of gluten-free products such as biscuits, pasta and even bread.
What is behind this proliferation of gluten-free goods, a market worth an estimated more than $8bn a year in the US alone? After all, people with coeliac disease — those who have an autoimmune disorder that renders them unable to process gluten, a protein in certain grains — represent a tiny fraction of the population, estimated at about 1 per cent. Why have so many gone gluten-free?
A few years ago, doctors began describing a new condition that they called non-coeliac gluten sensitivity. People with this condition did not have the genetic predisposition that causes coeliac disease, but eating food that contained gluten nonetheless gave them upset tummies, including gas and bloating. When they went gluten-free, the symptoms subsided. However, doctors hotly debated whether such an illness really existed.
Recent research has cast doubt on whether the gluten protein is the real cause of the problem. According to Peter Gibson, a professor of gastroenterology at Australia’s Monash University, the culprit may not be a grain protein at all but a group of carbohydrates called Fodmaps (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols).
Fodmaps include fructans, which are present in wheat but also, for example, in onions, broccoli and cabbage; galactans, which are found in beans and peas; and polyols, which occur in apples and peaches. Lists of high Fodmap foods can be found online.
Prof Gibson, who studied people who believed they were sensitive to gluten, found that many had awful digestive symptoms when they ate a normal diet. However, when they started eating gluten-free foods, their symptoms did improve. “They improved from a bad level to a pretty awful level, but it was still better than it was,” he noted.
When the same people were put on a low Fodmaps diet, their symptoms all became substantially better.
So if it is not gluten that is causing the problem, why do people feel better when they eat gluten-free food? It appears that, in order to achieve a low gluten level, food manufacturers switch to ingredients that are also low in Fodmaps such as rice and corn flour.
By going gluten free, people are also unknowingly going lower Fodmaps.
Fodmaps tend to make the gut retain water and these carbohydrates are fermented by bacteria in the gut, a process that produces gas. Both the retained water and the gas cause stretching, which can be extremely painful and has been given the vague name of irritable bowel syndrome.
Of course, some people do probably have undiagnosed coeliac disease, for whom gluten is the real villain. But for everyone else, the good news, according to Prof Gibson, is that you do not have to go Fodmaps-free to relieve the symptoms: just lower the amount of them in your diet.
For example, he found that people could eat a slice of wheat bread a day without causing problems — just not two or three slices. “It’s not an elimination diet,” he says. “You don’t have to get rid of things, just reduce them.”
請根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內(nèi)容,完成以下自測題目:
1. What's the percent of people with coeliac disease in the US?
a. 8%
b. 3%
c. 1%
d. 10%
2. What is the real culprit behind stomach ache according to Peter Gibson?
a. fodmaps
b. grain protein
c. protein
d. beans
3. What made people with awful digestive symptoms feel better in fact?
a. lower gluten
b. gluten free
c. higher Fodmaps
d. lower Fodmaps
4. How to relieve the stomach ache for the people without coeliac disease?
a. strict Fodmaps-free diet
b. lower the amount of Fodmaps
c. eat three slices of wheat bread every day
d. strict gluten-free diet
[1] 答案c. 1%
解釋:根據(jù)調(diào)查,在英國請病假的主要原因是精神健康欠佳。
[2] 答案a. fodmaps
解釋:Peter Gibson的研究認為,導致腸胃不適的真正元兇不是面筋蛋白而是一種多元醇(Fodmaps)。
[3] 答案d. lower Fodmaps
解釋:Fodmaps常見于含有麩質(zhì)的食品,食品制造商在減少麩質(zhì)的同時使得Fodmaps隨之減少。
[4] 答案b. lower the amount of Fodmaps
解釋:對于不是患有乳糜癥的人來說,并不需要嚴苛的遵守無麩質(zhì)或Fodmaps食譜,只需要減少Fodmaps的攝入量。