Gluten-Free: Healthier or Marketing Ploy?

I’ve been fooled (and probably so have you)! Assuming it was a healthy alternative, I recently picked up Becel’s new vegan margarine, which is marketed as being gluten-free. Then I began reading a wealth of information to find out the facts on gluten and whether or not gluten-free products are indeed healthier.

Unfortunately, health-conscious consumers like myself are not immune to clever marketing ploys. I once read this article about a Mexican bread company cleverly beginning to market their bread as “cholesterol free” and consumers assumed that this bread was a healthy and affordable alternative (and of course, bread sales soared!). But this was not the case: their bread was always cholesterol-free, but it just began to be marketed as such!

Anyway, as it turns out, there is no scientific literature that states gluten-free is a healthy dietary option except for those that have celiac disease (consuming gluten-free products is a way of life for these individuals to avoid the risks of its consumption). However, healthier grains like quinoa (which is gluten-free) are healthier because of the amount of and type of carbohydrates they contain. Thus, the gluten-free margarine I purchased and other gluten-free products are equally as healthy (or unhealthy) as their non-gluten-free counterparts.

Thanks to Becel, individuals with celiac disease now can consume a tasty margarine, so leave this product for their consumption. As a healthy consumer, make sure that you are in fact buying foods that will actually confer health benefits on you. As always, be sure to read the nutrition label and pay most attention to the fat, carbohydrate, and sodium contents and don't be afraid to make comparisons. Oh, and I won’t be buying faux-healthy products that are marketed as gluten-free in the future and neither should you!