For some people, a hastily mashed avocado spread on seeded toast is par for the course when it comes to a rushed weekday breakfast. But for Amber*, each mouthful is a moment to savour. That’s how much of a delicacy bread now feels – because it was one of many gluten-containing kitchen staples off the menu for her from 2017 until last year.
‘I didn’t really have any symptoms,’ recalls the 31-year-old Pilates instructor from London, on her initial decision to ditch gluten – the glue-like protein found in wheat, barley and rye – and send a prominent source of energy awol from her diet.
‘People on my Instagram feed were describing it as “bad” – so I just stopped eating it.’ Not that doing so required Amber herself to become glued to food labels, because, a decade or so ago, going ‘gluten-free’ was being newly catered for everywhere from supermarket chains to service-station cafes.
A simple ‘GF’ badge seemed as of-the-moment as millennial pink, with the category’s market value rising from £120.2m to £462m between 2010 and 2015.
It was the era when spiralisers were the cutting-edge kitchen gadget of the moment for their ability to churn out ‘courgetti’, and you could hardly scroll Instagram without finding a recipe for flourless beetroot brownies from the likes of Ella Mills, aka Deliciously Ella. The then-nascent wellness influencer – who penned the UK’s bestselling debut cookbook ever in 2015 – had sent her follower count soaring by sharing a diet devoid of gluten, among other things.
Part of the allure of a gluten-free life, muses Amber, was how it seemed like an eating philosophy with roots in solid nutrition – not like faddy low-carb diets, such as the Atkins, that had dominated the healthy eating discourse in the years prior. ‘I really thought I was being the picture of health,’ she insists.
A decade later, however, Amber – still just as health-conscious – is part of a collective shift of people welcoming gluten back into their diets, with open arms. While the gluten-free industry still looks to be growing, research by Mintel suggests that’s due to food inflation rather than increased demand – ie, less is actually being sold but at a higher price point. There was a 40% growth in sourdough sales at Tesco in the year to July 2025, and Gail’s Bakery saw its revenue jump by 28% in 2024 – despite stocking just one gluten-free loaf among its roster of 16 and offering zero flourless pastries.
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Its return is evident in other places, too – notably online, where once gluten-free conversation reigned supreme. Tagliatelle dishes go viral when spun out by Italian nonnas (see @pastagrannies and their one million fans) and no casual-but-not-really Instagram round-up is complete without a brunch shot, where a hunk of sourdough is the main edible event.
Mills, poster girl for the free-from lifestyle, now sells five different types of wheat-based pasta within her Plants range, available in Waitrose. Then there’s Gwyneth Paltrow, who made global headlines earlier last year when she said she was back eating sourdough bread and pasta again. In short, someone requesting a gluten-free tweak as part of their restaurant order feels as stale as a Valencia filter or saying ‘hashtag’ before making a quip.
Back to baked
It was the growing faff of eating out with loved ones, rather than a single moment succumbing to the buttery waft of freshly baked croissants, that nudged Amber to rethink the contents of her plate.
What should have been soul-soothing catch-ups with friends began to take up an inordinate amount of headspace, as she scoured menus before approving restaurants or ended up reluctantly chewing plasticky gluten-free pizza bases.
Reintroducing gluten, in a sense, gave Amber a fresh taste of freedom. She gradually added it back in over the space of six weeks and realised that any bloating and digestive discomfort she may have previously experienced were probably nothing to do with gluten. ‘I had been worrying all this time about an ingredient that I wasn’t actually allergic to.’
This is where, experts tell WH, the confusion often lies – because some people certainly should avoid gluten. ‘Coeliac disease is an autoimmune condition that means when someone who has it consumes gluten, their immune system attacks the lining of the small intestine,’ says Jasmine Bliss, a registered associate nutritionist. ‘This causes inflammation and nutrient malabsorption.’ While unlikely to be fatal, the health complications can be serious.
However, according to Coeliac UK, the condition affects just 1% of the population. Studies attribute the 7.5% increase in diagnoses per year over the past several decades to greater awareness and an increased health-consciousness.
That being said, there is such a thing as non-coeliac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) – colloquially dubbed ‘gluten intolerance’. ‘This is not an autoimmunity or an allergy,’ explains Bliss. ‘It describes symptoms triggered by gluten consumption – such as bloating, fatigue, headaches and brain fog.’
Arguably, worries about gluten intolerance fuelled the rise of gluten-free in the first place. Yet it’s still unclear how many people actually suffer from it. Unlike coeliac disease, there’s no specific test for it – yes, even in those kits advertised on your feed, which are part of a global food intolerance test market valued at £11.4bn last year.
‘They can’t accurately diagnose it,’ insists Bliss – and the NHS backs her up. Despite this, research published in the journal Gut in October last year showed that self-reported NCGS more than doubled over three years, with significantly more women than men claiming to have the condition.
Gut instinct
Increasingly, researchers think something else could be at play. Another recent study by the University of Melbourne found that most people who believe they’re sensitive to gluten are reacting to other factors, such as FODMAPs (a group of carbohydrates that are poorly absorbed in the small intestine) or brain-gut dynamics.
Indeed, they suggested that people who think they have a gluten intolerance may in fact be experiencing irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms, such as diarrhoea, bloating and constipation. It’s why sufferers are frequently recommended to try a low-FODMAP diet.
Daniela Simona Temneanu
‘Often gluten gets the blame when people are actually sensitive to FODMAPs,’ notes Emily Leeming, a microbiome researcher at King’s College London and author of Fibre Power, out on 21 May. ‘These are types of fermentable carbohydrates that are often present in the same foods and can cause discomfort for some people.’
The advice is to remove foods for around six weeks, then reintroduce them slowly to find how much you can tolerate – rather than removing them altogether. It’s why Katrina Lander has recently started eating gluten again after years without. ‘I have IBS, so I’ve followed a low-FODMAP diet for a while,’ explains the 33-year-old from Kent. ‘The goal was never to be gluten-free forever, but reintroducing it always led to flare-ups – until I tried again earlier this year, and I’m now better able to tolerate it.’
This tracks, says Bliss, because our guts are malleable and the composition of their microbiomes can change regularly. ‘Many people with IBS find their tolerance of gluten-containing foods changes throughout their lives,’ she elaborates. ‘This means that people who once had trouble digesting bread may end up being fine with it years – or even months – later.’
That something else may be in the mix for the gluten-averse has been supported by more research, with a study published in The Lancet in September examining participants who believed that gluten was behind their IBS symptoms. They were given cereal bars – containing either wheat, gluten or wheat- and gluten-free flours, without being told which was which – at various points over several weeks. In the end, the researchers found no difference in the symptoms experienced between the bars.
‘NCGS is real, but likely for a smaller population than earlier research suggested,’ says the lead researcher, Caroline Seiler of McMaster University in Canada. ‘Unlike other studies, ours used a sham-controlled crossover approach – where participants received identical experimental and “sham” products to reduce bias – and found that expectations had a clinically significant effect on symptoms.’
In other words, those who believed they were eating gluten had worse self-reported symptoms, regardless of what they were actually munching on.
Flour power
That we’re not cutting out gluten unnecessarily matters because, as experts emphasise, the foods it is often found in are key for forming a nutritionally balanced diet. ‘They contain fibre, vitamins, minerals and plant compounds that feed our gut microbes and support long-term health,’ points out Dr Leeming.
Additionally, while natural gluten-free options are plentiful – such as rice, quinoa, couscous and buckwheat – the hard truth is that many unnaturally gluten-free options now constitute that nutritional ‘ick’ of the moment: ultra-processed foods (UPFs).
‘Many are lower in fibre and higher in sugar than the originals,’ notes Bliss, of how bread made from just flour, water and yeast is likely better for most than something with a lengthy, unpronounceable ingredients list attempting to mimic the real thing.
Avoiding restriction of entire food groups should always be the goal, insists Emilia Thompson, a nutritionist specialising in healthy relationships with food. ‘It can become more difficult to obtain sufficient nutrient-dense energy when eating gluten-free, particularly for active people, to meet fuel and recovery needs,’ she warns.
This is also key for swerving disordered eating. ‘Orthorexia can develop out of any rigid way of eating – including non-medically required gluten-free diets,’ notes Thompson of the term for an excessive preoccupation with eating healthy food. ‘What starts with good intentions can spiral into strict rules, guilt and anxiety around eating, and these patterns can cause nutrient deficiencies, food preoccupation and shame when the rules are broken.’
Indeed, gluten-free fever may arguably have masked a more insidious diet-culture relic: carb-phobia. ‘The older women in my life would always talk about cutting them out,’ remembers Amber. ‘I think going gluten-free legitimised removing so many foods I was afraid of.’
It was this year, when she began marathon training, that she realised just how important carbs actually were to her results. ‘Bagels honestly seemed like the best pre-run option,’ she shares. ‘They were easy to digest and helped me go further.’
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There is also a germinating distrust when it comes to nutritional advice shared online, such as that which originally influenced Amber. Research published last year found that 66% of social media users find it hard to tell whether health information is true or false.
‘People are suffering with information fatigue – particularly when advice is often conflicting,’ says health psychologist Joanna Rodriguez. ‘I’m seeing more people prioritise self-trust.’
And while interoception – that quiet, sensing awareness of how your body feels – is becoming an increasingly spoken-about health process, the gluten renaissance also comes at a time of growing awareness of the mechanics of the digestive system.
‘It’s completely normal and natural to get bloating when we eat – our bodies will change throughout the day,’ insists Dr Leeming. ‘As well as your stomach increasing in volume to factor in food and its waste, your gut bacteria are breaking down the meals you’re eating – and a by-product of that process is gas.’
Of course, for those who have coeliac disease or a confirmed gluten intolerance – something that should be approached with the support of a healthcare professional, such as a doctor or dietitian – gluten remains out of bounds. For the rest of us, experts WH spoke to are unanimous that a little bit of everything is the healthiest way to eat. ‘The balance lies in not demonising foods. It’s about the overall pattern of your diet and making sure that most of what you’re consuming is fresh, varied and nutrient-dense,’ adds Bliss.
As for Amber? The voice in her head that once screamed that gluten was ‘poison’ – regurgitated from the post captions of wellness ‘gurus’ – will sometimes reappear when she takes a mouthful of fusilli. ‘But, in the future, I don’t want to refuse to eat a cupcake my kid made for me at school because it contains flour,’ she reflects. ‘I just want to feel grateful that my body functions to digest gluten when I know others that can’t.’
The smart way to cut back – or reintroduce – gluten
Think you have an issue with gluten? Nutrition experts say these are the key things to know before cutting it out completely…
1. Listen to your body
‘Experiencing persistent digestive symptoms – including diarrhoea, bloating and stomach aches – needs to be discussed with your GP to rule out coeliac disease and other conditions such as colitis,’ says Bliss. ‘Other notable symptoms to be aware of include nutrient deficiencies, fatigue, weight loss and mouth ulcers.’
2. Cut with caution
It’s important, if you are concerned you have coeliac disease or NCGS, to talk to your GP to be referred for tests. ‘It’s crucial not to remove gluten from your diet before this,’ insists Bliss. ‘This is so that any antibodies produced by the immune system in response to it are present and you don’t receive a false negative.’ Also, any eventual removal should be done with the support of a dietitian or registered nutritionist to avoid nutritional deficiencies.
3. Reintroduce slowly
If you are inviting gluten back into your life, do so with care. Bliss suggests doing this ‘blind’ – meaning you don’t know when you’re eating it, so you avoid suffering digestive symptoms as a result of worrying about gluten. ‘If you have a partner who cooks for you, ask them to start swapping your gluten-free spaghetti for a wheat-based one at random intervals,’ she suggests. Try to prioritise wholegrain and low-UPF options where possible.
*Name has been changed
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