Is gluten free good for you?

Walk into a cafeteria, restaurant or food store and it’s clear that gluten free won’t be going away anytime soon. But aside from the small percentage of customers with true gluten intolerance, the trend’s growth is driven largely by a false premise: that gluten-free foods are healthier than their wheat-filled counterparts.

“People see that GF tag, but a cookie is still a cookie. Maybe worse, because it will have weirder ingredients to make up for the lack of gluten,” says Robin Quay, R.D., with Sodexo at Liberty University, in Lynchburg, Va.

Gluten-free baked goods often are packed with empty-calorie starches such as tapioca or potato. The items can also be loaded with sugar or fat to mask unpleasant flavors from gluten-free flours, such as chickpea or quinoa.

“What I’ve found is that as you learn to blend [gluten-free flours] properly, you can create a blend that requires less sugar and fat but still has a clean flavor and texture,” says Rob Landolphi, manager of culinary development for the University of Connecticut (UConn), in Storrs.

Landolphi has published several gluten-free baking cookbooks. Still, because UConn doesn’t yet have a dedicated gluten-free baking facility, even Landolphi hasn’t attempted to bake his own healthier gluten-free breads.

Instead, Landolphi focuses on serving savory gluten-free fare that’s more nutritious than the standard wheat-free pasta or pizza. His housemade vegan burger patties, packed with black beans and brown rice, are bound together with rice flour, rice cereal and the beans themselves instead of processed gluten-free breadcrumbs. They’re served with gluten-free buns or bread purchased from a vendor.

Rice flour, again, serves as the binder for protein- and fiber-packed falafel. Landolphi is even using ground-up rice cereal as gluten-free breading for items such as chicken fingers and eggplant Parmesan.

At Liberty University, Quay stands by a real-food-is-best approach. “When I see students with celiac disease switch from gluten-free [substitutes, which are often highly refined and processed] to whole foods, they start to improve. That’s why we do a complete hot meal instead of gluten-free substitutes,” she says. Recently, Quay opened an allergen-free station, which serves fare that’s free of gluten, soy, nuts, eggs and milk. Instead of gluten-free pasta or bread, she relies on complex carbohydrates such as steamed quinoa, roasted butternut squash or mashed sweet potatoes dressed up with cinnamon, pepper, cumin and lime. The carbs are paired with flavorful proteins and vegetables, such as Tuscan herb tilapia and a green salad with housemade dressing.

At Legacy Health System, in Portland, Ore., Brian Seto, the system’s executive chef, says his philosophy is to serve wholesome recipes for everyone. Dishes such as steak chimichurri, poached Asian salmon, and pumpkin and coconut bisque are inherently gluten free, eliminating the need for substitute ingredients as well as the potential for cross-contamination. 

Still, for special occasions, Seto develops special wheat-free recipes, such as a gluten-free savory sweet potato and plantain cake, which serves as a vegan entrée during catered holiday events. And if it’s a hit? The dish could become a regular on the patient menu.