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Elliott did a food marketing study back in 2008 and at the time her team didn’t even code for gluten-free products; there just weren’t enough of them on the market.

“But for this study, almost one-fifth of the products we analyzed claimed to be gluten-free, so there’s been an incredible growth in the last decade,” she said.

An American survey done in 2013 found 65 per cent of respondents who ate gluten-free foods did so because they thought it was healthier and 27 per cent thought it would help with weight loss.

“The biggest myth is that following a gluten-free diet will make you lose weight,” said Sarah Remmer, a registered dietitian in Calgary. “A lot of the gluten-free products are higher in calories, higher in sugar, higher in fat and in additive preservatives, so it’s certainly not a healthier diet.”

Remmer said having a gluten-free diet by decreasing the amount of refined carbohydrates you eat and replacing them with things like fruits, vegetables and whole grains is healthier.

“But when you start replacing gluten-containing products with gluten-free products — say gluten-free bread — you will probably actually be worse off.”

Both Remmer and Elliott attribute this gluten-free trend to the “free” movement, where people think eliminating something from their diet means they’re being healthier.

“There’s a lot of myths that gluten is really inflammatory and causes this and that,” said Remmer.

“And it can be inflammatory for someone who has celiac disease, but it doesn’t do the same thing to everybody. It’s just misinformation that gluten is bad for you.”