Why GF?

I've been really curious lately. With only 0.5% - 1% of people out there having Celiac disease, what is everyone else's non-medical reason for not using grains such as barley, wheat, etc?

One of my friends brews gluten free beer for his fiancee that has gluten sensitive migraines.

1. My girlfriend has celiac.
2. I like the challenge.

My Fiancee has Celiac and and by brewing beer for her it keeps her happy about the hobby and the money I put in to it.

I think that most people are brewing for someone who either has celiacs or some other medical reason to avoid gluten.

It's like 7 degrees of Kevin Bacon. There's only 1 Kevin Bacon, and you can connect him to basically any actor. Now realize that there are millions of people in the US with celiacs...

Gluten intolerance also boosts up the numbers.

Besides, theres only like 20 or so of us who are constantly on here, compare that to any other forum on this website.

I'm a Silly Yak (Celiac)

It's a crap load cheaper to make it myself and so far it tastes great.

More people are gluten intolerant than we think, it's just that most people get along fine while gluten gives them a 'leaky gut'. I have tried to cut out a lot of gluten intake.

im a celiac. i like the challenge. its cheaper, and red bridge tastes like S**T.

former stats (like from the 1950's-80's) on celiac's put the population as 1 in 3000 and stated it as a rare childhood disorder. current stats (as of last 10 years) place it at 1 in 133 people have it, but this is can still be an underestimate with many people being misdiagnosed (IBS, ect) or undiagnosed, and doctors not looking for it. heck a lot of people out there are asymptomatic, as in they are reacting to gluten on a cellular level, but they are not experienceing any side effects, to bad the damage is still being done. the theory for me is that i was asymptomatic for so long and my continued excessive exposure (a loaf of french bread DID NOT keep the DR. away) made me symptomatic.

I am brewing gf beer for me. I have food alergy on barley,oak,wheat,.......etc.....etc.... and here in Slovakia we dont have drinkable gf beer.
now I am using corn malt/syrup, because it is not possible to buy sorghum syrup.

1% of a large number is still a large number, and likely to grow as it's more understood. But in any case, from the ones I've heard of who are not gluten free. It's the same situation, they know someone who is allergic and are providing for them.

I don't really think it's the same situation about people who think that gluten free is somehow any healthier that having gluten other than us people who have some sort of reaction (no matter how small).
It's beer, it's not going to be as healthy as... vegetables.

Admittedly, even if I wasn't gluten free, I'd probably do it for the challenge and that it's an untapped field that it gives more of a feeling that anything is possible. Gluten free means that you've already cast off the limitations of traditional beer categories so there's more freedom in trying anything.

I am celiac, however I did not realize it until they took a few samples of my small bowel. Fun stuff.

And yes, Redbridge tastes like canal water, therefore I brew.

Celiac disease might be only a few % of the population but a study just showed that 8% of people in the US have gluten sensativities (could be headaches, acne, depression, foggy mind, mild stomach pains, gas)...

Its a challenge for sure.

KevinM said:

I don't really think it's the same situation about people who think that gluten free is somehow any healthier that having gluten other than us people who have some sort of reaction (no matter how small).
It's beer, it's not going to be as healthy as... vegetables.

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I was trying to think of a way to say this in my original post.

I know that there are people out there who aren't eating gluten because they feel that it is healthier, just as there are people avoiding pretty much any food group you can imagine (meat, fish, "processed", corn, etc...). I would guess that for most of those people, beer is "out" because of other reasons than just the gluten.

I've spoken to a few people that were on different (not GF) 'health' diets that didn't drink beer (often any alcohol) for one reason or another. Personally, I thought that was just silly. Buy some organic malt (or some local, organic barley and malt it yourself!), grow some hops in your back yard, recycle some bottles...heck, you could even do a lambic brew with free-range yeast! Home made, organic, local, vegan, and if you are bottling with yeast, I think you can even squeeze that in the 'live food' category (not sure if you can call it raw food since you cooked the grains and boiled the wort...)

I know a server at PF Changs and he says people constantly order a few items off the GF menu, and then items off the regualr menu. They say they want to eat healthier so they are ordering a few things off the GF menu.

andrewdell19 said:

I know a server at PF Changs and he says people constantly order a few items off the GF menu, and then items off the regualr menu. They say they want to eat healthier so they are ordering a few things off the GF menu.

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As much as I'd like to criticize those people, I hope they keep doing it so that GF products continue to be availible for the people who really need it.

BBBF said:

As much as I'd like to criticize those people, I hope they keep doing it so that GF products continue to be availible for the people who really need it.

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I waffle on this. On the one hand, I think, hey, the more people there are wanting GF products, the more companies will make, and that's good for me. On the other hand, if these people go to a restaurant and get "gluten free" food, and they use an ingredient that they didn't think about having gluten in it (gravy mix, sauce, etc), that customer won't even know there was a little gluten in it.

DannPM said:

I've been really curious lately. With only 0.5% - 1% of people out there having Celiac disease, what is everyone else's non-medical reason for not using grains such as barley, wheat, etc?

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Why not?

But seriously, I don't think many people would willingly put themselves through what celiacs like myself put up with daily. And I don't mean eating GF every now and then to be healthy, I mean making sure every part of every meal you eat has no gluten in it so you don't get a reaction. I say people who eat GF for non-medical reasons hurt the celiac cause, because people think it is some fad diet, but it's not, it's our lives. So there's the long rant-y answer, oh that and what the others have said, redbridge is garbage.

There's definately two equal views on the whole non-medical gluten free. It's great because it created additional market for even large companies to go "Hey, we should do this" which of course gives us greater options. The down side is that the underinformed think that it is just a fad diet.

The only reason it was originally healthier because people were limited to vegetables, meat and rice. No fried foods, no processed foods, no empty calories, few refined foods.

Now that the companies have created this, there are options, even if they are empty calories, but there's definately things like cake and breads that are easy to get from about any store. No need to make clam chowder, now you can just pop a can from progresso.

I still think I'd be doing gluten free beer for the challenge of making something tasty, more than anything else if I didn't have a reaction, plus for the gluten free people I know.