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What's Behind The Gluten-Free 'Obsession'?

NPR

Published November 12, 2014 at 1:50 PM EST

The gluten-free aisle at a Kroger grocery store in Memphis, Tenn. Taken in March 2013. (ilovememphis/flickr)

A third of Americans say they’re trying to eliminate gluten from their diets, even though celiac disease affects only 1 percent of the population and many doctors don’t believe that non-celiac gluten sensitivity exists.

Writer Michael Specter asks in a New Yorker article, “Against the Grain,” why gluten has “suddenly become so threatening?” He tells Here & Now’s Sacha Pfeiffer about some of the theories and beliefs that feeling better after going gluten-free is psychological and just another fad diet.

Guest

Michael Specter, staff writer at The New Yorker. He tweets @specterm.