Research from Harvard University has found a link. You may have heard about this study in the media recently. I’d like to clear up some confusion. People with celiac disease must avoid gluten for their entire life, or risk serious health problems. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease and gluten triggers the destruction of the lining of the small intestine. A lot of people who don’t have celiac disease are avoiding gluten too. Perhaps it is because they’ve been diagnosed with non-celiac gluten sensitivity, or maybe they just feel better avoiding it. Recent research presented to an American Heart Association conference estimated the daily gluten intake of more than 200,000 individuals in various long term health studies which went for more than 30 years. It was shown that the 20 per cent of individuals who ate the most gluten were found to have a 13 per cent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those who ate the least amount of gluten. Geng Zong from Harvard University's Department of Nutrition has said "Gluten free foods often have less dietary fibre and other micronutrients ... making them less nutritious”. This is exactly true. The vast majority of gluten free baked goods such as bread and crackers, pasta or breakfast cereals are higher in sugar and fat and have a higher glycemic index than the wheat based equivalents. This is because they tend to be made of nutrient-devoid foods such as potato starch, corn starch and tapioca; all foods that are rapidly digested into sugar and raise blood sugar levels quickly. Some people have mistaken this research to mean that we should all be eating wheat bread because it will help to protect us from type 2 diabetes. There are no medicinal properties in bread that reduce diabetes risk. If you are concerned about developing type 2 diabetes, or already have it, it is critical to reduce the carbohydrate content of your diet. All grains and cereals are digested into sugar, and that doesn’t do a diabetic any favours. There is a great deal of fiber in other foods such as vegetables, nuts and seeds. I have written about my dietary recommendations for diabetics in the book Diabetes Type 2: You Can Reverse It. Read more