The Gluten-Free Diet Craze: Is It Right For You? Read more: The Gluten-Free Diet Craze: Is It Right For You? Important: At Risk For A Heart Attack? Find Out Now.

Gluten-free diets are the new rage, with everything from no-gluten pizza, pasta, ice cream, and even pastries making their way to store shelves and restaurant menus. Many celebrities have pushed the approach as a way to boost health and improve nutrition. Many no-gluten foods are extremely expensive. But do they really help the majority of people? A new Italian study suggests the health benefits of such diets don’t quite live up to the hype. University of Pavia researchers, writing in a recent edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine, said there is no question that people with chronic celiac disease suffer the most profound gluten-intolerance symptoms and benefit significantly from gluten-restricted diets. Those with the condition, which is diagnosed with blood and bowel tests, have an immune response to gliadin – a gluten protein found in wheat, rye, and barley – that can cause fatigue, diarrhea, bloating, and headaches. But for people who don't test positive for celiac disease – who are sometimes said to have a condition known as “nonceliac gluten sensitivity” – costly gluten-free diets won’t help, the Italian researchers said. “The lack of an unambiguous definition of nonceliac gluten sensitivity [is] a major pitfall” to the argument that a gluten-free diet will help, they wrote. Dr. Gino Roberto Corazza, a co-author of the new study, said past studies have shown there has been a dramatic rise in recent years in the number of people who have been told they have “nonceliac gluten sensitivity” and who move to a gluten-free diet. “Considerable debate about nonceliac gluten sensitivity has recently surfaced on the Internet, with a sharp increase in forums, patients or patient groups, manufacturers, and physicians advocating a gluten-free diet,” the researchers wrote. “Claims seem to increase daily, with no adequate scientific support to back them up.” In fact, gluten-free diets have become “trendy, fashionable,” said Dr. Alessio Fasano, director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Celiac Research in Baltimore, who co-authored another recent article about gluten-related disorders. But most people “have no reason” to be on such a restricted diet. Gluten-free products tend to be several times more expensive than conventional foods. They are typically purchased because consumers mistakenly believe they are healthier or more diet-friendly than other products. Some may suspect they have celiac disease and think switching to a gluten-free diet is a good way to self-diagnose it. But doctors say there is a better option. If you have symptoms after eating bread or pasta, ask your doctors to order a blood test to check for biomarkers of celiac disease, and a skin test for the far less common wheat allergy. If necessary, the doctor will then perform an endoscopy to look for damage in the digestive tract that is characteristic of celiac disease. Dr. Corazza said doctors can also give patients drinks with and without gluten – without revealing which is which – and then ask the patient how they feel. Neither the patient nor the doctor knows which is which at the time of the testing. Such tests are a good, objective way to determine if a gluten-free diet will help a patient, he says.