I tend to look at it this way. While misinformation in general is a bad thing, and the whole phenom of "self-diagnosis"/"EPIDEMIC OF HEALTH CONDITION X" is generally a bad-thing in terms of actual health(but GREAT for marketing) - the whole gluten-free thing has done wonders to what you mentioned above.
Sadly, I suffer from an embarrassing case of IBS, and gluten-free consumables tend to off-set my discomfort quite a bit. So long as "faux health epidemics" create a new market, that actually benefits SOME people, I could not care considerably less for the hypochondriacs. After all, the placebo-effect is an actual thing with real-world benefits.
On the opposite side of things, we have blithering idiots like the anti-vaccine movement, who's "health choices" affect everyone AROUND THEM as well as themselves, which leads to an overall less-healthy general public.
Things need a little balance and consideration is all.
I'm so glad you've benefitted from this new market generated. In a much less serious way I've also enjoyed the fruits of this fad - I eat a low carb lifestyle because it helps a lot with other health conditions, and gluten-free food has led to increasing popularity of things like seaweed snacks, riced cauliflower (amazing!) and other low carb options. So I probably should've admitted to being biased in my original comment, really.
Actually, now that you bring it up, it seems like this gluten-free fad is one of the few relatively harmless health misconceptions. The anti-vaccination issue is one you've mentioned as extremely harmful (and I agree) and another I can think of involves misconceptions around antibiotics, particularly in Asia. (The latter I recently heard some fascinating information about regarding tracking of bacteria resistant to multiple kinds of antibiotics within Canadian hospitals - we live in a trepidatious world, it sometimes seems.)
I tend to look at it this way. While misinformation in general is a bad thing, and the whole phenom of "self-diagnosis"/"EPIDEMIC OF HEALTH CONDITION X" is generally a bad-thing in terms of actual health(but GREAT for marketing) - the whole gluten-free thing has done wonders to what you mentioned above.
Sadly, I suffer from an embarrassing case of IBS, and gluten-free consumables tend to off-set my discomfort quite a bit. So long as "faux health epidemics" create a new market, that actually benefits SOME people, I could not care considerably less for the hypochondriacs. After all, the placebo-effect is an actual thing with real-world benefits.
On the opposite side of things, we have blithering idiots like the anti-vaccine movement, who's "health choices" affect everyone AROUND THEM as well as themselves, which leads to an overall less-healthy general public.
Things need a little balance and consideration is all.
I'm so glad you've benefitted from this new market generated. In a much less serious way I've also enjoyed the fruits of this fad - I eat a low carb lifestyle because it helps a lot with other health conditions, and gluten-free food has led to increasing popularity of things like seaweed snacks, riced cauliflower (amazing!) and other low carb options. So I probably should've admitted to being biased in my original comment, really.
Actually, now that you bring it up, it seems like this gluten-free fad is one of the few relatively harmless health misconceptions. The anti-vaccination issue is one you've mentioned as extremely harmful (and I agree) and another I can think of involves misconceptions around antibiotics, particularly in Asia. (The latter I recently heard some fascinating information about regarding tracking of bacteria resistant to multiple kinds of antibiotics within Canadian hospitals - we live in a trepidatious world, it sometimes seems.)