Many people avoid gluten and eat rice cakes instead of wheat rolls, rice instead of pasta, gluten-free bread, muesli or pizza. But now a new US study has revealed: People who eat a gluten-free diet do not necessarily live healthier lives. This is because the arsenic content in the urine of people who abstained from gluten was 55 percent higher than that of the comparison group. The mercury content in the blood was also 60 percent higher.

Avoiding gluten brings no advantage

The researchers suspect that rice flour is the reason for this. It serves as a substitute for wheat flour. However, rice plants absorb arsenic or mercury through their roots and store it in the grain. Only people who suffer from coeliac disease should follow a gluten-free diet, as otherwise their intestines will become permanently inflamed. There is no advantage for healthy people