About 7% of the U.S. population – including those with celiac disease and gluten sensitivities – experience symptoms like belly pain, diarrhea, and chronic fatigue when they eat gluten. The only known treatment is a gluten-free diet, which can be a big challenge because even many “gluten-free” products include trace amounts of the troublesome proteins.
That contamination can take place at any point, from farm to fork, says Luis Tortajada-Genaro, PhD, a researcher at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain. New gluten-detecting technology is advancing to enable better control and more safety.