Yesterday Domino’s pizza announced they will be offering a gluten-free pizza. Of course there is a backlash from self-labeled Celiac awareness “advocates”. Instead of looking at things like this from a logical POV and saying “overnight” millions of more people will now be aware of Celiac’s Disease and gluten-intolerance they twist it into something negative. It’s the same thinking about celebrities.

Miley Cyrus is searched 11 million times per month on Google alone. Kim Kardashian is searched 5 million times per month (but has 3x as many followers on Twitter as Miley Cyrus). There’s a segment of the population that are greatly influenced by celebrities. This is beyond anyone’s control. If a few thousand or tens of thousand get tested for Celiac’s Disease as a result of celebrities Tweeting about their bodies due to a gluten-free diet, then they’ve done their part and helped a lot of people. Would I love to see millions of people reading through rich sources of information instead of relying on celebrities? Sure. But that’s just not reality.

Burger King. Dairy Queen. Carl’s Jr. On and on all use the same exact language on their gluten-sensitive menu pages. Example, Burger King. Here’s the common sentence: “This list is not intended for people with severe gluten intolerance”. Therefore, you have to assume that the population of people with severe gluten intolerance is “quantifiable” and in some proportion to the population of people spending billions on gluten-free food. Out of the 100,000 or so people diagnosed with Celiac’s Disease and gluten-intolerance, what’s is the percentage with extreme sensitivity?

(Source: USA Today)