In the UK all foods must have the ingredients listed so it usually easy to see if a product contains wheat flour or some other gluten containing item. The problem is that gluten is appearing in many foods that wouldn’t immediately arouse suspicion, such as baking powder. Obviously for anyone who has coeliac / celiac disease even a tiny amount can be disastrous, I have even heard on a Robb Wolf podcast that some shampoos that contain gluten should be avoided just in case some reaches the mouth! It looks like the FDA in the US is working on a Gluten Free label so look out for that.

As for gluten being viewed as a poison, or at least a toxin, in the future, who knows? Coeliac / celiac disease is now affecting approx 1% of the population (in US & UK) whereas it was only a fraction of that 100 years ago, if it continues to rise at such a rate maybe the mainstream advice will eventually be to avoid gluten even if you don’t have any outward symptoms. In the mean time, for those of us who know the potential dangers of gluten, we have the knowledge to make that choice now.