“Miley Cyrus Goes Gluten-Free” hit the front page of Yahoo! News in 2011 and there was a sudden frenzy. Within the article she refuted claims of her battling an eating disorder. She instead stated that her noticeable weight loss was all thanks to her going gluten-free for health reasons. "For everyone calling me anorexic I have a gluten and lactose allergy," she wrote. "It's not about weight it's about health. Gluten is crapppp anyway!" The term “gluten-free,” became a trending topic on the Internet and a conversation topic amongst people around the world. More celebrities like Victoria Beckham and Lady GaGa jumped on the bandwagon and influenced the large new health movement. This sparked the gluten-free accommodation option at restaurants …show more content…
He began to wonder how many of the people that are on a gluten-free diet even know what “gluten” actually was. He sent one of his interns with a camera crew to a popular Los Angeles hiking spot in search for individuals that claim to be on a gluten-free diet, and hit them with the big question: what is gluten? When most hear the term “gluten-free,” they are immediately reminded of the pretentious Los Angeles individual that tries to portray that they are “healthy.” They imagine the yoga pants wearing, fresh pressed juice drinking, valley girl who tries portrays the epitome of living a “healthy lifestyle.” With that comes the perception that they are either wealthy, maintaining a diet for a future film they will star in, or just because all their friends are on the new trendy diet. Within Jimmy Kimmel’s video, Pedestrian Question – What is Gluten? his audience was able to see just that. When people who claimed to strictly be on a gluten-free diet were asked what exactly gluten …show more content…
Although particularly knowledgeable from first hand experience, I still had many questions. The amount of information I gathered on the evolution of the gluten-free revolution and the influences it left on the food industry and society as a whole was very overwhelming; therefore, I decided to organize it. I began to consider the various questions that had dawned me on the significance of the term “gluten-free.” I took the information I found and divided it into corresponding categories: the influence of celebrities on the evolution of the gluten-free movement, how the gluten-free trend has evolved the food industry, and how a gluten-free diet serves as natural medicinal treatment for illnesses. To gain more information about the evolution of the gluten-free trend, I turned to a professional for insight on the topic. Timothy Caulfield, Research Chair in Health Law and Policy and a Professor in the Faculty of Law and the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta, has followed the gluten-free trend as well as the gastrointestinal effects of the consumption of gluten (Health). Once I came across a reliable source, I was sure that Mr. Caulfield would be able to answer my questions, as this was his area of expertise. I wrote to him asking about the significance of the gluten-free trend and why it has had it’s unprecedented success.