Gluten-free foods are occupying more space on store shelves. Stores are offering gluten-free bread, breakfast cereals, pasta, and snacks. One store was selling gluten-free breaded pork chops. (Meat does not contain gluten; it was the breading that was gluten-free.)

In the U.S, about 3 million people – fewer than 1 percent of the population – have celiac disorder, also called sprue or gluten intolerance. People with celiac disorder cannot digest or metabolize gluten.

In these people, gluten passes through the stomach and into the intestine, where it causes an immune response. The immune response can take the form of diarrhea, constipation, bloating, abdominal pain, decreased appetite, hair loss, itchy skin, mouth lesions, nose bleeds, and other health problems.