It has long been on the list of "things in which I do not believe," but I am glad someone could get funding to do the actual research. It is even better that my skepticism seems
to have been warranted. It almost restores my faith in the scientific community that the Doctor who published the study did so despite the fact that it contradicted his previous work.
Analyzing the data, Gibson found that each treatment diet, whether it included gluten or not, prompted subjects to report a worsening of gastrointestinal symptoms to similar degrees. Reported pain, bloating, nausea, and gas all increased over the baseline low-FODMAP diet. Even in the second experiment, when the placebo diet was identical to the baseline diet, subjects reported a worsening of symptoms! The data clearly indicated that a nocebo effect, the same reaction that prompts some people to get sick from wind turbines and wireless internet, was at work here. Patients reported gastrointestinal distress without any apparent physical cause. Gluten wasn't the culprit; the cause was likely psychological. Participants expected the diets to make them sick, and so they did. The finding led Gibson to the opposite conclusion of his 2011 research:
So, sure, if you got nothing better to do with your money, buy that gluten free pasta but don't tell me about it. I don't want to hear it. It seems I've lost all my fool-suffering spirit.
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