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Gluten on a plant based diet: what the doctors say
Gluten on a plant based diet: what McDougall, Campbell, Barnard and Goldhamer say about wheat, celiac disease and sensitivity, with sources.
Updated . For education only, not medical advice.
Our view
Gluten is a protein found mainly in wheat, barley and rye12. In celiac disease it sets the immune system against the lining of the small intestine, and for people with that diagnosis lifelong, strict avoidance is the treatment these doctors accept345.
Outside celiac disease the doctors split: John McDougall and T. Colin Campbell see the gluten-free boom as a fad that steers people away from good starches, while Alan Goldhamer and Peter Rogers suspect gluten, modern wheat or the glyphosate sprayed on it of a wider range of harm, autoimmune disease above all6789.
We give most weight to what the long-practicing clinicians share: most people handle wheat, barley and rye well, and whole civilizations have lived on these grains61011. Where gluten may matter, they point to testing, or to a time-limited trial without it followed by adding foods back, rather than to a cart full of gluten-free packaged food12131415.
Where they agree
Goldhamer, Barnard and McDougall all place gluten in wheat, barley and rye, and all treat celiac disease as its clearest harm, one that only complete avoidance controls1234. The Ornish program’s site adds that people with celiac disease cannot have even the small amounts hidden in foods like soy sauce5.
Most of them also agree that the average person has no need to drop gluten: Barnard said so in 2014 and Rogers in 2025, and the Ornish site says most people eat wheat without major trouble and calls the idea that everyone should avoid it probably not real14101116. Campbell accepts that gluten sensitivity exists while doubting the large numbers sometimes quoted177.
Going without gluten does not mean going without starch: McDougall lists rice, corn, millet, quinoa, buckwheat, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans and other legumes as foods that suit celiac disease18. Jeff Novick points people who avoid wheat to whole grain corn or brown rice pasta, and Goldhamer to brown rice noodles when eating out1920.
Where they differ
They part ways on how many people react to gluten, whether modern wheat or its sprays are to blame, how far to go in autoimmune disease, how to find out, and what to make of gluten-free products78211315.
How many people react
McDougall in 2013 and Goldhamer in 2025 both put celiac disease at about 1 percent of people, and in 2022 McDougall gave a range of one in 100 to one in 25022423. For milder sensitivity the figures spread: in 2012 Campbell said nobody knew how many people it affects, and in 2018 he guessed 2 to 3 percent, well under claims of 30 to 40 percent177. Barnard suggested in 2014 that perhaps 7 percent have some intolerance, Goldhamer speaks of a significant share of the population, and McDougall wrote in 2013 that the true rate of non-celiac gluten intolerance was unknown14124.
Modern wheat and glyphosate
Goldhamer says today’s wheat is genetically unlike older wheat and gives about ten times the grain per acre, and he blames the glyphosate used to dry non-organic wheat for some reactions people put down to gluten18. Rogers said in 2025 that illness linked to gluten roughly tripled over some 15 years, a pace he said genes cannot explain, and pointed to glyphosate bound to gluten9. The Ornish site notes that modern wheat was bred for yield and baking rather than nutrition, and suggests organic grain to anyone worried about pesticides2526. McDougall replies that wheat, barley and rye have fed a large share of civilizations, ancient and modern, and Campbell proposed in 2012 that these grains may cause trouble chiefly when eaten alongside other foods such as dairy627.
Autoimmune disease and arthritis
Several of these doctors remove gluten as one step in autoimmune disease, in different orders212. In 2022 McDougall described three stages for inflammatory arthritis: his starch-based diet first, then gluten-free, then a wider elimination diet21. Barnard in 2020 began with a month of low-fat vegan eating, and only if joints still hurt a temporary removal of possible triggers such as gluten grains, citrus or tomatoes2.
Hana Kahleova reported in 2022 on a study of 44 people with rheumatoid arthritis who took turns on that diet and on a placebo supplement28. In the diet phase gluten grains were among many foods removed for three weeks and then brought back one at a time, and the main disease score fell on the diet but not on the placebo29. Rogers would avoid gluten in autoimmune disease, Goldhamer links it to Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, vasculitis and arthritis, and Doug Lisle spoke in 2017 of diets that limit gluten to protect the gut wall10302031. McDougall, for his part, said in 2022 that only very large amounts of bread, around two pounds a day, would start to make the gut leaky in almost anyone, with celiac disease as the extreme case32.
Testing or a trial without gluten
McDougall’s 2013 advice to anyone who suspects celiac disease was to be tested by a physician; he named a bowel biopsy as the definitive test, with antibody blood tests in support1233. For those still unsure he described a starch-based diet without wheat, barley and rye, with suspect foods later added back to confirm34. The Ornish site suggests screening with a tissue transglutaminase antibody test, and for suspected intolerance describes three weeks without any grains, then non-gluten grains, then older wheats such as spelt and kamut3513. Barnard’s 2014 version was simpler: someone with brain fog could leave gluten out for a while and bring it back if nothing changed14.
Gluten-free products
McDougall warned in 2013 that gluten-free imitations often carry more fat, sugar and calories than the foods they replace, and cited a 2012 study of 1,018 people with biopsy-confirmed celiac disease in which many gained weight on a strict gluten-free diet1536. He added that no published report showed people without celiac disease or gluten sensitivity losing weight that way, and in 2022 called the crowded gluten-free shelves a distraction for most shoppers3723. A 2019 podcast page from Barnard’s Physicians Committee notes that gluten-free products often sell for over double the price of regular ones, and Barnard said in 2024 that people tend to find a gluten-free diet hard and keep finding it so3839. Chef AJ, who eats gluten-free, said in 2026 that gluten-free bread without oil is close to impossible to buy, and Rip Esselstyn’s PLANTSTRONG brand sells gluten-free items, some made in plants that also process wheat4041.
What each expert says
JMJohn McDougall
In a March 2013 newsletter McDougall sorted the problems with wheat into celiac disease, wheat allergy and wheat sensitivity, and guessed that most people blaming wheat are really unwell from meat, dairy, oils and junk food4243. He saw the craze, fed by the book Wheat Belly, as a low-carb diet under another name, and urged people without these conditions to keep eating wheat, barley and rye644. For autoimmune disease he later added a gluten-free stage after his basic diet45.
In 2012 Campbell called gluten sensitivity real while doubting the hype about how common it is17. He suggested wheat and barley may be the trigger rather than the root cause, acting together with dairy and other foods, and that anyone who reacts to them should stay away from them27. In 2018 he put the share at 2 to 3 percent and tied higher claims to a book that cast plant lectins, beans included, as harmful7.
In 2014 Barnard said gluten intolerance, in perhaps 7 percent of people, may cause brain fog and digestive complaints, while not advising most people to avoid gluten14. For rheumatoid arthritis in 2020 he placed gluten grains among the foods to set aside for a time if joints still hurt after four weeks of low-fat vegan eating, using the elimination method in his book The Cheese Trap2.
The Ornish program’s site says gluten-free eating fits the program but that most people tolerate wheat and gluten without major problems11. It describes an irritable bowel study in which twice as many people improved without gluten as with it, 60 against 30 percent, and advises eating baked goods made with white flour only sparingly4647.
Goldhamer said in 2025 that many people react to gluten, particularly in modern wheat, and that glyphosate on non-organic wheat may explain some reactions18. He describes a gene tied to gluten sensitivity that also goes with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and a theory that gluten can turn the immune system against the thyroid, joints or skin in people who carry it30. In late 2025 he said he is wary of wheat for many people20.
Rogers said in 2025 that gluten causes no trouble for most people, though in autoimmune disease he would steer clear of it10. He regards non-organic grain as worse because of glyphosate bound to its gluten9. In 2026 he still bought whole wheat pasta, as long as wheat was its single ingredient48.
In a 2011 shopping video Novick recommended a whole wheat pasta whose only ingredient is wheat19. For anyone avoiding wheat and gluten, he pointed to whole grain corn and brown rice pastas on the same shelf19.
Rip Esselstyn eats wheat: in a 2022 video his breakfast bowl held shredded wheat and toasted wheat flakes among four whole grains49. His PLANTSTRONG brand also sells gluten-free mixes and lists which of its foods come from facilities that handle wheat41.
Chef AJ said in 2026 that she is gluten-free as well as vegan40. She named store-bought gluten-free bread as one way oil gets into her food, since she finds it hard to buy without oil40.
Kahleova’s 2022 rheumatoid arthritis study compared a low-fat vegan diet with a placebo supplement in 44 people, each of whom tried both28. Gluten grains were one of many food groups taken out for three weeks and then returned one by one to find each person’s triggers29.
In 2017 Lisle said autoimmune disease sometimes calls for more than a vegan diet, one that also limits gluten for its suspected part in a leaky gut31. In 2023, passing on Goldhamer’s caution about bread, he noted that wheat carries gluten and that a gene found in about a third of people may make them sensitive50. In 2026 he said gluten may be the problem for some people with inflammatory conditions51.
We treat wheat, barley and rye as good whole starches for most people, as McDougall, Rogers and the Ornish program site do, and for anyone who must avoid them McDougall’s list of naturally gluten-free starches leaves plenty to eat44101118. If you suspect celiac disease or another reaction to gluten, these doctors send you to your own physician for testing1235. Whether gluten matters in autoimmune disease is where they differ most, so that is a question for your own doctor. This page is education, not medical advice.
Each small number links to its reference below: the video at the exact second, or the page where it was said.