Gluten-free is the new Atkins diet. Everywhere you look — from supermarket shelves, restaurants, cookbooks and health magazines — there are gluten-free products, menu options, recipes and discussion about the benefits of avoiding this protein found naturally in wheat, barley in rye.

The question is, why? Gluten isn't inherently bad for you, unlike high amounts of sugar, sodium or trans-fats. And only one in 100 people in Australia suffer from coeliac disease — an auto-immune condition where the body cannot tolerate the protein and it causes the body to create antibodies, which attack its own tissues, the Coeliac Society of Australia says.

In the US, sales of gluten-free food have more than doubled since 2005, according to market research company Packaged Facts, who predicts the fad will continue through to 2012.

Many people who have switched to a gluten-free diet report feeling digestively better, although exactly why is not clear, MSNBC.com reported.

The director of the University of Maryland's Center for Celiac Research in the US, Dr Alessio Fasano, suggests the reason people feel better cutting gluten from their diet is because the human body is not able to effectively digest the protein. Gluten has only been around for around 10,000 years, which is not long in terms of the body adapting to digest a new protein.

Coeliacs disease is reported to be one of the most under-diagnosed conditions in Australia and, left untreated, can lead to bowel cancer and osteoporosis. The Coeliac Society says 75 percent of potential cases in Australia are currently undiagnosed.

Cutting gluten from your diet doesn't necessarily equate to losing weight, as the number of kilojoules is generally the same, but it may make you feel better on a daily basis and could reduce your risk of coeliac-related disease later in life.