@snowberry All I said was that you don’t have to eat gluten-free to be healthy. How you can call this alarmist is beyond me. In any case, there are two problems associated with eating gluten-free for those who do not have a gluten sensitivity. Notice first, however, that I said “gluten sensitivity” and not “celiac disease.” This is because I am not under the impression that celiac disease is the only reason one might have to abstain from gluten. Your implication to the contrary, therefore, is baseless.
So what are the potential problems associated with eating a gluten-free diet? The first is the one already mentioned by @Unbroken: nutrient loss. Gluten is a natural protein that is part of many vegetarian diets, and it is frequently found in foods that are fortified with important vitamins that are not as abundant elsewhere. As such, many foods that are labeled as being gluten-free, while not junk foods of the sort we would normally recognize as such, are as good as junk food because of what has been taken out of them (gluten-free substitutes typically are not fortified).
The other problem is what substitute foods like gluten-free bread—that being the food item that sparked this part of the discussion, remember—replace gluten with in order to make up for its properties (gluten being important to the texture of bread, as well as the process of making it). Gluten-free substitutes tend to be higher in cholesterol and high-fructose corn syrup. Notice that this is related to the previous problem. Not only do many gluten-free substitute foods lack vitamin fortification, what they replace gluten with also contributes to seemingly healthy foods really being junk.
Finally, let’s talk about inflammation. I do not deny that gluten can cause inflammation. But so do many other things (including several other proteins and plant lectins). Moreover, many of the products that are used to replace gluten also promote inflammation (such as seed oils). The fact of the matter, however, is that digestion is never a tranquil process at the chemical level. It is impossible to eliminate everything that causes any amount of bodily distress because the body is not designed to be peaceful. Its equilibrium is dynamic in all states other than death. When considering a nutritional plan, then, the real concern is the overall level of these inflammatory agents. Health is a holistic affair.