Gluten-free packaging is everywhere, but many people still don’t seem to know what gluten is and why they might want to avoid it.

Earlier this summer, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel even made a joke of it by sending a camera crew to Runyon Canyon in Los Angeles to find out if exercisers knew what gluten is. Kimmel wanted to mock their lack of knowledge because, as he explained, “In L.A., people are very anti-gluten, which bothers me because I’m very pro-pizza.” Kimmel wondered if people would be able to answer the question “What is gluten?”

watch the video.. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdJFE1sp4Fw

For people who have celiac disease, gluten is not exactly a laughing matter, however. Celiac is an intestine damaging disease, and 85 percent of sufferers go undiagnosed.

At LIVESTRONG, gluten has been a popular topic over the past several years. We’ve published a number of articles on gluten, including “Gluten: Friend or Foe?” “15 Unexpected Foods That Contain Gluten,” “5 Reasons to Go Gluten-Free” and “Gluten-Free Is the Way for Me.”

Still, the Kimmel segment highlights that there are a lot of people out there who don’t know what the heck gluten is. To help fix this, we created an infographic to help make it easier for everyone to understand what the deal is with gluten.

We hope this infographic will help to solve all the confusing questions about gluten.  (Gluten, by the way, is a protein found in wheat, rye, triticale and barley.) Print it and/or pin it and share it on Pinterest. That way, the next time a camera crew (or friend or family-member) asks questions about gluten, you’ll be prepared with an intelligent answer!

Readers – Did you know what gluten was before reading this article? If not, did the infographic help to explain things? Have you ever eaten gluten-free?  Has eating gluten-free helped you to feel better? Have you ever been tested for or diagnosed with Celiac Disease? Leave a comment below and let us know.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/blog/whats-deal-gluten-free-infographic#ixzz39FuOSaiS