Rosanna Davison: Gluten quote not my view

Model Rosanna Davison claims an article in a Sunday newspaper where she appeared to suggest that gluten is responsible for arthritis, autism and schizophrenia misrepresented her position.

Ms Davison was criticised earlier this week for an interview with the Sunday Independent in which it was claimed that the former Miss World had cited “research that shows gluten to be the bad guy responsible for a huge range of medical conditions from autism spectrum disorders to schizophrenia to arthritis”. The article led to criticism from a number of sources, including Arthritis Ireland which described the stance attributed to Ms Davison as ‘irresponsible’.

However, speaking on Today FM to promote her forthcoming cook book, Ms Davison yesterday said the article miscommunicated her position.

“What I want to make very clear is that my message was miscommunicated. This does not reflect my views, it’s not a quote and it’s certainly not in the book,” she said.

“What I was pointing out to the journalist in the interview was that there are an awful lot of studies that are out there at the moment that are hotly debating the subject of non-coeliac gluten sensitivity and even wheat allergy,” she said.

“I don’t want to play a victim here, but I do feel that my message was very much miscommunicated in the article. I do appreciate why the reaction happened as it did. If I was the parent of for example, an autistic child, I would have been horrified to read what was written,” Ms Davison said.

“But again I do want to make it clear that it wasn’t my quote and it doesn’t reflect my views. I’m in no position to prove or disprove anything. I’m trained as a nutritional therapist, I’m not a doctor or a dietician.”

The model said she was overwhelmed by the reaction to her piece on social media, and that she found some of the remarks ‘unpleasant’.