Gluten intolerance - a modern-day/first world illness?

If I hear one more person claim that they are (or think they are) ‘gluten intolerant’, I think I might scream. Surely, if your body is truly gluten intolerant, it would have been so since childhood. But too often I am hearing that adults (and some almost elderly) have recently discovered their gluten intolerance and so they are watching everything they eat -  and an excursion to the supermarket presents a continuing new and daunting prospect, as they (or their partner) search the aisles for ‘gluten free’ produce.
 At the same time, commercials on TV featuring remedies for IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) are bordering on the monotonous. The frequency (of the commercials, that is) seems to be increasing at an amazing rate. So, what is it? Are people experiencing discomfort after eating - and eating bread and wheaten-flour-based products, especially – more and more? If this is the case, then perhaps we should be looking carefully at all the ingredients of the modern day loaf/cake/biscuit/whatever, instead of assuming an illness exists, then spending time and money on the remediation of the ‘disease’.
Of course, the traders in ‘gluten free’ products are having a field day and charging whatever they like as they prey on people’s  insecurities concerning their gut.


I suspect there is more to it that an often sudden
  realisation that a person’s gut-ache is an indication of
illness.