BioLineRx Ltd, a biopharmaceutical development company, was invited to deliver an oral presentation at the recent 2013 National Education Conference & Gluten-Free Expo, the Celiac Disease Foundation’s annual conference, in Pasadena, California.
Leah Klapper, Ph.D., General Manager, BioLine Innovations Jerusalem, presented BioLineRx’s therapy, BL-7010, for the treatment of celiac, as part of a session entitled Breaking Therapies Beyond the Gluten-Free Diet.
I love Springtime. More sunshine, flowers coming up, and I just want to be outdoors…and not in my kitchen. I’m still not used to the longer days, so by the time it starts getting dark and I start thinking about dinner, I’m often scrambling to get food on the table. So it’s a great time to refocus on quick and easy. I love good food, but I’m also big on time savers. For me, that means:
The delivery services from nearby farms, like Relay and Washington’s Green Grocer. (this is in the DC metro area–I’m sure there are similar services around the country) I can get organic fruits, veggies, meats, etc. easily, and Relay also has gluten-free products from Triple Oak Bakery and others.
Being gluten free means adapting a whole new relationship to food, something that shapes our every day lives, holidays and traditions. Considering how complicated and challenging being gluten free can be, it seems appropriate to make our New Year’s Resolutions at least related to improving our health and gluten free lifestyle.
1. Be (even more) gluten free – this means making smart, safe choices at restaurants like getting a salad instead of french fries due to risk of cross contamination.
2. Become informed — I vowed to start following GF blogs so that I can stay current on what other GF advocates are up to.
3. Get techy — there are many phone apps out there that make being gluten free much simpler. I decided to start (more…)
This is the article I wrote on Health and Wellness for the Autism Community Magazine.
I recently heard Rebecca Onie speak on TedTalk about the current healthcare system in the US. She poses the questions: “What if our health care system kept us healthy? What if waiting rooms were a place to improve daily healthcare? What if doctors could/would prescribe/facilitate diet and lifestyle change and improve health?” The work the patient needs to do is not done after the prescription is (more…)
There is no cure for celiac disease. But, there may soon be a new therapy to go along with a gluten-free diet.
A Phase II medical research study to test a potential therapy for people with celiac disease is underway and signing up participants at CeliacTrial.com.
Alessio Fasano, MD. Co-founder of Alba Therapeutics
The investigational drug, Larazotide Acetate, was developed by Alba Therapeutics. It passed Phase I trials and is now being studied to determine how effective it is in different doses and whether side effects develop. Alba Therapeutics was co-founded by celiac disease researcher, Dr. Alessio Fasano, director of the Celiac Disease Center at the University of Maryland.1
The therapy is based on Dr. Fasano’s discovery that tight junctions between cells in the intestine can be opened or closed and that gluten relaxes these junctions. It is this process that leads to gluten improperly crossing into the body, thereby eliciting an immune reaction that leads to inflammation and damage characteristic of celiac disease.
“The reality is that the paracellular space is a gate, not a wall or fence. And if material gets through that space – even if it is only 1 to 5% of what normally travels through the cell – it could be associated with disease.”
-Alessio Fasano, MD1
Dr. Fasano discovered the potentially therapeutic utility of down-regulating intestinal permeability of celiac disease.1 In other words, he discovered that (more…)
Domino’s Pizza recently announced it would offer gluten-free pizza for gluten sensitive customers. Domino’s made it clear that the pizzas used a gluten-free crust, but are manufactured using the same equipment as the other gluten-containing foods and are not safe for people with celiac disease.
Domino’s worked with the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) and received the NFCA’s new, and now suspended, “Amber Designation.” This designation was to tell people that although the ingredients are gluten-free, the product cannot claim that cross contamination does not occur. The “Amber Designation” differed from the NFCA’s existing “Green Designation,” which tells the customer that the product is tested to less than 10 parts per million of gluten. “Amber” was basically a caution sign.
What Did Gluten-Free Watchdog Organizations Say?
The Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG) and other organizations called for a recall of the NFCA’s “Amber Designation.”
The North American Society for the Study of Celiac Disease commented on Domino’s Pizza ‘Gluten-Free’ Crust Announcement as follows,
There are a number of nutrient deficiencies associated with Celiac and other autoimmune disorders. These occur not only BEFORE diagnosis, due to flattened villi and malabsorption, but AFTER diagnosis as well. It’s up to us to choose healthy, naturally gluten-free foods (like fruits, veggies, lean protein and brown rice) in order to feel the best we can. Even then, we may still have deficiencies.
I was diagnosed about 5 years ago. Although I have experienced dramatic improvements in my health, sleep quality, and energy level, I have still been dealing with some “weird” symptoms that I wasn’t sure were going to go away. These include eye floaters (which I’ve noticed for about 2 years now), shakiness and rapid pulse especially during the first half of the day, and carbohydrate intolerance. (Eating high carb meals have been giving me headaches). So…. I was VERY excited when I heard that Gluten Free Works was going to be offering NUTRITION TESTING. I couldn’t wait to try it out.
When I got my results back, I was AMAZED at how many nutrient deficiencies I still had after being Gluten-Free for this many years. I came up deficient in:
VITAMIN A (this explained the eye floaters) CHROMIUM (I had never heard of chromium before now, but this explained my problem with carbs. I have since read that a deficiency in Chromium leads to DIABETES… so I’m glad I figured this out now, rather than later ;) SELENIUM (had never heard of that one either) (more…)
On December 13, I posted a question on the Glutenfreeworks Facebook page to ask people who had adopted a gluten-free diet if they no longer needed medications they had been taking. The response was incredible. Dozens of people described how they no longer needed drugs, some of which they had been taking for years or decades.
Here is my post and their responses…
“I gave a presentation to a group and mentioned a friend who had been on Zantac for 20 years. I went on to say that once she went gluten-free the acid reflux disappeared. A woman in the audience stood up and said the same thing happened to her – she had been on it since she was 10 (I’m guessing she was in her mid to late 30s.).
My question for you is what medication (of any kind) were you on, before you went gluten-free, that you no longer need to take and how long did it take before you did not need it anymore?”
LEXINGTON, Mass., Dec. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ – Avaxia Biologics, Inc., a privately-held biotech company developing oral antibody drugs that act locally within the gastrointestinal tract, announced today that the company was awarded U.S. Patent 8,071,101, “Antibody Therapy for Treatment of Diseases Associated With Gluten Intolerance.”
This patent, which expires on May 27, 2029, provides broad coverage for treating celiac disease using (more…)
Finding out you have Celiac Disease is a big transition. Often it’s a good one that leads to feeling great, yet initially it’s a lot of information to take in at once to understand what you need to do for your health. Much of it is because we’re been eating one way for 15, 30, 50 or more years and it can be overwhelming to to instantly unlearn everything we’ve done and change overnight. Wouldn’t life be easier if you could take a doctor or dietitian home as a portable reminder of the basics? And so the Celiac Disease Video Project was born.
See below for videos of Dr. John Snyder, Chief of the Department of Gastroenterology at CNMC in DC, Dr. Gary Kaplan, Medical Director of Kaplan Center for Integrative Medicine and Cheryl Harris, MPH, RD Registered Dietitian and Nutritionist discussing testing, diagnosis and follow-up, eating a gluten-free diet and a short segment on when it’s not Celiac. Though there are an increasing number of videos out there on people’s stories of diagnosis and ways to make a gluten-free pie, this is the first of its kind to do a run-down of the medical and diet basics by healthcare professionals. The Celiac Sprue Association has been kind enough to support the project. (more…)
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