Celiac disease awareness is desperately needed – now more than ever.
While the gluten-free diet has exploded in popularity, celiac disease remains massively under-diagnosed.
Why? Two Reasons:
1. The public has shifted its focus to the gluten-free diet and away from celiac disease due to the media. The media likes diets. Diets sell. Oddly named diseases that are difficult to describe in catchy sound bites don’t sell.
2. Doctors do not have the information they need to recognize, diagnose and treat this common disorder. The information exists but there is no authority that actively ensures (more…)
This video provides an interview with Shannon Ford, winner of the 2011 Mrs. United States pageant. An advocate for the Celiac Disease Foundation, Ford adopted a gluten-free diet after first being diagnosed with Celiac Disease in 2009.
Ford’s story is similar to many others’ who are now gluten free, and she hopes to broaden the knowledge of Celiac Disease and gluten sensitivity. Ford has used her celebrity platform to help support causes like gluten-free labeling and fitness.
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,
5/8/2012 9:29 PM ET (RTTNews) - Domino’s new gluten-free pizza should not be eaten by people with Celiac disease, the company said in a statement. Apparently, the first gluten-free pizza being offered by national pizza chain is designed for people with gluten sensitivity, as opposed to those with full-blown Celiac disease.
Despite the fact that the crust are gluten free, Domino’s can’t guarantee that no gluten will come into contact with the pizza, which could be dangerous for those with the gluten allergy. (more…)
May is National Celiac Disease Awareness Month, so it seems appropriate to share some medical facts about this autoimmune disease that just might shock you.
These facts come from Dr. Tom O’Bryan who is is a nationally recognized speaker and workshop leader specializing in gluten sensitivity and celiac disease. Dr. O’Bryan’s specialty is in teaching the many manifestations of gluten sensitivity and celiac disease as they occur inside and outside of the (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…)
Doctors are missing over 95% of people with celiac disease – over 3 million in the United States. That’s more people than autism or Type 1 Diabetes, yet celiac disease receives a fraction of the funding of these diseases. Lives are being destroyed every day, when a simple change in diet could cure them. Let’s get the word out…
The following questions and answers were developed by the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard Medical School:
Q. What is it like for a person you see who is newly diagnosed with Celiac Disease? A. The gluten-free diet requires more preparation, taking food with you when you travel, making sure that you are safe in dining-out situations or when you are visiting with family or friends. So for some, it is very simple and straight forward and they are already experimenting with new grains like amaranth, buckwheat, millet, sorghum, and teff. But some people are (more…)
Celiac disease awareness is desperately needed – now more than ever. 
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