News

A team of business school students from Boston College invites the gluten-free community to participate in an important market research survey. The goal is to learn more about consumers with specific dietary needs. The results of the survey will be used to assist in offering detailed recommendations about how to better support the community with unique, high-quality, gluten-free foods. This survey is intended for market research purposes only. Your opinion will be kept confidential. All results will be reported in the aggregate and not as individual entries. Read More »

It’s the beginning of a new year and writers, websites, and magazines are compiling their top trends lists, as predictions for the upcoming year. After all, it’s 2010 now, and seems the best time to reflect on all of last year’s most notable food fads in order to foresee what the upcoming year will bring us in food pop culture and consumerism.

Gluten-free eating has become more and more popular and mainstream over the last few years, as more people are being diagnosed with Celiac disease and gluten intolerance/allergies (either by medical professionals or via simple elimination diets). So it’s not surprising that among the many predictions for 2010’s favorite edibles, The Daily Beast has named gluten-free food as number three on their Ten Food Trends For 2010 list. As the website says, Read More »

As common at they are, gluten allergies and elimination diets are still, many times, viewed as fringe alternative health practices and often don’t receive the mainstream validation they deserve. When some estimates show that nearly 1 in 30 people suffer at the hands of gluten, one would think the intolerance to this protein would finally gain more acceptance in mainstream medicine and media. One man, doctor and author Mark Hyman, is working to do just that.

Hyman, an M.D. in the field of functional medicine, pioneers techniques that aide the chronically-ill in improving their health and quality of life by determining the underlying causes of illness and treating according to those causes, as opposed to much mainstream medicine that focuses on treatments that champion subsistence and reliance on a medication. Doctor Hyman is a blogger for The Huffington Post and in a recent article, cites gluten allergies and Celiac Disease (even latent Celiac) as the cause for many ailments and conditions never previously associated with the grain protein. Read More »

The debate about autism and the effectiveness of the gluten-free, casein-free diet continues – this time due to irresponsible reporting of the mainstream news media who seem to have chosen sensationalism over objective journalism when covering an important medical paper on gastrointestinal disorders in autism.

This week, a panel of medical experts led by Timothy Buie, MD at Harvard Medical School published a consensus statement on the Evaluation, Diagnosis and Treatment of Gastrointestinal Disorders in Individuals with ASDs (Autism Spectrum Disorders) in the medical journal Pediatrics. You can find the full paper here.

The panel covered 23 topics in a document that is 20 pages in length, dealing with the diagnosis and care of individuals with autism spectrum disorders and gastrointestinal issues. The panel based its conclusions on available information which they agreed was limited and incomplete.

The Key Topic

“Individuals with autism spectrum disorders who present with gastrointestinal symptoms warrant a thorough evaluation, as would be undertaken for individuals without autism spectrum disorders who have the same symptoms or signs. Evidence based algorithms for the assessment of abdominal pain, constipation, chronic diarrhea, and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) should be developed.”

Some of the other topics include recommendations for the banking of DNA samples, the complexity of diagnostic evaluation when ASD and gastrointestinal disorders present, the need for studies to determine the prevalence of intestinal permeability in neuropsychiatric manifestions of ASD, and the need for large studies to determine the effectiveness of the gluten-free, casein-free diet. Read More »

The Celiac Sprue Association – USA (CSA) recently ran the article below in Lifeline, CSA’s quarterly newsletter. The CSA-PEP refers to the CSA Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity Physician Education Program.

CSA-PEP Goes Nationwide: Buffalo Physician Praises PEP

Thanks to CSA members, CSA-PEP is now available in many doctors’ offices across the United States.

Mary Alice Kelly, MD, Buffalo, wrote recently to CSA.

“I have had so many eye opening moments going through the Recognizing Celiac Disease manual. It is so comprehensive, and I give kudos to the monumental task of putting this into a readable text. Lots of patients flash through my mind as I review co-morbid conditions.

There is more than enough material in this CSA-PEP packet to make a physician aware.

I think once you diagnose one or two patients, you include celiac disease in your differential diagnosis. Our problem as physicians is limited office time with patients, so the more organized material I have to offer, the better for them. Comparing your packets to the first homemade packets from the offices of dietitians is a world of difference.”

Read the full article here.

About the CSA Celiac Disease & Gluten Sensitivity Physician Education Program (CSA-PEP):

The CSA-PEP was created to increase diagnosis and improve treatment while increasing celiac disease awareness in the medical community and the public. It will provide 60,800 doctors and 10,000 medical students with information and resources that will aid them in identifying, diagnosing and treating people with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity.

To find out more about the CSA-PEP and get involved, visit their website here.

Recognizing Celiac Disease is the definitive guide to understanding, diagnosing and managing celiac disease. It is a reader-friendly, celiac disease reference manual written for both medical professionals and the general public.

For more information visit, www.recognizingceliacdisease.com.
——————-
Author Information: John Libonati, Philadelphia, PA
President-elect, Celiac Sprue Association (CSA).
Publisher, Glutenfreeworks.com.
Editor & Publisher, Recognizing Celiac Disease.
John can be reached at john.libonati@glutenfreeworks.com.

“I only cheat once in awhile. You know, like twice a week…”

Photo: Suite101.com

If you have celiac disease, you damage your body EVERY TIME you ingest gluten. That may sound bad, but it gets worse.

You can DIE from celiac disease in a variety of ways. None of them are fun. Some take longer than others. Some may not kill you per se, but rather they may stop you from enjoying life, make you suffer from chronic pain or limit your potential.

Celiac disease is a deadly serious condition caused by eating what is essentially a poison to susceptible people – gluten proteins in wheat, barley, rye and oats.

Here are just 6 examples how celiac disease from gluten ingestion can kill you: Read More »

September 13th marks Celiac Sprue Association’s (CSA) Celiac Awareness Day. This provides a great time for people suffering with Celiac Disease to spread awareness to their friends, family, and doctors. The CSA has an awareness packet that is available for download from their website.

Several possible ideas to promote awareness is to take brochures to your doctor and health/fitness clubs. Host a luncheon with gluten free food to your friends and co-workers. Work with a restaurant to develop a gluten free menu.

This provides an ideal opportunity to teach others about the gluten free diet.

————————————-
Author Information: Cara Goedecke

Cara Goedecke – Oklahoma City Gluten free Examiner
http://www.examiner.com/x-22374-Oklahoma-City-Gluten-Free-Examiner
Oklahoma City Celiac Blog http://www.okceliac.com/blog/
e-mail: caralg520@gmail.com
Facebook OKC Celiac: www.okceliac.com

The Celiac Sprue Association (CSA) made the initial presentation of its pilot physician education program to Robert Wergin, MD, at the Milford Family Center in Milford, Nebraska. Recently named ‘Family Physician of the Year,” Dr. Wergin is in general practice at the Milford Clinic.

With this presentation, CSA launched the first phase of the most ambitious celiac disease physician education program in United States history – the CSA Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity Physician Education Program (CSA-PEP).

The CSA-PEP was created to increase diagnosis and improve treatment while increasing celiac disease awareness in the medical community and the public. It will provide 60,800 doctors and 10,000 medical students with information and resources that will aid them in identifying, diagnosing and treating people with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity.

The program is designed so individuals have the option, with a donation of $70 or more, to present the CSA-PEP package to their personal physicians so they can receive optimal care.

This program advances CSA efforts to promote the CSA mission statement: “Celiacs Helping Celiacs.”

Materials in the CSA-PEP package include both physician and patient information: National Institutes of Health (NIH) celiac disease materials; information on dermatitis herpetformis; a gluten-free diet guide by Dr. Jean Guest, CSA’s consultant dietitian; the CSA Gluten-Free Product Listing; the medical reference Recognizing Celiac Disease; a current issue of the CSA Lifeline membership newsletter; fact sheets, brochures, patient pamphlets and other CSA publications.

For more information about this opportunity or to get involved with fundraising and distribution, please contact the CSA at 1-877-CSA-4CSA, or visit CSA online at www.csaceliacs.org.

Celiac disease is the most common inherited autoimmune disease in the world. The National Institutes of Health estimates 1% of the United States population has celiac disease, making it more common than breast cancer, autism or type 1 diabetes. Of the 3 million people in the US who have celiac disease, less than 5% are diagnosed. Gluten sensitivity is estimated to affect many more people than celiac disease. Healthcare costs of untreated celiac disease are estimated to run $14.5 to $35 billion per year. The disorder is triggered by ingesting wheat, barley, rye or oats and results in inflammation, tissue damage, and malabsorption of nutrients leading to a host of varied symptoms. The treatment of celiac disease and gluten sensitivity is removing wheat, barley, rye and oats from the diet.

With almost 100,000 contacts, over 9,000 members and 125 local support group chapters across the country, the Celiac Sprue Association (CSA) is the largest member-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to helping individuals with celiac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis worldwide through education, information and research.

Dr. Joseph Murray of the Mayo Clinic explains his landmark study that tested blood samples from 50 years ago and compared them to people of the same ages today. The results: 1. Celiac disease is 5 times more prevalent than it was 50 years ago, 2. People with untreated celiac disease are 4 times more likely to die prematurely than the general population. This breaking information shows us that the rate of celiac disease is rising and people must be identified and diagnosed to insure good health. – John Libonati, Editor. Glutenfreeworks.com

(Editor’s Note: The author of the article reprinted below may have meant celiac disease when he wrote “gluten allergies.”)

Mayo research suggests gluten allergies more common
by Sea Stachura, Minnesota Public Radio
July 1, 2009

Rochester, Minn. — Celiac disease — an allergic reaction to gluten – is four times more common today than it was 50 years ago, according to research conducted at the Mayo Clinic.

Mayo gastroenterologist Joseph Murray says one in 100 people now have the disease.

He says doctors had thought the marked increase was a result of better screening, but the research suggests that celiac disease is truly becoming more common, paralleling other diseases like type one diabetes or allergies.

Murray says that suggests this could be an autoimmune response, or it could be that something has changed about gluten.

“When it’s not busy fighting infections in our environment it’s up to no good and turns on ourselves or create autoimmunity. That’s one theory,” he said. “Celiac disease is unusual in that we know the environmental trigger for the disease. You have to eat gluten, the protein from wheat, barley or rye to get the disease. So another possibility is that something changed about gluten.”

People with untreated celiac disease are also four times more likely to die earlier than people without the disease. Murray says people of all ages can develop the disease.

Source: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/06/30/mayo_gluten_allergies/