Gluten Sensitivity

In The Happening, Plants Kill Humanity

In the M. Night Shyamalan thriller, The Happening, a worldwide plague strikes humanity that causes anyone affected to kill themselves. The trigger turns out to be a substance released by plants into the air that affects the minds of humans. According to the movie, plants developed the toxin to save themselves from humans.

As we discover more about gluten, lectins and now a new protein called ATI, it seems Shyamalan’s film may have been closer to the truth than anyone could have thought. Plants may be fighting back against their predators, including us. Read More »

Photo credit: Celiac Disease Awareness Month

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 Read More »

This has been a post/letter which has been a work in progress for two years. For the past two years, I have had the new years resolution to send a letter to the 22 doctors who I had seen throughout the five years of misdiagnosis. After finally receiving a great report from my GI yesterday, it was time to put the finishing touches on this piece. It is something I felt I needed to do.

Not only to gain closure for myself, but as a way to spread awareness about gluten-sensitivity. The doctors need to know what the other side of the rainbow looks like, after what was a treacherous and long storm.  Read More »

In this video, Dr. Osborne discusses the benefits of the gluten-free diet as well as the Paleo diet in an interview with FOX News.

Is Lady Gaga Going Gluten Free For Her Health??

According to a news release on MSN.com, Stefani Germanotta (a.k.a. Lady Gaga) is the newest celebrity to say she’s going gluten-free. She made the announcement on the latest leg of her ‘Born This Way Ball’ tour.

She is described as doing so in order to “make sure she is in the best shape for the grueling workout.”

Then the article drops a bombshell… “Her aim is to drop 10 lbs in a month.”

This is where celiac disease experts, bloggers and media know-it-alls usually start lobbing grenades.

Why the Big Deal?

Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity are serious medical conditions that require a gluten-free diet. Many people diagnosed with one or both disorders chafe at the fact that they cannot eat what they want. While a diagnosis is important, medical professionals and the media emphatically make the groundless claim that the gluten-free diet can be bad for your health unless you are medically diagnosed with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.

Lady Gaga is reported to have neither celiac disease nor gluten sensitivity in the MSN article. The article emphasizes her aim to use the diet to get Read More »

Is Food That Contains Gluten Really Gluten-Free?

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,

Read More »

(Editor’s Note: A follow up on Domino’s Pizza Offers Gluten-Free Pizza…Sort Of)

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. Read More »

Just last week BioLineRx, a biopharmaceutical development company announced successful pre-clinical testing of a potentially revolutionary treatment for celiac disease.  This new treatment may help celiac disease patients reduce their gluten toxins to create an overall healthy body for all celiac disease patients.

Jerusalem, Israel – February 21, 2012 – BioLineRx (NASDAQ: BLRX; TASE: BLRX), a biopharmaceutical development company, announced the publication of pre-clinical results demonstrating that BL-7010, an orally available treatment for celiac disease, reduces gluten toxicity (the negative effect of gluten on the patient’s body). The research was published in the February edition of Gastroenterology.

The findings indicate that BL-7010 (previously called P(HEMA-co-SS)) reduces digestion of wheat gluten, thereby decreasing its Read 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?”

We asked people on on the Glutenfreeworks Twitter account how they felt about whether finding out earlier about their gluten sensitivity or celiac disease would have affected their lives.

Here is what they said.

Do you think your life would have been different if you had known about gluten at an early age???

@Glutenfreeworks incredibly. My senior year of high school probably wouldn’t be going so poorly if I had…. Read More »