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Dr. Kenneth Fine to lecture at April 18th Atlanta Metro Celiacs Support Group Meeting

Dr. Kenneth Fine will give a lecture on Sunday, April 18th from 3:00pm – 5:00pm at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (at Scottish Rite) in the Main Auditorium. Dr. Fine will be addressing the members of the Atlanta Metro Celiacs, the local adult support group for people on the gluten-free diet.

The topic for Dr. Fine’s lecture is: “The Historic and Current Clash of Man vs. Gluten: Understanding the Gluten Sensitivity Epidemic”. Dr. Fine will describe some of the history and anthropology of how gluten-containing grains became our primary foodstuffs and why it has resulted in so much disease and immune reaction today.

Celiac Disease: Why You Must Depend on Yourself to Be Healthy

Below is an important letter by Cleo Libonati, celiac disease author and speaker. She explains why you must be your own health advocate if you wish to be healthy and receive optimal care.

Dear Friend,

For the past three years, I have met with HMOs, pharmaceutical companies, politicians, doctors, dietitians, celiac support groups, and patients across the United States. One thing is abundantly clear. Doctors are not recognizing celiac disease and do not realize how little they know about the disorder.

In 2004, the National Institutes of Health called for education of physicians and other healthcare providers about celiac disease. To date, few efforts have been undertaken and none has succeeded.

The result is missed diagnoses, inadequate follow-up, unnecessary surgeries, improperly prescribed medications and needless pain. During my presentations, I meet many people who think they are receiving good treatment and cannot understand why no one has told them their persisting symptoms are due to simple nutrient deficiencies.

Breastfed Babies at Reduced Risk for Developing Celiac Disease Autoimmunity

According to the Centers for Disease Control, as of 2006, 33.1% of women were choosing to exclusively breastfeed their newborn from 0-3 months of age. At the one-year mark, only 22.7% of women were still breastfeeding their baby (non-exclusively).

The American Academy of Pediatrics Committee, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Canadian Pediatric Society, the Pediatric Society of New Zealand, and other similar organizations in various countries worldwide have all made statements on infant feeding and the appropriate time to introduce solid foods into a baby’s diet. The current consensus is that solid food should not be introduced until at least the age of 4-6 months, if not later.

“Autism: Made In the U.S.A” film: what it has to do with Gluten

A new documentary produced by Gary Null, a natural health advocate and activist, takes aim at our modern medical establishment and the various ways it could possibly be contributing to chronic illness, neurological phenomenon and conditions, and specifically, Autism.

Null delves into the relationship between vaccines, food, environmental pollutants, the childhood Autism pandemic in America and what can be done about the increasing numbers. According to the Center for Disease Control, as of 2010, 1 in every 110 children will be diagnosed with Autism.

To go gluten free or not?

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, digestive problems can be really detrimental to your well-being. Whatever your symptoms might be, digestive health is vital to the body’s overall well-being.

Make it your new year goal to figure out the cause of your discomfort and to find a solution that works for you.

“Gluten-free” named #3 top food trend predicted for 2010

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Liz_Schau

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_labelGluten-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,

How to Lose Weight on the Gluten-Free Diet

The traditional look of celiac disease was an underweight person. However, a large minority (39%) are now found to be overweight at diagnosis.

A woman with a history of struggling to lose weight is diagnosed with celiac disease. After starting the gluten-free diet she loses 50 lbs in less than a year…seemingly without effort. A middle-aged man who has never had issues with his weight is diagnosed with celiac disease, adopts the gluten-free diet and begins to pack on pounds and doesn’t know why. A young man loses over 20 lbs in less than 3 months and reaches his ideal weight after going gluten-free.

These are true stories – in fact the last one was mine.

Gluten Intolerance Validated by this Popular Doctor and Author

Liz_Schau

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.

HymanHyman, 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.

Is the Media Fueling the Gluten free, Casein Free Autism Controversy?

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.