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Celiac.com 08/16/2019 - People with celiac disease tend to have quite a few extra food allergies, intolerances, and sensitivities, in addition to being gluten-free. Some very common allergies are soy, dairy, wheat, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, fish, and eggs. While others are less commonly known like corn, coffee, tomatoes, apples, citrus (orange, lemon, lime), chocolate, and even candida. Now, if you don’t know that much about candida, or even know how to help this particular intestinal problem, you will need to avoid eating yeast, sugar, vinegar (excluding apple cider vinegar), alcohol, dried fruits, peanuts, pistachios, mushrooms, processed foods, smoked foods, and aged cheeses like Parmesan. Plus, avoid using antibiotics, birth control pills, and steroids because long term use will only feed the fungus. You will generally find that people with celiac disease have weakened immune systems and typically leaky gut syndrome. This often leaves room for candida to grow, so you don’t want to fuel the fire by eating any of the foods listed in the above paragraph, because if you do you, it will only lead to a list of symptoms that runs a mile long. Some of them include: adrenal fatigue headaches brain fog depression hair loss chemical sensitivity muscle pain and spasms G.I. distress heartburn heart palpitations dry eyes rashes and itching night sweats sinusitis Now, there are ways to feel healthier and take control of the overgrowth with probiotics mixtures and certain supplements. They include oregano, coconut, garlic, ginger, cloves, and more. Even cooking with these herbs on a daily basis will help. Plus, eating a low carb diet filled with a lot of proteins and vegetables will definitely be key! So, as you can see, both of these gastrointestinal health conditions are very much linked, and they have a lot more in common than just starting with the same letter.

Celiac.com 04/29/2020 - People with celiac disease cannot eat gluten from products made with wheat, barley or rye. The two main culprits proteins in gluten are glutenin and gliadin, with the latter thought to cause most of the inflammation and adverse health health effects in people with celiac disease. Glutenases are enzymes needed to break down glutens in foods to make these foods easier for people to digest. Imagine an enzyme that could be added to traditional wheat or gluten-containing products to make them gluten-free. The technology would work very much the way adding lactase to regular milk breaks down the lactose proteins and makes the milk safe for people with milk intolerance. It's a very cool idea. One major hurdle involves the fact that glutenase enzymes that break down gluten proteins can't take the high temperatures used to manufacture or process food. Researchers Seek Enzymes to Break Down Gluten in Food Production A team of researchers at Clemson University may have solved that problem, or all least made strong progress. Sachin Rustgi, an assistant professor of molecular breeding in Clemson’s Advanced Plant Technology Program, is working with numerous other to create glutenases capable of withstand high cooking temperatures. In addition to Rustgi, others involved in the study are: Claudia Osorio, Nuan Wen, Diter von Wettstein and Shannon Mitchell of Washington State University, and Jaime H. Mejías of Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA), Chile. Early results from their study show that it's possible to create glutenase enzymes that can handle the high temperatures required to manufacture or process foods. However promising, the results are merely preliminary, and further study will be needed before the full results will be known. Such an enzyme might allow manufacturers to add glutenases to food labeled ‘gluten-free’” Rustgi said. “This will allow people with celiac disease to tolerate foods that are contaminated with gluten/wheat." Alternatively, such an enzyme could allow researchers to engineer wheat grains that incorporates such glutenases into its structure. "After necessary testing, this may provide an alternative treatment for celiac disease,” Rustgi said. Imagine traditional bread that was gluten-free and made safe to eat through the addition of enzymes. Few things would be more promising to people with celiac disease. Stay tuned for more on the efforts to develop enzymes that can break down gluten, and potentially help people with celiac disease to avoid damage from accidental gluten-ingestion. Read more at Newsstand.clemson.edu

Celiac.com 10/22/2021 - The iceberg starts by scratching the hull. The captain and crew had early warning signs but it all happened so quickly from there. The destruction continues on and the hull is breached, allowing water to rush in. We are seeing this happen now. People are starting to perish aren‘t they? Next, the boat starts to list to starboard. Passengers are abandoning ship while the crew goes into emergency status. The pumps are started and priorities set. It's a bit chaotic but many are still being hopeful and thinking positively. Those with vision imagine the worst-case scenario and act accordingly. "I think we can patch this thing up if we back away now and try not to drive this rock any deeper." Unfortunately, this is man's ‘M.O.", isn't it? We do have to hit the iceberg before we learn many of the important things in life. Well, we have hit them and hit them hard. As I stated so melodramatically in the opening, you are alive to see the paradigm shift that has resulted from hitting this iceberg. The ship is going down. One drug after another has been placed under "the microscope" and failed the acid test. The cans are all falling off the shelf. For those in medicine, the colon contents have hit the fan. Pick a metaphor and run with it. Thank God there are lifeboats! And there are lots of them—enough to rescue the entire compliment of passengers and crew. It's just that they are small, spread out, and there doesn't appear to be enough of them. But there are adequate provisions if we stay calm, work together, pool our resources, and WANT to survive. We have to want to get better and we have to believe that there are lifeboats that can get us to safety. The lifeboats are people who understand nutrition and how the body works. They are wise doctors who listen to their patients before prescribing medication, whether they are conventional or holistic preparations. I look at the Internet as a set of lifeboats, although some of them have holes in them. What's the expression? Oh yeah "Knowledge is power." That is partly right, for sure. Faith is extremely important, as is courage. You must believe and act upon what you think is true. You must be confident, strong, and persistent. So, we need to cover a few more things to build up your faith in the idea that we are in charge of our health destiny more than we have ever been led to believe. It's not hard to imagine now that you know about the extremely common malabsorption syndrome being induced by the staples of our diet, right? There is more, though—much more. The two biggest killers of human beings are atherosclerosis and cancer. A person every 3.5 seconds dies of a stroke or heart attack in this country. And yet, the dog does not suffer from this as a lethal, clinical entity—yet! Veterinary pathologists are seeing atherosclerotic changes in the vessels of dogs on necropsy. And this is very important for us to understand. Dogs can have atherosclerosis but they don't have it badly enough to cause clinical disease. They develop so many of the conditions that take human life, including a higher incidence of cancer, but dogs don't suffer from this deadly disease process. Why is that? Simply put, they don't get "enough" hydrogenated oils in their diet. I believe down to my socks that trans fats are the single-most important factor in the development of atherosclerosis—the "solvents" that allow things into the walls of the arteries of those that consume them and set the stage for the inflammatory process that follows. Dogs do get some trans fats in their diet, as they are fed French fries, snack foods and bits of human desserts that are loaded with these culprits. But, they clearly do not get enough to lead to a clinical syndrome. (Please read Hydrogenated Oils-The Silent Killers, by David Dewey on the Internet. Whoa! You will clearly see how and why the first recorded myocardial infarction took place only ten years after hydrogenated oils hit the shelves in the form of margarine. You will also see how and why another plague—type 2 diabetes—"adult-onset" diabetes—followed ten years after that. Hey, dogs don‘t get that one either—yet! "20:20".) But cancer??? Oh yeah, dogs have lots and lots of cancer. Why is that? Because they have plenty of the viruses that cause cancer and experience the same immune suppression as humans stemming from their diet, the environment, and the drugs they receive. "Back up for minute. That's the second time you've said viruses cause cancer." Yes, once again, there are medical researchers who have believed for over thirty years that all cancer is viral in origin—not just some, not even most, but all. I personally believe that this is true, especially after spending as much time studying about these guys as I have. And this belief positions all other "carcinogens" where I think they belong: as secondary factors, facilitating the action of the virus by causing immune suppression, chronic tissue damage, and/or damage to our actual DNA, where I believe many of these culprits reside. The "four horsemen" fit right into the clinical picture here by inducing at least two of the three factors- causing immune suppression and inciting chronic tissue inflammation and damage. The immunosuppressive effects of the big four should be easily imagined. Back to the coral reef covered with oil. How can those villi that are coated with the problem glycoproteins manage to absorb optimal levels of B complex, vitamin C, and other nutrients critical to the health of the immune system? How can they do it when they are leveled by the immune response to the glue foods in true celiac disease or the related conditions of true casein, soy, or corn intolerance? This should be a no-brainer—and it is—literally. The brain suffers tremendously from the lack of these nutrients along with a concurrent deficiency in calcium, zinc, iron, iodine, and the pandemic omega three fatty acid deficiencies that exist in humans and pets. Therefore, it shouldn't be a mystery that cancer is rampant among the three species. The fact that viruses cause cancer is a done deal in veterinary medicine and has been for quite some time. I won't bore you with the list of examples. And yet, it was not until March of this year—2005—that the American Cancer Society put viruses on their list of carcinogens. How can that be? Are you as baffled by that as I am? Remember those landers on Mars? Wherever you have immune suppression and chronic inflammation come together then you should look for cancer. Estrogens fit the bill here and therefore should not surprise anyone as leading carcinogens in breast (mammary) cancer. The good news is that the ovaries of the female do not make enough estrogen by themselves to create this dilemma. It is what the individual is consuming (including hormone replacement therapy) or exposed to in the environment (pesticides, environmental toxins, food animal additives, etc) that tips the scales in favor of the cancer (or endometriosis, polycystic ovaries, PMS, catamenial seizures, or other estrogen-related disorders). The "big four" foods fit right in here because the gluten grains, dairy, and soy are loaded with estrogens. Dairy is a huge factor here as it also provides cholesterol precursors to the formation of these hormones. Seeing a pattern here? Yes, the foods that are bad for us are so in a number of ways. So, we should not be surprised to see that Asians have a 15 times lower rate of breast cancer and a 5 times lower rate of prostate cancer—on their native diets. It is NOT because they eat soy. The truth is that they eat very little soy. But they do NOT eat dairy, wheat, or corn in their traditional diets. Just go to any authentic Japanese or Chinese restaurant and look for cheese, bread, or corn chips. Which brings us to "lectins", something I mentioned a while back. Lectin is the term that has been given to the antibody-sized glycoprotein that is derived from the consumption of foods that are part carbohydrate and part protein (thus the term glyco-protein). Once again, the big four foods are glycoproteins by structure. Our antibodies are also glycoproteins, a protein core with a sticky carbohydrate outer covering to facilitate adherence to foreign proteins such a viruses, bacteria, and the like. In fact, viruses have glycoprotein receptors on them. Normally, our antibodies attach to these sites. Hmmm—I wonder if dietary lectins ever do? Could one plausible explanation for food-induced immune-mediated disease episodes be that the chronic latent viruses in situ in our tissue become coated with dietary glycoproteins rather than our antibodies and that when we develop IgE, IgG, and other antibodies to these foods that our immune system starts to react to these "food-coated" viruses in the host tissue and attack that tissue just as it would if it were a viral infection coated with our own antibodies? Could that be how food lectins such as those from wheat, dairy, soy, or corn auto-agglutinate red blood cells. Maybe it is just the glycoprotein itself that does it in most cases but it sure would help to explain why some "autoimmune diseases" are triggered by foods while others follow viral infections, either naturally acquired or through vaccination. It would also help to explain why avoidance of the trouble foods could greatly reduce the incidence or recurrence of these attacks. (For a well-written discussion on lectins, please look up The Lectin Report on the Internet. It goes into great detail about how these tiny glycoproteins "unlock" the cell and allow things to enter it, inciting inflammation and causing cell death. It's all about the same guys. The four horsemen ride again.) The fantastic news is that sooooo much starts going right once the big four are avoided completely and for a long enough time. By avoiding the casein, gluten, soy, and corn, the gut starts to heal and the malabsorption syndrome begins to reverse. How long does it take for the intestine to heal once the offending foods are withdrawn? Well, according to the celiac literature, it takes anywhere from 6 months to 2 years for the duodenum to return to normal. Does that make sense? Not to me, unless you consider the fact that gluten is not the only thing doing the harm to those duodenal villi. This was my first quest, to get on celiac forums and make sure they knew the truth about casein, soy, and corn. I hated reading about celiacs that had struggled so valiantly to be gluten-free only to find that they were shooting themselves in the foot big time by the continued consumption of the other three culprits. Statistically, celiacs have a 50% chance of also being casein intolerant. I have to believe that it is much more common than that. But soy and corn are looming larger and larger as we fall for the myth that soy is a health food, we turn to vegetarianism for various reasons, and we continue to genetically modify corn to death. Assuming that we do enough right, the gut does heal and probably much more quickly than we currently believe. After all, it is one of the fastest healing tissues in the body. Once healed, it starts to take in all of the calcium, iron, iodine, B complex, vitamin C, and trace minerals that it has been starving for over the past years, often from the moment the individual started consuming the big four. The thyroid becomes healthy, the iron deficiency resolves, enzyme systems start operating at peak efficiency, tissue repairs, and the immune system gets back to normal. And that last item is critical. That's when many of the long-term symptoms finally resolve—the allergies, GI signs, skin problems, and in the best case scenario, the immune-mediated diseases. I would love to think that the risk of cancer then plummets, as well. What couldn't our immune system accomplish if it were in optimal condition? I can no longer put limitations of what our body is capable of doing in the way of healing or prevention when I think about that last statement. However, I know that our environment—with its staggering levels of serious pollution—is a HUGE limiting factor. I would love to dive into that topic but time constraints prevent that. The really cool thing is that some "completely unexpected" things can happen when individuals go GFCFSFCF (gluten-free, casein-free, soy-free, corn-free). In retrospect, they were "unexpected" only because we had not fully grasped the impact of what we had learned. The most notable—the most amazing—the coolest of the cool—the "hook" as I now call it—was the response of epileptics to this elimination diet. I find it just so utterly fascinating that something we stumble upon can wind up being the glaring example of everything we know—AND end up leading us into realms that we could only dream about in the past. Epilepsy is just that condition. Man, I could talk about epilepsy for the full two hours- how it all comes about and what the study of this condition has done to my knowledge base. Thankfully, I have chronicled the entire journey on my Website (www.dogtorj.com), starting with how I read the captivating fact that celiac children with epilepsy who went gluten-free often had major reductions in—if not total cessation of—their seizures. "Wow. I wonder why that happens?" I asked myself. "Epilepsy is considered idiopathic in veterinary medicine. There has to be something about wheat that leads to seizures." Elementary thinking, I know. But, this was novel stuff to me. How about you? It did not take long at all to find that MSG (monosodium glutamate) could trigger seizures and that wheat gluten was an incredible 25% glutamic acid by weight. "Eureka! Is it that simple? I then found that soy had even more glutamate, almost twice as much as wheat. "Oh, oh." Casein is 20% glutamic acid by structure. Yep, three of the four horsemen are packing glutamate in their saddlebags. Do the food sources of these neurostimulating—potentially neurotoxic—non-essential amino acids (glutamate and aspartate), really do the same thing to our brain that the "crack cocaine" versions (MSG and aspartame, respectively) do?" I assumed so and started putting my epileptic canine patients on gluten-free diets and, son-of-a-gun, they became vastly improved. Some stopped having seizures completely within 24 hours of the diet change and never seized again. We were onto something—and it was big—really big. As the significance of these findings sunk in, I threw myself into the study of neurological, psychiatric, and other "idiopathic" neurodegenerative conditions that affect us all. The "excitotoxins" ( MSG and aspartame), as Dr. Russell Blaylock termed them, were well-known culprits and played roles in epilepsy, ADHD, bipolar disease, and more. It wasn't until later that I would finally start reading about their involvement in the other "big 4": MS, ALS, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. But still, no one was talking about the FOOD sources of these non-essential amino acids. But it was so simple, and a little something called "insomnia" illustrated the point I was trying to make. These neuroactive amino acids were clearly responsible for waking people up like a shot at 1-2 AM, 5-6 hours after eating dinner and dessert and I was a living example. And that was the exact time interval I was finding between meals and seizures in my un-medicated dogs. Once I published my work on the Web and contacted over 500 breeders in the process (oh, how I love the passion of breeders), the testimonies to these finding were flowing in on a regular basis. And, the pieces to this puzzle started fitting together—phenomenally well. And here is where it all comes together. I had written a totally different summary for the end of this discussion, but upon proofreading the pages, I realized that the discussion of epilepsy—the condition that grabbed my attention and pulled me into this epic battle at Helm's Deep—would serve that purpose. It would illustrate all of the principles that I "preach" every day in the exam room and will attempt to enlighten people with (hopefully not bore to death) in lectures like this for the rest of my days. Principle number one: The foods that are bad for us are bad in numerous ways. The "four horsemen"—gluten (from the grains wheat, barley, rye), casein, soy, and corn terrorize us in more ways than simply inducing villous atrophy, which results in the chronic malabsorption of the essential nutrients that we have covered. These foods provide staggering levels of glutamate (and aspartate), estrogens, allergens, and lectins, and when prepared for consumption, act as carriers of many of man's worst creations in the form of GMO's, hormones, and chemical additives. So these foods damage our gut, cause malnutrition of our entire body, and provide many of the ingredients necessary to generate symptoms including pain, sleeplessness, high blood pressure, behavioral disturbances, and seizures. Applying this to epilepsy, the brain suffers from the malnutrition, the immune system going down, and the rise of chronic latent viruses. The war begins. Add the vaccination with modified live virus vaccines made with viruses that love the central nervous system. These viruses naturally take up residence in the glial cells of the brain, those cells that control the level of the normal neurotransmitter—our friend glutamate—at the synapse. We have seen vaccine-induced disease in the past, right? How hard is it to believe that this is happening "sub-clinically"? These top allergy-producing foods are also stimulating histamine production, the release of which causes the blood brain barrier to become more permeable to glutamate, a normal occurrence that serves to counteract the depressing effects of histamine. These same foods contain estrogens, both naturally occurring and those from pesticide residues, which are neurostimulating, irritating, and immunosuppressive. P.M.S. anyone? How about catamenial seizures? I hear about them all of the time. The malnutrition that we have discussed then starts to compromise enzyme systems in the liver, kidneys, and elsewhere in the body, some of which are responsible for controlling the blood levels of the evil twins, glutamate and aspartate. No wonder some of us have seizures. The way I see things now, it's a bigger wonder that more of us don't have epilepsy. Are you seeing "Pandora's Box" opening yet? Have you grasped what these foods- the damage they do and the ingredients they contain- are capable of? Thank Goodness our body knows what to do with all of this mess we put it through, eh? And it does. Therefore, principle number two: Our body never makes mistakes—ever. Only we make bad choices about what we do to this vessel of ours. "What about birth defects?" is always the first challenge. Certainly, this degenerative process sometimes begins prenatally, leading to premature births and birth defects, but we are ultimately responsible for these occurrences. The more you learn about this topic (and study celiac disease as a model), the less you will simply write off to "genetics" or Providence. Fevers, heartburn, sore throats, nasal congestion, bronchoconstriction, diarrhea, hives, headaches, and even "autoimmune" attacks have a purpose. Some clinical signs are warning signs that we have made a mistake while others are therapeutic measures on our body's part. Others are both. "But autoimmune disorders?" you might question. Yes, I believe down to my socks that viruses are vitally involved in most (if not all) immune-mediated diseases. I believe that the immune-mediated diseases are our immune system's valiant attempt to wipe out these viruses before they have the opportunity to do what they really "want" to do—cause cancer. This would help to explain why people with chronic active hepatitis have such a high incidence of liver cancer. But it might also help to explain why the same breeds of dogs that develop panosteitis—the ones with all of the allergies and other juvenile bone diseases—are the guys that go on to develop bone cancer at age six and a half. So, is eosinophilic panosteitis our body's attempt to rid the bone of viruses that might later go on to cause cancer? What are eosinophils involved in other than allergic reactions? "But get back to seizures. I can't wait to hear how a seizure is a good thing", the skeptics are saying. Yes, I am convinced that even seizures serve a vital purpose; that being to burn up the excessive glutamate in the brain. As you may know, no matter what the cause of our bodily death may be, the brain dies as a result of the "glutamate cascade"—the sudden rise of glutamate in the brain resulting from the dying glial cells and increased permeability of the blood brain barrier. Glutamate is potentially—and eventually—neurolethal. How hard is it to believe that seizures are designed to keep the death of vital neurons from happening? The sufferers of ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) sure wish a peripheral neuron could have a seizure. But because they can't, the neurons eventually die as a result of the excess glutamate in the synapse. But guess what. ALS sufferers have also reported benefits from what I now call "The G.A.R.D"—.the glutamate-aspartate restricted diet. So have people with ADHD, chronic pain, insomnia, MS, and other conditions that have the "excitotoxins" as part of their pathophysiology. This is all on my site. Seizures may even serve to limit viral infections, if through no other mode of action other than to encourage a rise in body temperature, something that viruses hate. We know that viral infections of the central nervous system are usually accompanied by high fever, right? Remember: That's a good thing. (I wonder how many people who died of West Nile Virus might have survived if we didn't treat them so aggressively? Its a parallel to that cancer thing we talked about earlier.) So, do you see why I got so excited about the role epilepsy would play in bringing people into the fold? It has all of the elements we have discussed—all of the necessary cast, plot, and scenery to make a great and epic tale of how the four horsemen rode into town and stole our health. But we really did it to ourselves, didn't we? We made these bad choices. The fact is man created the wheat we now eat in about 400 AD, introducing lethal quantities of gluten into our diet. A millennium later, we changed milk sources from goats to cows, adding casein to the mix. Now, five hundred years later, we want to start eating soy—"the third plague"—something that has been previously relegated to the lowly positions of a nitrogen-fixing, rotational crop and a mere condiment on the table of our Oriental restaurants. Did we really just get smart enough to see the health benefits of consuming the soybeans themselves? Do we really think that loading our bodies up with plant estrogens, goitrogens, anti-nutrients, villous atrophy inducing "glues", and staggering levels of the non-essential, epileptogenic amino acid glutamate is going to improve our health. How many trips to Mars are we gonna take, anyway? We do reap what we sow. Through the eyes of food intolerance, medicine becomes so simple that even* the layperson can understand it. (* I say "even" because I know a growing number of lay people who understand these things much more than the doctors who look down their noses at the "untrained".) Isn't that the way it should be? Shouldn't we all be able to comprehend our medical lives? It is, after all, one of the most important aspects of our existence, isn‘t it? The way I look at it now, our medical lives are divided into three phases: the acquisition of viruses, the progressive malfunction of our body and immune system, and the failure of our immune system. I think you now have a very good idea why that occurs - In a word, malnutrition. Symptomatically, it usually also breaks down into three phases: allergies, immune-mediated diseases, and cancer. We see this so clearly in certain breeds of dogs but I have also heard this sort of history from many, many people I have interviewed about their own health. Hopefully how and why these three phases occur is much clearer now. The allergies—phase one.. are the warning signs that you are making mistakes. The immune system is throwing warning signs at us while closing the doors to further invasion. Phase two—the immune-mediated diseases—is the first set of conditions that these allergies were warning you of. They are also a second set of warning signs of increased severity because we didn't act upon the first set. We usually still have time to get things right owing to the fact that our organs can take a beating and still survive and repair—usually we still have time. Unfortunately, some are lost in phase two due to overwhelming lupus, glomerulonephritis, or the chronic active hepatitis that finally raised its ugly head. As I have mentioned, the last condition in that list is a glaring example of the type of condition that has led me to make some bold statements concerning the role of viruses in immune-mediated diseases AND why phase three—immune failure—often manifests as cancer. I spoke of bone cancer occurring in problem breeds at 6.5 years of age. What else happens at six to seven years of age in the dog? Better put, what doesn't happen at that age: tons of immune-mediated diseases, cruciate ruptures, spinal disorders, heart murmurs, worsening allergies, numerous benign skin tumors, and more. It's a crisis period, isn't it? Just like 40-50 years of age is in the person. If these conditions are all "genetic", why do they wait so long to show up? Hmmm—great question. Something is waiting, right? What??? Can we think of anything that we have in our bodies that might be "waiting"? I can. They're called viruses. We have been acquiring them our entire lives. Our parents even gave some to us. "What?" Can't viruses be transmitted vertically? How about genetically? Others we acquired "naturally" during our lifetime and still others we acquired through vaccination. (Most of our pets and us are too unhealthy to take on any more modified live vaccines, aren't we?) And as I have mentioned , we invited many in to stay by killing the fever that was designed to limit the infection. We have become walking virus hotels—"mobile homes" for these guys, if you will. The startling fact is that we are riddled with ‘em. And they are waiting for their chance. They are the ultimate opportunist—the consummate terrorist. Sure, there are others: bacteria, mycoplasms, fungi, and more. But the virus is the guy who incorporates his genetic material into our cells and then bosses them around. He's the guy who our immune system hates enough to risk killing our own tissue to root him out. He's the guy that can go anywhere in our body and do anything he wants ONCE we get to that point of immune suppression that we are destined to reach once we have done enough wrong to this body of ours. In my mind, he wasn't designed to be. Viruses are ubiquitous in nature and critical to its development, variety, and adaptation. So why did they turn on us? "Shoot—look at the time. We'll have to go down that rabbit hole after this presentation." I think you can figure it out, anyway. Yes, we DO have our health destiny more in our own hands than we ever believed. Yes, we DO reap what we sow. We just didn't realize that we were sowing such bad seed all of these years did we? We have had glimpses of our wrongdoing and our conscience has told us not to overindulge and to try to eat properly. That's just common sense, right? But whodathunk that the staples of our diet were killing us? Who would believe that cow's milk, wheat, and the "newest health food"—soy (errrrrh)—were plagues on mankind, brought on by our own doing? And who would believe that the "simple" elimination of the big four would lead to the vast improvements in our health that I have personally experienced. (I cannot overstate the phenomenal changes that have taken place in my body over the past 5 years) I'll tell you who would believe such things: those that know that our body does not make mistakes—ever. (Only we make mistakes in our choices of what to put into our bodies.); those that can still remember why our body does what it does instead of just covering up the symptoms should believe this (Who would believe that heartburn might be a symptom that we ate something wrong? Wow!); and those that have eyes to see and ears to hear and can still be taught something. They are fewer in number than I ever thought existed. BUT, there have been enough wise people over the years to carry this torch. There have been a select number of doctors, researchers, and lay people that have been beating this drum for years and years and stood their ground against the onslaught of drugs and misinformation—the "magic" (pharmakeia) and slight of hand—that has taken away the motivation of the masses to find real answers to their health problems. Is the white tiger really gone or does he lurk off stage, sometimes even attacking his master? Yes, celiac researchers, holistic health advocates, naturopaths, and the like have finally been vindicated. They rode out to meet the enemy years ago and are finally being joined by an ever-growing cavalry. Against seemingly insurmountable odds, the message has survived—"We are what we eat. You do have control of your health's destiny." It is through the valiant efforts of this Brotherhood—and the prevailing nature of Truth—that we have won at Helm's Deep. Now, it's on to the final battle. Go to Part 1: Food Intolerance—Man and Animals versus Gluten, Casein, Soy, and Corn or How We Won the Battle of “Helm’s Deep” (Part 1 of 2)

Celiac.com 07/04/2012 - It is becoming increasingly clear that celiac disease (or some form of gluten sensitivity) affects many more people in the world than estimates from the past few decades suggested. In the 1950s, celiac disease was estimated as affecting 1 in 8000 individuals worldwide, while today that number has grown to 1 in 100. Seeking to explain why this sizable portion of our population cannot tolerate gluten, Professor David Sanders, who is a Consultant Gastroenterologist at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital and University of Sheffield, looks to evolution for answers. It is hard to think of a world without bread, as even Ancient Romans harvested grain. But wheat is actually a new food for us: it was only widely introduced into the human diet roughly ten thousand years ago, which is a very small percentage (0.4%) of the 2.5 million years our species has walked the planet. So what were we eating that other 99.6% of our life as a species? We ate things that are edible raw, without the need for processing or refinement (which wheat is not). Our ability to process grains to an edible form was a technological development that did not occur until a relatively recent chapter in our history. In a sense, then, our ingenuity is ahead of our biology. As Dr. Sanders says, “... it makes sense that our bodies are still adapting to this food, and more specifically, the gluten it contains.” After millions of years of what is essentially gluten-free dieting, our bodies might be ill-equipped to process gluten, as it is still a relatively foreign substance. Source: http://www.science20.com/news_articles/being_glutenfree_determined_evolution_says_gastroenterologist-91578

Celiac.com 12/17/2021 - Gastro-esophageal reflux disease, or GERD, is the focus of considerable medical attention at the moment. This very old problem has gotten some new attention as it has recently been recognized as a significant factor in some pulmonary diseases(1) and esophageal malignancies(2). While some sufferers have few or no symptoms of reflux disease, most of us feel at least some degree of discomfort when a mixture of food particles and stomach acids are pushed back up the esophagus where there is less protection from harsh stomach acid. The protection diminishes the further up the esophagus the acid rises as there is some mucous produced in the lower reaches of the esophagus nearer the stomach. The unprotected tissues further up the esophagus are burned, often causing pain, and sometimes, permanent damage(2). We need only turn on our television sets to see the frequent and expensive advertising campaigns for the various products available to treat this widespread problem of indigestion and heartburn. If you regularly experience heartburn or indigestion, you may take one of the many drugs that are often prescribed to reduce production of stomach acid. Or you may just take one or more of the over-the-counter remedies such as Tums, Gaviscon, Rolaids, Mylanta, etc. But all of these products, whether prescribed or not, simply mask the symptoms of GERD without addressing the underlying cause. Many of us who have gluten-induced disease have experienced some degree of relief from GERD symptoms after beginning a gluten-free diet. Prior to my diagnosis of celiac disease, I not only took prescription medications in a vain attempt to control the acidity in my stomach and throat, I also ate a huge quantity of Tums and/or Rolaids every day, all day long. The lucky ones among us experience complete, long-lasting relief from indigestion and heartburn. For those of us who aren’t so lucky, the problem may be caused by one or more of several factors such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, or allergic reactions to the foods we are eating. If you struggle with excess acid production and/or esophageal reflux, it may be the result of your immune system reacting to the contents of your stomach. When such immune reactions are mounted, histamine is released into the stomach which triggers excessive secretion of gastric acid. If there isn’t enough food in the stomach to absorb the acid produced, we begin to feel uncomfortable. We may eat more food to get temporary relief or we may take one or more of the remedies listed above. Weight gain and obesity are predictable results of eating more and more to control stomach acid production. Prescription and non-prescription anti-acid strategies pose a host of other health problems—from inducing vitamin deficiencies— to compromising the immune protection provided by stomach acids. Whatever we choose, GERD is likely to continue until we address the underlying problem by eliminating allergenic foods from our diet. The first step in this elimination process is to identify the foods that are triggering an immune response. There are simple, convenient IgG antibody blood tests available to help identify the specific foods that are causing your discomfort. If you are following a gluten-free diet and you continue to experience GERD, you may benefit from this testing. However, if you have been free of gluten for more than a few months, you should not expect these tests to identify any of the gluten grains (Also, such negative results should not be taken to imply that it is safe to return to eating gluten). Once the allergenic foods have been identified, they should be strictly removed from your diet for at least six months. You can try re-introducing the offending foods after that time, but some immune reactions may last many years. Even six years after my own IgG food allergy testing, I must still avoid eggs, dairy proteins, and several other foods that were identified back then. The lab that did my testing (Immuno Labs, Ft. Lauderdale) provided information on the strength of the immune reaction to each allergenic food. From weak to strong, the reactions were numbered +1 to + 4. This has been very helpful because I was able to re-introduce most of the foods marked +1 and +2 after about six months. Whether you follow a gluten-free diet or not, if you are experiencing heartburn and/ or indigestion, food allergy testing may be just what you need. It has proven very helpful to my family and me. References: Katz PO. Gastroesophageal reflux disease and extraesophageal disease. Rev Gastroenterol Disord. 2005;5 Suppl 2:31-8. Suzuki H, Iijima K, Scobie G, Fyfe V, McColl KE. Nitrate and nitrosative chemistry within Barrett’s oesophagus during acid reflux. Gut. 2005 Nov;54(11):1527-35.

Celiac.com 04/30/2021 - According to Dangerous Grains by Dr. Ron Hoggan and James Braly, M.D., intolerances to foods other than gluten are the most common reason that people continue to have health problems after they've gone on a gluten-free diet.  Yet, from the hundreds of emails I've gotten from people on the celiac email list, and from online forums, I've found that many people don't investigate other food intolerances, even though they suffer from health problems that likely could be cured by eliminating problem foods. I was sick for five months solid in the summer of 2004, after I'd adopted a gluten-free diet.  I would get up in the morning feeling half well; I'd get my shopping done first thing in the morning. Then I'd go home and lapse into a semi-stuporous state.  I would sit in a chair for the rest of the day, my mind slogging slowly through a swamp.  I thought at the time it was hayfever from my 53 inhalant allergies, but I was taking six different allergy medicines, to no avail.  I later found that I actually had intolerances to about 90% of the foods I'd been eating.  What had really been happening, it seemed, was that I felt somewhat better after fasting overnight.  Then I would eat something an allergen for breakfast. I'd get my shopping done then I'd start to feel sick from my breakfast. My inhalant allergies were actually only a small part of the problem.  After going on an exotic foods diet, I became much healthier. In the summer of 2005, I went running every day and my mind was much clearer.  My 53 inhaled allergies no longer bothered me as much. This is typical for people with multiple food intolerances.  They can be hidden just like gluten intolerance.  If you're like me, your body probably didn't like gluten long before you were aware of it.  It's not like a peanut allergy.  If you were allergic to peanuts, you'd probably know it.  Your body isn't able to suppress that allergic reaction.  But if you're gluten intolerant, you can eat gluten every day and never know what's making you so sick.  Your body hides its reaction, so you don't notice feeling worse after eating gluten.  Wheat might even have been one of your favorite foods. After you stop eating gluten, your body no longer has to work so hard to suppress food intolerance reactions.  So if you have other food intolerances, after a few months or so you may start to feel obviously worse after eating those foods. This is an excellent reason for sticking strictly to a gluten-free diet - it will help you find any other food intolerances you may have, and thus speed your recovery.  If you don't do a careful elimination diet, you may be in for a long, agonizing process of eliminating the foods you're intolerant to, one by one, feeling sick perhaps for years after starting a gluten-free diet. Food intolerance can cause many other problems.  Joint pain and stiffness is a common symptom. Just before I found out about my gluten intolerance, both my elbows and knees were hurting, and the tendons in my forearm and hand hurt so much I couldn't lift a cast iron pan with one hand.  After I eliminated the many foods I'm intolerant to, in addition to gluten, I was able to run without pain.  I've also noticed that my old joint injuries often stiffen after food challenges.  Joint inflammation and stiffening are thought to accelerate joint destruction in osteoarthritis, the wear-and-tear arthritis that many people suffer from as they get older. Many diseases are partly caused by chronic inflammation.  Inflammation contributes to the onset and progression of tumors, and is involved in atherosclerosis.  Hidden food intolerances can cause chronic inflammation and irritation in many areas of the body, so finding your food intolerances could help with any problem that involves irritation or inflammation. I think that when food intolerances are hidden, the body compensates somewhat for their pro-inflammatory effects, because my C-reactive protein and sedimentation rate, measures of inflammation, were high at a time when my food intolerances were in the process of being unmasked - but my C-reactive protein was actually lower than normal when I was still eating tiny amounts of some foods that I later found I had hidden intolerances to.  However, the body doesn't seem to be able to compensate completely for the pro-inflammatory effects of food intolerances. A gluten-containing diet raises the risk of some GI tract cancers in celiacs.  Perhaps other food intolerances also cause GI tract cancer - a scary possibility! I had a hard time with carbohydrates for more than twenty years. When I tried highly glycemic carbs, I would feel jittery, hungry, irritable, and tense.  My carbohydrate reactions went away after I found my non-gluten food intolerances.  I can eat almost any amount of tapioca starch mixed with maple syrup - an enjoyable, sticky goo with a very high glycemic index - and all that happens is that I get high and happy and I feel like going out and exercising.  My jittery, anxious food reactions weren't simply reactions of intolerance.  For example, I have intolerances to many low-carb foods, like peanuts.  A tiny trace of peanut oil made me sick for days, but peanuts had never made me feel jittery or anxious when I ate them before I found my hidden food intolerances.  Rather, it seems that having hidden food intolerances caused my body to release a lot of adrenaline after I ate carbohydrates, or else it made my body more sensitive to adrenaline.  A study of people with suspected reactive hypoglycemia showed that they were hypersensitive to adrenaline. If you have emotional or psychiatric problems, it's also worth looking for hidden food intolerances, although according to Brostoff and Gamlin's book Food Allergies and Food Intolerance, people who have psychological problems from food intolerance usually have physical health problems as well. Some other problems that are possibly related to food intolerance are asthma, fatigue, rashes, irritable bowel syndrome, migraines, sinusitis, recurring urinary tract infections, and light and/or noise sensitivity. If you have food reactions that you might attribute to accidentally being exposed to gluten, but you can't verify that you actually had gluten, you might actually be reacting to other foods. The gold standard for finding food intolerances is to do an elimination diet for a week or two and then to try foods one by one, and see if they have some kind of bad effect.  If you think you have a food reaction that's delayed for days, it would be a good idea to try the food again to see if the same reaction happens again.  Here's another caution: once or twice, I've thought I'd reacted to a food challenge, when actually I had a bladder infection.  If you do the elimination diet perfectly, you can probably find all of your food intolerances at once, which would save many people from many years of sickness.  However, this is very difficult, because doing an elimination diet correctly means eliminating all common food allergens – that is, all foods that you normally eat fairly often, as well as all foods that might cross-react with those foods.  Brostoff and Gamlin's book has a lot of information on food intolerance cross-reactions that very accurately reflects my experience.  Ideally, you should also quit taking any medications or supplements that you normally take, or get your medications made by a compounding pharmacy without fillers, because most medications have many allergenic non-medical ingredients such as corn starch.  Even your toothpaste could be causing a reaction.  After I found my intolerance to birch, I kept on using toothpaste that was sweetened with birch xylitol, washing my mouth carefully with water after brushing my teeth.  Once, though, I forgot to wash my mouth out, so a little toothpaste went down my throat, and I got sick for four days.  You can brush your teeth with baking soda, which you won't have an intolerance to, since it's not made from anything organic. It's also very difficult to do an elimination diet because people are often addicted to foods they're intolerant to.  On one elimination diet I did, I was unable to stop using fructose made from corn.  Later, I painfully, slowly, quit using fructose over many months.  When I finally eliminated all corn products from my diet, I found that my body had been masking about 30 or 50 other food intolerances, as a side effect of masking my corn intolerance.  After I eliminated corn, I suddenly started getting sick after eating many of the foods I'd been eating all along. Elimination diets and food challenges can be done in an in-patient setting, which might be the only way to completely adhere to the diet.  If you have an IgE mediated food allergy, food challenges should only be done with medical supervision.  Brostoff and Gamlin's book has a number of elimination diets of varying degrees of strictness. Some people rely instead on IgG ELISA blood testing for food intolerances.  The idea behind the test is that a higher than normal level of IgG antibodies to a food might mean that one has intolerance to it.  The body normally makes IgG antibodies to foods.  One research study showed that many people with irritable bowel syndrome were helped by eliminating foods based on IgG ELISA testing, but otherwise the tests haven't been validated by research.  Researchers have also tried sending several blood samples obtained from the same person at the same time to different labs, or more than one blood sample to the same lab, and found the test results were very inconsistent. Finding your hidden food intolerances is often a long, painful process that is full of errors and guesses.  It's also very important to do if you are not completely healthy on a gluten free diet.

Celiac.com 03/24/2020 - Many of us have experienced unpleasant symptoms after a meal or snack. The effects might range from mild itching of the mouth, to nausea, or other symptoms, including sneezing, wheezing, skin rash, joint pain, bloating, diarrhea, and more. So is the problem a food allergy, an intolerance, or a sensitivity, and what is the difference? It's not uncommon for people with food sensitivities or intolerances, or even celiac disease, to think they have food allergies. In fact, "food allergy" is a fairly common term that can mean any of these conditions, depending on who is doing the talking. In reality, though, food allergies are more rare and usually more serious than food intolerances or sensitivities. True allergic reactions to foods can range from merely inconvenient to life-threatening. Differences Between Food Allergies, Food Intolerances, and Food Sensitivities Food Intolerances Food intolerance basically means that the body is unable to process or digest certain foods. Food intolerances are very common, and are usually less serious than food sensitivities or food allergies. Lactose intolerance is one of the most common food intolerances. Lactose intolerance happens when people guts don't produce enough of the enzyme lactase to break down the lactose. Lactose intolerance can be inherited, or it can simply happen as some people age and produce less lactase. Research data shows that only about one in three people worldwide can digest lactose past the age of seven or eight. Interestingly, most celiacs with lactose intolerance recover on a gluten-free diet. Once the damaged villi and microvilli to grow back, and the gut heals, the sensitivity to lactose often disappears. This can take time. In most people, full gut healing takes between six months and a year, but it can take up to two years or more. Also, most people who are lactose intolerant can consume goat and sheep cheeses, such as feta or pecorino Romano, without any problems. Some can consume goat or sheep's milk products with no issues. Many people with lactose intolerance can also consume raw, unpasteurized dairy from cows without symptoms. Links to Goat, Sheep, and Raw Cow Milk Products Goat Milk Products Sheep Milk Products Raw Cow Milk Products Lactose intolerance is not a serious medical condition, but symptoms can be quite uncomfortable. Simply avoiding milk and dairy products is the easiest way to avoid symptoms, but over-the-counter lactase enzyme supplements can be helpful for those who wish to consume dairy. Food Sensitivities Food sensitivities are common, and are usually include more serious or debilitating symptoms than food intolerances. Food sensitivities happen when people experience symptoms after eating certain foods. Symptoms are not life-threatening, but can be serious. Symptoms of food sensitivities include joint pain, stomach pain, fatigue, rashes, and brain fog. Gluten is probably the best-known trigger of food sensitivities. When people with celiac disease or certain other medical conditions eat wheat, they provide an immune reaction in the gut that can cause long-term health consequences if left untreated. Researchers currently believe that food sensitivities are the result of an immune reaction that generates a wide rage of symptoms. Food sensitivities can strike at any time, and they can also vanish, sometimes with no apparent explanation. People avoiding certain foods due to sensitivities may want to try small amounts of the food from time to time to see if the situation has changed. Elimination Diet Helps Spot Food Sensitivities The best way to spot food sensitivities is through careful observation and elimination. Removing potential food allergens from the diet for two to four weeks, reintroducing them one at a time, and watching for symptoms is the best way to figure out which food or foods is causing the reaction. Once you've narrowed it down, avoiding the foods that trigger sensitivities can improve both symptoms and quality of life. Food Allergies True food allergies are the body's most serious reaction to food. Food allergies happen when the immune system reacts to certain foods. For example, people with peanut or shellfish allergies can suffer from symptoms including serious difficulty breathing and low blood pressure following exposure to peanuts or seafood. These symptoms can sometimes be fatal. Many people with food allergies carry an epinephrine shot device, such as an Epic-Pen, as a precaution against such episodes. These pens can save lives. Sometimes people have food allergies from very early in life, but they can strike at any time during life, even in old age. If any food causes you to have true allergic reactions, such as significant rashes, dizziness, swelling of the face, or difficulty breathing, it is wise to consider a visit to the doctor for allergy testing and treatment. Celiac Disease Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition that affects about 1% of the Western population. Celiac disease results from a complex inflammatory reaction triggered by gluten consumption in genetically predisposed people. Celiac disease is not a food allergy. Eating gluten a few times does not cause an immediate life-threatening problem. However, when people with celiac disease eat gluten, they often suffer nausea, vomiting, and other symptoms in the short term. Over time, if left untreated, gluten consumption can cause diarrhea, weight loss, and malnutrition, and can lead to many other associated conditions, including certain deadly types of cancer. Avoiding gluten is the only effective treatment for celiac disease. Gluten is found in a variety of grains, including wheat, rye, barley, and in wheat types like kamut, spelt, semolina, bulgur, farro, emmer, einkorn, and farina. Many processed foods also contain gluten in the form of wheat flour. Also, cross-contamination from gluten-containing food is a constant threat, especially when eating out. Conclusion So, food allergies come with strong physical symptoms, such as itching, face swelling, and difficulty breathing. Food allergies can be serious, and even life-threatening, while food intolerances and sensitivities are usually just unpleasant and inconvenient, but some can have long term health consequences. Once you’ve identified the food or foods that trigger your allergy, sensitivity, or intolerance, a nutritionist or a physician can help devise a diet that is safe and nutritious. In the case of allergies, they can also provide you with tools, such as an epinephrine injection, and a plan of attack should a life-threatening reaction occur. Though food intolerances and sensitivities are not unusual, they can be challenging to figure out. Even with an active elimination diet, finding out which foods trigger reactions can be challenging, and time consuming. Ultimately though, tracking down the cause of food intolerances and sensitivities is rewarding, and usually leads to better health and well-being. Resources for Food Allergy, Intolerance, and Sensitivity Mayo Clinic - Food allergy vs. food intolerance: What's the difference? Cleveland Clinic - Allergy or Intolerance: How Can You Tell the Difference? Harvard Medical School - Food allergy, intolerance, or sensitivity: What’s the difference, and why does it matter?

Celiac.com 07/17/2009 - The globe-spanning presence of wheat and its exalted status among secular and sacred institutions alike differentiates this food from all others presently enjoyed by humans. Yet the unparalleled rise of wheat as the very catalyst for the emergence of ancient civilization has not occurred without a great price. While wheat was the engine of civilization’s expansion and was glorified as a “necessary food,” both in the physical (staff of life) and spiritual sense (the body of Christ), those suffering from celiac disease are living testimony to the lesser known dark side of wheat. A study of celiac disease may help unlock the mystery of why modern man, who dines daily at the table of wheat, is the sickest animal yet to have arisen on this strange planet of ours. The Celiac Iceberg Celiac disease (celiac disease) was once considered an extremely rare affliction, limited to individuals of European origin. Today, however, a growing number of studies indicate that celiac disease is found throughout the US at a rate of up to 1 in every 133 persons, which is several orders of magnitude higher than previously estimated. These findings have led researchers to visualize celiac disease as an iceberg. The tip of the iceberg represents the relatively small number of the world’s population whose gross presentation of clinical symptoms often leads to the diagnosis of celiac disease. This is the classical case of celiac disease characterized by gastrointestinal symptoms, malabsorption and malnourishment. It is confirmed with the “gold standard” of an intestinal biopsy. The submerged middle portion of the iceberg is largely invisible to classical clinical diagnosis, but not to modern serological screening methods in the form of antibody testing. This middle portion is composed of asymptomatic and latent celiac disease as well as “out of the intestine” varieties of wheat intolerance. Finally, at the base of this massive iceberg sits approximately 20-30% of the world’s population – those who have been found to carry the HLA-DQ locus of genetic susceptibility to celiac disease on chromosome 6. The “Celiac Iceberg” may not simply illustrate the problems and issues associated with diagnosis and disease prevalence, but may represent the need for a paradigm shift in how we view both celiac disease and wheat consumption among non-celiac disease populations. First let us address the traditional view of celiac disease as a rare, but clinically distinct species of genetically-determined disease, which I believe is now running itself aground upon the emerging, post-Genomic perspective, whose implications for understanding and treating disease are Titanic in proportion. It Is Not the Genes, But What We Expose Them To Despite common misconceptions, monogenic diseases, or diseases that result from errors in the nucleotide sequence of a single gene are exceedingly rare. Perhaps only 1% of all diseases fall within this category, and Celiac disease is not one of them. In fact, following the completion of the Human Genome Project (HGP) in 2003 it is no longer accurate to say that our genes “cause” disease, any more than it is accurate to say that DNA is sufficient to account for all the proteins in our body. Despite initial expectations, the HGP revealed that there are only 30,000-35,000 genes in human DNA (genome), rather than the 100,000 + believed necessary to encode the 100,000 + proteins found in the human body (proteome). The “blueprint” model of genetics: one gene → one protein → one cellular behavior, which was once the holy grail of biology, has now been supplanted by a model of the cell where epigenetic factors (literally: “beyond the control of the gene”) are primary in determining how DNA will be interpreted, translated and expressed. A single gene can be used by the cell to express a multitude of proteins and it is not the DNA itself that determines how or what genes will be expressed. Rather, we must look to the epigenetic factors to understand what makes a liver cell different from a skin cell or brain cell. All of these cells share the exact same 3 billion base pairs that make up our DNA code, but it is the epigenetic factors, e.g. regulatory proteins and post-translational modifications, that make the determination as to which genes to turn on and which to silence, resulting in each cell’s unique phenotype. Moreover, epigenetic factors are directly and indirectly influenced by the presence or absence of key nutrients in the diet, as well as exposures to chemicals, pathogens and other environmental influences. In a nutshell, what we eat and what we are exposed to in our environment directly affects our DNA and its expression. Within the scope of this new perspective even classical monogenic diseases like Cystic Fibrosis (CF) can be viewed in a new, more promising light. In CF many of the adverse changes that result from the defective expression of the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR) gene may be preventable or reversible, owing to the fact that the misfolding of the CFTR gene product has been shown to undergo partial or full correction (in the rodent model) when exposed to phytochemicals found in turmeric, cayenne, and soybean Moreover, nutritional deficiencies of seleniun, zinc, riboflavin, vitamin e, etc. in the womb or early in life, may “trigger” the faulty expression or folding patterns of the CFTR gene in Cystic Fibrosis which might otherwise have avoided epigenetic activation. This would explain why it is possible to live into one’s late seventies with this condition, as was the case for Katherine Shores (1925-2004). The implications of these findings are rather extraordinary: epigenetic and not genetic factors are primary in determining disease outcome. Even if we exclude the possibility of reversing certain monogenic diseases, the basic lesson from the post-Genomic era is that we can’t blame our DNA for causing disease. Rather, it may have more to do with what we choose to expose our DNA to. Celiac Disease Revisited What all of this means for celiac disease is that the genetic susceptibility locus, HLA DQ, does not determine the exact clinical outcome of the disease. Instead of being the cause, if the HLA genes are activated, they are a consequence of the disease process. Thus, we may need to shift our epidemiological focus from viewing this as a classical “disease” involving a passive subject controlled by aberrant genes, to viewing it as an expression of a natural, protective response to the ingestion of something that the human body was not designed to consume. If we view celiac disease not as an unhealthy response to a healthy food, but as a healthy response to an unhealthy food, classical celiac disease symptoms like diarrhea may make more sense. Diarrhea can be the body’s way to reduce the duration of exposure to a toxin or pathogen, and villous atrophy can be the body’s way of preventing the absorption and hence, the systemic effects of chronic exposure to wheat. I believe we would be better served by viewing the symptoms of celiac disease as expressions of bodily intelligence rather than deviance. We must shift the focus back to the disease trigger, which is wheat itself. People with celiac may actually have an advantage over the apparently unafflicted because those who are “non-symptomatic” and whose wheat intolerance goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed because they lack the classical symptoms and may suffer in ways that are equally or more damaging, but expressed more subtly, or in distant organs. Within this view celiac disease would be redefined as a protective (healthy?) response to exposure to an inappropriate substance, whereas “asymptomatic” ingestion of the grain with its concomitant “out of the intestine” and mostly silent symptoms, would be considered the unhealthy response insofar as it does not signal in an obvious and acute manner that there is a problem with consuming wheat. It is possible that celiac disease represents both an extreme reaction to a global, species-specific intolerance to wheat that we all share in varying degrees. celiac disease symptoms may reflect the body’s innate intelligence when faced with the consumption of a substance that is inherently toxic. Let me illustrate this point using Wheat Germ Agglutinin (WGA), as an example. WGA is glycoprotein classified as a lectin and is known to play a key role in kidney pathologies, such as IgA nephropathy. In the article: “Do dietary lectins cause disease?” the Allergist David L J Freed points out that WGA binds to “glomerular capillary walls, mesangial cells and tubules of human kidney and (in rodents) binds IgA and induces IgA mesangial deposits,” indicating that wheat consumption may lead to kidney damage in susceptible individuals. Indeed, a study from the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan Italy published in 2007 in the International Journal of Cancer looked at bread consumption and the risk of kidney cancer. They found that those who consumed the most bread had a 94% higher risk of developing kidney cancer compared to those who consumed the least bread. Given the inherently toxic effect that WGA may have on kidney function, it is possible that in certain genetically predisposed individuals (e.g. HLA-DQ2/DQ8) the body – in its innate intelligence – makes an executive decision: either continue to allow damage to the kidneys (or possibly other organs) until kidney failure and rapid death result, or launch an autoimmune attack on the villi to prevent the absorption of the offending substance which results in a prolonged though relatively malnourished life. This is the explanation typically given for the body’s reflexive formation of mucous following exposure to certain highly allergenic or potentially toxic foods, e.g. dairy products, sugar, etc? The mucous coats the offending substance, preventing its absorption and facilitating safe elimination via the gastrointestinal tract. From this perspective the HLA-DQ locus of disease susceptibility in the celiac is not simply activated but utilized as a defensive adaptation to continual exposure to a harmful substance. In those who do not have the HLA-DQ locus, an autoimmune destruction of the villi will not occur as rapidly, and exposure to the universally toxic effects of WGA will likely go unabated until silent damage to distant organs leads to the diagnosis of a disease that is apparently unrelated to wheat consumption. Loss of kidney function may only be the “tip of the iceberg,” when it comes to the possible adverse effects that wheat proteins and wheat lectin can generate in the body. If kidney cancer is a likely possibility, then other cancers may eventually be linked to wheat consumption as well. This correlation would fly in the face of globally sanctioned and reified assumptions about the inherent benefits of wheat consumption. It would require that we suspend cultural, socio-economic, political and even religious assumptions about its inherent benefits. In many ways, the reassessment of the value of wheat as a food requires a William Boroughs-like moment of shocking clarity when we perceive “in a frozen moment….what is on the end of every fork.” Let’s take a closer look at what is on the end of our forks. Our Biologically Inappropriate Diet In a previous article, I discussed the role that wheat plays as an industrial adhesive (e.g. paints, paper mache’, and book binding-glue) in order to illustrate the point that it may not be such a good thing for us to eat. The problem is implicit in the word gluten, which literally means “glue” in Latin and in words like pastry and pasta, which derives from wheatpaste, the original concoction of wheat flour and water which made such good plaster in ancient times. What gives gluten its adhesive and difficult-to-digest qualities are the high levels of disulfide bonds it contains. These same sulfur-to-sulfur bonds are found in hair and vulcanized rubber products, which we all know are difficult to decompose and are responsible for the sulfurous odor they give off when burned. There will be 676 million metric tons of wheat produced this year alone, making it the primary cereal of temperate regions and third most prolific cereal grass on the planet. This global dominance of wheat is signified by the Food & Agricultural Organization’s (FAO) (the United Nation’s international agency for defeating hunger) use of a head of wheat as its official symbol. Any effort to indict the credibility of this “king of grains” will prove challenging. As Rudolf Hauschka once remarked, wheat is “a kind of earth-spanning organism.” It has vast socio-economic, political, and cultural significance. For example, in the Catholic Church, a wafer made of wheat is considered irreplaceable as the embodiment of Christ. . Our dependence on wheat is matched only by its dependence on us. As Europeans have spread across the planet, so has this grain. We have assumed total responsibility for all phases of the wheat life cycle: from fending off its pests; to providing its ideal growing conditions; to facilitating reproduction and expansion into new territories. We have become so inextricably interdependent that neither species is sustainable at current population levels without this symbiotic relationship. It is this co-dependence that may explain why our culture has for so long consistently confined wheat intolerance to categorically distinct, “genetically-based” diseases like “celiac.” These categorizations may protect us from the realization that wheat exerts a vast number of deleterious effects on human health in the same way that “lactose intolerance” distracts attention from the deeper problems associated with the casein protein found in cow’s milk. Rather than see wheat for what it very well may be: a biologically inappropriate food source, we “blame the victim,” and look for genetic explanations for what’s wrong with small subgroups of our population who have the most obvious forms of intolerance to wheat consumption, e.g. celiac disease, dermatitis herpetiformis, etc. The medical justification for these classifications may be secondary to economic and cultural imperatives that require the inherent problems associated with wheat consumption be minimized or occluded. In all probability the celiac genotype represents a surviving vestigial branch of a once universal genotype, which through accident or intention, have had through successive generations only limited exposure to wheat. The celiac genotype, no doubt, survived through numerous bottlenecks or “die offs” represented by a dramatic shift from hunted and foraged/gathered foods to gluten-grain consumption, and for whatever reason simply did not have adequate time to adapt or select out the gluten-grain incompatible genes. The celiac response may indeed reflect a prior, species-wide intolerance to a novel food source: the seed storage form of the monocotyledonous cereal grasses which our species only began consuming 1-500 generations ago at the advent of the Neolithic transition (10-12,000 BC). Let us return to the image of the celiac iceberg for greater clarification. Our Submerged Grain-Free Metabolic Prehistory The iceberg metaphor is an excellent way to expand our understanding of what was once considered to be an extraordinarily rare disease into one that has statistical relevance for us all, but it has a few limitations. For one, it reiterates the commonly held view that Celiac is a numerically distinct disease entity or “disease island,” floating alongside other numerically distinct disease “ice cubes” in the vast sea of normal health. Though accurate in describing the sense of social and psychological isolation many of the afflicted feel, the celiac iceberg/condition may not be a distinct disease entity at all. Although the HLA-DQ locus of disease susceptibility on chromosome 6 offers us a place to project blame, I believe we need to shift the emphasis of responsibility for the condition back to the disease “trigger” itself: namely, wheat and other prolamine rich grains, e.g. barley, rye, spelt, and oats. Without these grains the typical afflictions we call celiac would not exist. Within the scope of this view the “celiac iceberg” is not actually free floating but an outcropping from an entire submerged subcontinent, representing our long-forgotten (cultural time) but relatively recent metabolic prehistory as hunters-and-gatherers (biological time), where grain consumption was, in all likelihood, non-existent, except in instances of near-starvation. The pressure on the celiac to be viewed as an exceptional case or deviation may have everything to do with our preconscious belief that wheat, and grains as a whole are the “health foods,” and very little to do with a rigorous investigations of the facts. Grains have been heralded since time immemorial as the “staff of life,” when in fact they are more accurately described as a cane, precariously propping up a body starved of the nutrient-dense, low-starch vegetables, fruits, edible seeds and meats, they have so thoroughly supplanted (c.f. Paleolithic Diet). Most of the diseases of affluence, e.g. type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, cancer, etc. can be linked to the consumption of a grain-based diet, including secondary “hidden sources” of grain consumption in grain-fed fish, poultry, meat and milk products. Our modern belief that grains make for good food, is simply not supported by the facts. The cereal grasses are within an entirely different family: monocotyledonous (one leaf) than that from which our body sustained itself for millions of years: dicotyledonous (two-leaf). The preponderance of scientific evidence points to a human origin in the tropical rain forests of Africa where dicotyledonous fruits would have been available for year round consumption. It would not have been monocotyledonous plants, but the flesh of hunted animals that would have allowed for the migration out of Africa 60,000 years ago into the northern latitudes where vegetation would have been sparse or non-existent during winter months. Collecting and cooking grains would have been improbable given the low nutrient and caloric content of grains and the inadequate development of pyrotechnology and associated cooking utensils necessary to consume them with any efficiency. It was not until the end of the last Ice Age 20,000 years ago that our human ancestors would have slowly transitioned to a cereal grass based diet coterminous with emergence of civilization. 20,000 years is probably not enough time to fully adapt to the consumption of grains. Even animals like cows with a head start of thousands of years, having evolved to graze on monocotyledons and equipped as ruminants with the four-chambered fore-stomach enabling the breakdown of cellulose and anti-nutrient rich plants, are not designed to consume grains. Cows are designed to consume the sprouted mature form of the grasses and not their seed storage form. Grains are so acidic/toxic in reaction that exclusively grain-fed cattle are prone to developing severe acidosis and subsequent liver abscesses and infections, etc. Feeding wheat to cattle provides an even greater challenge: “Beef: Feeding wheat to ruminants requires some caution as it tends to be more apt than other cereal grains to cause acute indigestion in animals which are unadapted to it. The primary problem appears to be the high gluten content of which wheat in the rumen can result in a "pasty" consistency to the rumen contents and reduced rumen motility.” (source: Ontario ministry of Agriculture food & Rural affairs) Seeds, after all, are the "babies" of these plants, and are invested with not only the entire hope for continuance of its species, but a vast armory of anti-nutrients to help it accomplish this task: toxic lectins, phytates and oxalates, alpha-amalyase and trypsin inhibitors, and endocrine disrupters. These not so appetizing phytochemicals enable plants to resist predation of their seeds, or at least preventing them from "going out without a punch." Wheat: An Exceptionally Unwholesome Grain Wheat presents a special case insofar as wild and selective breeding has produced variations which include up to 6 sets of chromosomes (3 genomes worth!) capable of generating a massive number of proteins each with a distinct potentiality for antigenicity. Common bread wheat (Triticum aestivum), for instance, has over 23,788 proteins cataloged thus far. In fact, the genome for common bread wheat is actually 6.5 times larger than that of the human genome! With up to a 50% increase in gluten content of some varieties of wheat, it is amazing that we continue to consider “glue-eating” a normal behavior, whereas wheat-avoidance is left to the “celiac” who is still perceived by the majority of health care practitioners as mounting a “freak” reaction to the consumption of something intrinsically wholesome. Thankfully we don’t need to rely on our intuition, or even (not so) common sense to draw conclusions about the inherently unhealthy nature of wheat. A wide range of investigation has occurred over the past decade revealing the problem with the alcohol soluble protein component of wheat known as gliadin, the glycoprotein known as lectin (Wheat Germ Agglutinin), the exorphin known as gliadomorphin, and the excitotoxic potentials of high levels of aspartic and glutamic acid found in wheat. Add to these the anti-nutrients found in grains such as phytates, enzyme inhibitors, etc. and you have a substance which we may more appropriately consider the farthest thing from wholesome. The remainder of this article will demonstrate the following adverse effects of wheat on both celiac and non-celiac populations: 1) wheat causes damage to the intestines 2) wheat causes intestinal permeability 3) wheat has pharmacologically active properties 4) wheat causes damage that is “out of the intestine” affecting distant organs 5) wheat induces molecular mimicry 6) wheat contains high concentrations of excitoxins. Wheat Gliadin Creates Immune Mediated Damage To The Intestines Gliadin is classified as a prolamin, which is a wheat storage protein high in the amino acids proline and glutamine and soluble in strong alcohol solutions. Gliadin, once deamidated by the enzyme Tissue Transglutaminase, is considered the primary epitope for T-cell activation and subsequent autoimmune destruction of intestinal villi. Yet gliadin does not need to activate an autoimmune response, e.g. Celiac disease, in order to have a deleterious effect on intestinal tissue. In a study published in GUT in 2007 a group of researchers asked the question: “Is gliadin really safe for non-coeliac individuals?” In order to test the hypothesis that an innate immune response to gliadin is common in patients with celiac disease and without celiac disease, intestinal biopsy cultures were taken from both groups and challenged with crude gliadin, the gliadin synthetic 19-mer (19 amino acid long gliadin peptide) and 33-mer deamidated peptides. Results showed that all patients with or without Celiac disease when challenged with the various forms of gliadin produced an interleukin-15-mediated response. The researchers concluded: “The data obtained in this pilot study supports the hypothesis that gluten elicits its harmful effect, throughout an IL15 innate immune response, on all individuals [my italics].” The primary difference between the two groups is that the celiac disease patients experienced both an innate and an adaptive immune response to the gliadin, whereas the non-celiacs experienced only the innate response. The researchers hypothesized that the difference between the two groups may be attributable to greater genetic susceptibility at the HLA-DQ locus for triggering an adaptive immune response, higher levels of immune mediators or receptors, or perhaps greater permeability in the celiac intestine. It is possible that over and above the possibility of greater genetic susceptibility, most of the differences are from epigenetic factors that are influenced by the presence or absence of certain nutrients in the diet. Other factors such as exposure to NSAIDs like naproxen or aspirin can profoundly increase intestinal permeability in the non-celiac, rendering them susceptible to gliadin’s potential for activating secondary adaptive immune responses. This may explain why in up to 5% of all cases of classically defined celiac disease the typical HLA-DQ haplotypes are not found. However, determining the factors associated greater or lesser degrees of susceptibility to gliadin’s intrinsically toxic effect should be a secondary to the fact that it is has been demonstrated to be toxic to both non-celiacs and celiacs. Wheat Gliadin Creates Intestinal Permeability Gliadin upregulates the production of a protein known as zonulin, which modulates intestinal permeability. Over-expression of zonulin is involved in a number of autoimmune disorders, including celiac disease and Type 1 diabetes. Researchers have studied the effect of gliadin on increased zonulin production and subsequent gut permeability in both celiac and non-celiac intestines, and have found that “gliadin activates zonulin signaling irrespective of the genetic expression of autoimmunity, leading to increased intestinal permeability to macromolecules.”10 These results indicate, once again, that a pathological response to wheat gluten is a normal or human, species specific response, and is not based entirely on genetic susceptibilities. Because intestinal permeability is associated with wide range of disease states, including cardiovascular illness, liver disease and many autoimmune disorders, I believe this research indicates that gliadin (and therefore wheat) should be avoided as a matter of principle. Wheat Gliadin Has Pharmacological Properties Gliadin can be broken down into various amino acid lengths or peptides. Gliadorphin is a 7 amino acid long peptide: Tyr-Pro-Gln-Pro-Gln-Pro-Phe which forms when the gastrointestinal system is compromised. When digestive enzymes are insufficient to break gliadorphin down into 2-3 amino acid lengths and a compromised intestinal wall allows for the leakage of the entire 7 amino acid long fragment into the blood, gl idorphin can pass through to the brain through circumventricular organs and activate opioid receptors resulting in disrupted brain function. There have been a number of gluten exorphins identified: gluten exorphin A4, A5, B4, B5 and C, and many of them have been hypothesized to play a role in autism, schizophrenia, ADHD and related neurological conditions. In the same way that the celiac iceberg illustrated the illusion that intolerance to wheat is rare, it is possible, even probable, that wheat exerts pharmacological influences on everyone. What distinguishes the schizophrenic or autistic individual from the functional wheat consumer is the degree to which they are affected. Below the tip of the “Gluten Iceberg,” we might find these opiate-like peptides to be responsible for bread’s general popularity as a “comfort food”, and our use of phrases like “I love bread,” or “this bread is to die for” to be indicative of wheat’s narcotic properties. I believe a strong argument can be made that the agricultural revolution that occurred approximately 10-12,000 years ago as we shifted from the Paleolithic into the Neolithic era was precipitated as much by environmental necessities and human ingenuity, as it was by the addictive qualities of psychoactive peptides in the grains themselves. The world-historical reorganization of society, culture and consciousness accomplished through the symbiotic relationship with cereal grasses, may have had as much to do with our ability to master agriculture, as to be mastered by it. The presence of pharmacologically active peptides would have further sweetened the deal, making it hard to distance ourselves from what became a global fascination with wheat. An interesting example of wheat’s addictive potential pertains to the Roman army. The Roman Empire was once known as the “Wheat Empire,” with soldiers being paid in wheat rations. Rome’s entire war machine, and its vast expansion, was predicated on the availability of wheat. Forts were actually granaries, holding up to a year’s worth of grain in order to endure sieges from their enemies. Historians describe soldiers’ punishment included being deprived of wheat rations and being given barley instead. The Roman Empire went on to facilitate the global dissemination of wheat cultivation which fostered a form of imperialism with biological as well as cultural roots. The Roman appreciation for wheat, like our own, may have had less to do with its nutritional value as “health food” than its ability to generate a unique narcotic reaction. It may fulfill our hunger while generating a repetitive, ceaseless cycle of craving more of the same, and by doing so, enabling the surreptitious control of human behavior. Other researchers have come to similar conclusions. According to the biologists Greg Wadley & Angus Martin: “Cereals have important qualities that differentiate them from most other drugs. They are a food source as well as a drug, and can be stored and transported easily. They are ingested in frequent small doses (not occasional large ones), and do not impede work performance in most people. A desire for the drug, even cravings or withdrawal, can be confused with hunger. These features make cereals the ideal facilitator of civilisation (and may also have contributed to the long delay in recognising their pharmacological properties).” Wheat Lectin (Wga) Damages Our Tissue Wheat contains a lectin known as Wheat Germ Agglutinin which is responsible for causing direct, non-immune mediated damage to our intestines, and subsequent to entry into the bloodstream, damage to distant organs in our body. Lectins are sugar-binding proteins which are highly selective for their sugar moieties. It is believed that wheat lectin, which binds to the monosaccharide N-acetyl glucosamine (NAG), provides defense against predation from bacteria, insects and animals. Bacteria have NAG in their cell wall, insects have an exoskeleton composed of polymers of NAG called chitin, and the epithelial tissue of mammals, e.g. gastrointestinal tract, have a “sugar coat” called the glycocalyx which is composed, in part, of NAG. The glycocalyx can be found on the outer surface (apical portion) of the microvilli within the small intestine. There is evidence that WGA may cause increased shedding of the intestinal brush border membrane, reduction in surface area, acceleration of cell losses and shortening of villi, via binding to the surface of the villi. WGA can mimic the effects of epidermal growth factor (EGF) at the cellular level, indicating that the crypt hyperplasia seen in celiac disease may be due to a mitogenic reponse induced by WGA. WGA has been implicated in obesity and “leptin resistance” by blocking the receptor in the hypothalamus for the appetite satiating hormone leptin. WGA has also been shown to have an insulin-mimetic action, potentially contributing to weight gain and insulin resistance. And, as discussed earlier, wheat lectin has been shown to induce IgA mediated damage to the kidney, indicating that nephropathy and kidney cancer may be associated with wheat consumption. Wheat Peptides Exhibit Molecular Mimicry Gliadorphin and gluten exporphins exhibit a form of molecular mimicry that affects the nervous system, but other wheat proteins effect different organ systems. The digestion of gliadin produces a peptide that is 33 amino acids long and is known as 33-mer which has a remarkable homology to the internal sequence of pertactin, the immunodominant sequence in the Bordetella pertussis bacteria (whooping cough). Pertactin is considered a highly immunogenic virulence factor, and is used in vaccines to amplify the adaptive immune response. It is possible the immune system may confuse this 33-mer with a pathogen resulting in either or both a cell-mediated and adaptive immune response against Self. Wheat Contains High Levels Of Excito-Toxins John B. Symes, D.V.M. is responsible for drawing attention to the potential excitotoxicity of wheat, dairy, and soy, due to their exceptionally high levels of the non-essential amino acids glutamic and aspartic acid. Excitotoxicity is a pathological process where glutamic and aspartic acid cause an over-activation of the nerve cell receptors (e.g. NMDA and AMPA receptor) leading to calcium induced nerve and brain injury. Of all cereal grasses commonly consumed wheat contains the highest levels of glutamic acid and aspartic acid. Glutamic acid is largely responsible for wheat’s exceptional taste. The Japanese coined the word umami to describe the extraordinary “yummy” effect that glutamic acid exerts on the tongue and palate, and invented monosodium glutamate (MSG) to amplify this sensation. Though the Japanese first synthesized MSG from kelp, wheat can also be used due to its high glutamic acid content. It is likely that wheat’s popularity, alongside its opiate-like activity, has everything to do with the natural flavor-enhancers already contained within it. These amino acids may contribute to neurodegenerative conditions such as Multiple sclerosis, Alzhemier’s, Huntington’s disease, and other nervous disorders such as Epilepsy, Attention Deficit Disorder and Migraines. Conclusion In this article I have proposed that celiac disease be viewed not as a rare “genetically-determined” disorder, but as an extreme example of our body communicating to us a once universal, species-specific affliction: severe intolerance to wheat. Celiac disease reflects back to us how profoundly our diet has diverged from what was, until only recently a grain free diet, and even more recently, a wheat free one. We are so profoundly distanced from that dramatic Neolithic transition in cultural time that “missing is any sense that anything is missing.” The body, on the other hand, cannot help but remember a time when cereal grains were alien to the diet, because in biological time it was only moments ago. Eliminating wheat, if not all of the members of the cereal grass family, and returning to dicotyledons or pseudo-grains like quinoa, buckwheat and amaranth, may help us roll back the hands of biological and cultural time, to a time of clarity, health and vitality that many of us have never known before. When one eliminates wheat and fills the void left by its absence with fruits, vegetables, high quality meats and foods consistent with our biological needs we may begin to feel a sense of vitality that many would find hard to imagine. If wheat really is more like a drug than a food, anesthetizing us to its ill effects on our body, it will be difficult for us to understand its grasp upon us unless and until we eliminate it from our diet. I encourage everyone to see celiac disease not as a condition alien to our own. Rather, the celiac gives us a glimpse of how profoundly wheat may distort and disfigure our health if we continue to expose ourselves to its ill effects. I hope this article will provide inspiration for non-celiacs to try a wheat free diet and judge for themselves if it is really worth eliminating.

Celiac.com 03/12/2020 - Lactose intolerance is one of the most common food intolerances. Many people with celiac disease also have lactose intolerance, especially at the time they are first diagnosed. Lactose intolerance happens when the gut fails to produce enough lactase, and enzyme that breaks down the lactose sugar in milk. Lactose intolerance can be inherited, but it can also happen as people get older and their bodies produce less lactase. Studies consistently shows that only about one in three people worldwide can digest lactose beyond seven or eight years of age. Celiacs who eat gluten can become lactose intolerant after the villi and microvilli in their small intestine become damaged, and can no longer intercept and break down lactose molecules. However, most people recover on a gluten-free diet. Once the damaged villi and microvilli to grow back, and the gut heals, the sensitivity to lactose often disappears. This can take time. In most people, full gut healing takes between six months and a year. In some cases the villi and microvilli damage can take up to two years to heal fully. In any case, once the gut heals, lactose intolerance issues should disappear. Also, most people who are lactose intolerant can eat goat and sheep products, such as milk, yogurt and cheeses, such as feta and pecorino Romano, without any problems. Many people with lactose intolerance can also consume raw, unpasteurized dairy without symptoms. Links to Goat, Sheep, and Raw Cow Milk Products Goat Milk Products Sheep Milk Products Raw Cow Milk Products

The Gluten Intolerance Group of North America, also known as GIG, is a 501©(3) non-profit organization funded by private donations including the Combined Federal Campaign, United Way Designated Giving, Employer Matching Funds; proceeds from memberships, the sale of products and our educational resources. We rely on your contributions, which are tax deductible. 85% or more of our revenue is used to support our programs. GIG is at the forefront of innovative action and is respected globally as a powerful leader in the celiac community. GIGs volunteers, staff, and Board are knowledgeable and our materials and resources are credible. Our Mission is to provide support to persons with gluten intolerances, including celiac disease, dermatitis herpetiformis, and other gluten sensitivities, in order to live healthy lives. GIG Branches help to fulfill GIGs mission on a local and regional level through programs tailored to their community. GIG VISION The vision of the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America is one of mutual support, acceptance, and respect for all persons living with gluten intolerances and working with this community. GIG envisions a united gluten intolerant community in which all persons feel they are healthy, are positively nurtured to live life to the fullest, and are involved and contributing citizens. GIG PROGRAMS FULFILLING THE MISSION GIG fulfills its mission of supporting persons living with gluten intolerances through programs directed to consumers, health professionals and the public. GIGR programs provide: Support and education Awareness and advocacy Research awareness and support GIG is dedicated to providing accurate, scientific, evidence-based information. Cynthia Kupper, RD, celiac disease, Executive Director 31214 - 124 Ave SE Auburn WA 98092 Phone: 253-833-6655 Fax: 253-833-6675 Web sites: www.gluten.net; www.GFCO.org; www.GlutenFreeRestaurants.org Email: info@GLUTEN.net

WHAT IS CELIAC DISEASE? Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition that affects around 1.4% of the population (91.2 million people worldwide, and 3.9 million in the U.S.A.). People with celiac disease suffer an autoimmune reaction when they consume wheat, rye or barley. The immune reaction is triggered by certain proteins in the wheat, rye, or barley, and, left untreated, causes damage to the small, finger-like structures, called villi, that line the gut. The damage occurs as shortening and villous flattening in the lamina propria and crypt regions of the intestines. The damage to these villi then leads to numerous other issues that commonly plague people with untreated celiac disease, including poor nutritional uptake, fatigue, and myriad other problems. Celiac disease mostly affects people of Northern European descent, but recent studies show that it also affects large numbers of people in Italy, China, Iran, India, and numerous other places thought to have few or no cases. Celiac disease is most often uncovered because people experience symptoms that lead them to get tests for antibodies to gluten. If these tests are positive, then the people usually get biopsy confirmation of their celiac disease. Once they adopt a gluten-free diet, they usually see gut healing, and major improvements in their symptoms. CLASSIC CELIAC DISEASE SYMPTOMS Symptoms of celiac disease can range from the classic features, such as diarrhea, upset stomach, bloating, gas, weight loss, and malnutrition, among others. LESS OBVIOUS SYMPTOMS Celiac disease can often less obvious symptoms, such fatigue, vitamin and nutrient deficiencies, anemia, to name a few. Often, these symptoms are regarded as less obvious because they are not gastrointestinal in nature. You got that right, it is not uncommon for people with celiac disease to have few or no gastrointestinal symptoms. That makes spotting and connecting these seemingly unrelated and unclear celiac symptoms so important. NO SYMPTOMS Currently, most people diagnosed with celiac disease do not show symptoms, but are diagnosed on the basis of referral for elevated risk factors. CELIAC DISEASE VS. GLUTEN INTOLERANCE Gluten intolerance is a generic term for people who have some sort of sensitivity to gluten. These people may or may not have celiac disease. Researchers generally agree that there is a condition called non-celiac gluten sensitivity. That term has largely replaced the term gluten-intolerance. What’s the difference between celiac disease and non-celiac gluten-sensitivity? CELIAC DISEASE VS. NON-CELIAC GLUTEN SENSITIVITY (NCGS) Gluten triggers symptoms and immune reactions in people with celiac disease. Gluten can also trigger symptoms in some people with NCGS, but the similarities largely end there. There are four main differences between celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity: No Hereditary Link in NCGS Researchers know for certain that genetic heredity plays a major role in celiac disease. If a first-degree relative has celiac disease, then you have a statistically higher risk of carrying genetic markers DQ2 and/or DQ8, and of developing celiac disease yourself. NCGS is not known to be hereditary. Some research has shown certain genetic associations, such as some NCGS patients, but there is no proof that NCGS is hereditary. No Connection with Celiac-related Disorders Unlike celiac disease, NCGS is so far not associated with malabsorption, nutritional deficiencies, or a higher risk of autoimmune disorders or intestinal malignancies. No Immunological or Serological Markers People with celiac disease nearly always test positive for antibodies to gluten proteins. Researchers have, as yet, identified no such antobodies or serologic markers for NCGS. That means that, unlike with celiac disease, there are no telltale screening tests that can point to NCGS. Absence of Celiac Disease or Wheat Allergy Doctors diagnose NCGS only by excluding both celiac disease, an IgE-mediated allergy to wheat, and by the noting ongoing adverse symptoms associated with gluten consumption. WHAT ABOUT IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME (IBS) AND IRRITABLE BOWEL DISEASE (IBD)? IBS and IBD are usually diagnosed in part by ruling out celiac disease. Many patients with irritable bowel syndrome are sensitive to gluten. Many experience celiac disease-like symptoms in reaction to wheat. However, patients with IBS generally show no gut damage, and do not test positive for antibodies to gliadin and other proteins as do people with celiac disease. Some IBS patients also suffer from NCGS. To add more confusion, many cases of IBS are, in fact, celiac disease in disguise. That said, people with IBS generally react to more than just wheat. People with NCGS generally react to wheat and not to other things, but that’s not always the case. Doctors generally try to rule out celiac disease before making a diagnosis of IBS or NCGS. Crohn’s Disease and celiac disease share many common symptoms, though causes are different. In Crohn’s disease, the immune system can cause disruption anywhere along the gastrointestinal tract, and a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease typically requires more diagnostic testing than does a celiac diagnosis. Crohn’s treatment consists of changes to diet and possible surgery. Up to 10% of Crohn's patients can have both of conditions, which suggests a genetic connection, and researchers continue to examine that connection. Is There a Connection Between Celiac Disease, Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity and Irritable Bowel Syndrome? Large Number of Irritable Bowel Syndrome Patients Sensitive To Gluten Some IBD Patients also Suffer from Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity Many Cases of IBS and Fibromyalgia Actually Celiac Disease in Disguise CELIAC DISEASE DIAGNOSIS Diagnosis of celiac disease can be difficult. Perhaps because celiac disease presents clinically in such a variety of ways, proper diagnosis often takes years. A positive serological test for antibodies against tissue transglutaminase is considered a very strong diagnostic indicator, and a duodenal biopsy revealing villous atrophy is still considered by many to be the diagnostic gold standard. But this idea is being questioned; some think the biopsy is unnecessary in the face of clear serological tests and obvious symptoms. Also, researchers are developing accurate and reliable ways to test for celiac disease even when patients are already avoiding wheat. In the past, patients needed to be consuming wheat to get an accurate test result. Celiac disease can have numerous vague, or confusing symptoms that can make diagnosis difficult. Celiac disease is commonly misdiagnosed by doctors. Read a Personal Story About Celiac Disease Diagnosis from the Founder of Celiac.com Currently, testing and biopsy still form the cornerstone of celiac diagnosis. TESTING There are several serologic (blood) tests available that screen for celiac disease antibodies, but the most commonly used is called a tTG-IgA test. If blood test results suggest celiac disease, your physician will recommend a biopsy of your small intestine to confirm the diagnosis. Testing is fairly simple and involves screening the patients blood for antigliadin (AGA) and endomysium antibodies (EmA), and/or doing a biopsy on the areas of the intestines mentioned above, which is still the standard for a formal diagnosis. Also, it is now possible to test people for celiac disease without making them concume wheat products. BIOPSY Until recently, biopsy confirmation of a positive gluten antibody test was the gold standard for celiac diagnosis. It still is, but things are changing fairly quickly. Children can now be accurately diagnosed for celiac disease without biopsy. Diagnosis based on level of TGA-IgA 10-fold or more the ULN, a positive result from the EMA tests in a second blood sample, and the presence of at least 1 symptom could avoid risks and costs of endoscopy for more than half the children with celiac disease worldwide. WHY A GLUTEN-FREE DIET? Currently the only effective, medically approved treatment for celiac disease is a strict gluten-free diet. Following a gluten-free diet relieves symptoms, promotes gut healing, and prevents nearly all celiac-related complications. A gluten-free diet means avoiding all products that contain wheat, rye and barley, or any of their derivatives. This is a difficult task as there are many hidden sources of gluten found in the ingredients of many processed foods. Still, with effort, most people with celiac disease manage to make the transition. The vast majority of celiac disease patients who follow a gluten-free diet see symptom relief and experience gut healing within two years. For these reasons, a gluten-free diet remains the only effective, medically proven treatment for celiac disease. WHAT ABOUT ENZYMES, VACCINES, ETC.? There is currently no enzyme or vaccine that can replace a gluten-free diet for people with celiac disease. There are enzyme supplements currently available, such as AN-PEP, Latiglutetenase, GluteGuard, and KumaMax, which may help to mitigate accidental gluten ingestion by celiacs. KumaMax, has been shown to survive the stomach, and to break down gluten in the small intestine. Latiglutenase, formerly known as ALV003, is an enzyme therapy designed to be taken with meals. GluteGuard has been shown to significantly protect celiac patients from the serious symptoms they would normally experience after gluten ingestion. There are other enzymes, including those based on papaya enzymes. Additionally, there are many celiac disease drugs, enzymes, and therapies in various stages of development by pharmaceutical companies, including at least one vaccine that has received financial backing. At some point in the not too distant future there will likely be new treatments available for those who seek an alternative to a lifelong gluten-free diet. For now though, there are no products on the market that can take the place of a gluten-free diet. Any enzyme or other treatment for celiac disease is intended to be used in conjunction with a gluten-free diet, not as a replacement. ASSOCIATED DISEASES The most common disorders associated with celiac disease are thyroid disease and Type 1 Diabetes, however, celiac disease is associated with many other conditions, including but not limited to the following autoimmune conditions: Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: 2.4-16.4% Multiple Sclerosis (MS): 11% Hashimoto’s thyroiditis: 4-6% Autoimmune hepatitis: 6-15% Addison disease: 6% Arthritis: 1.5-7.5% Sjögren’s syndrome: 2-15% Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy: 5.7% IgA Nephropathy (Berger’s Disease): 3.6% Other celiac co-morditities include: Crohn’s Disease; Inflammatory Bowel Disease Chronic Pancreatitis Down Syndrome Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Lupus Multiple Sclerosis Primary Biliary Cirrhosis Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis Psoriasis Rheumatoid Arthritis Scleroderma Turner Syndrome Ulcerative Colitis; Inflammatory Bowel Disease Williams Syndrome Cancers: Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (intestinal and extra-intestinal, T- and B-cell types) Small intestinal adenocarcinoma Esophageal carcinoma Papillary thyroid cancer Melanoma CELIAC DISEASE REFERENCES: Global Prevalence of Celiac Disease: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology 2018;16:823–836 Celiac Disease Center, Columbia University Gluten Intolerance Group National Institutes of Health U.S. National Library of Medicine Mayo Clinic University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center

Celiac.com 10/29/2019 - It's a busy time for Just Bieber. Within a couple of weeks, the pop recording sensation got married, suffered a minor car accident, and revealed that he'll be giving up his favorite beer, Corona, in favor of gluten-removed beers, like Omission. The reason? Bieber just learned that he is "allergic" to gluten. "Worst news ever I'm officially allergic to gluten," Bieber revealed via Instagram Story, "No more Coronas unless they make gluten free beer like this! Sad day." Speaking favorably about his newest favorite brew, the "I Don't Care" singer said the the gluten-free pale ale from Omission Brewing is "actually fire." It's not clear whether Bieber actually has celiac disease, or whether he has a non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Just in time for Oktoberfest, here's a list of gluten-free and gluten-removed beers that can help quench your thirst and maintain your gluten-free diet, Along with a list of some excellent gluten-free beers and ciders. In addition to bringing his fans in the Belieber Nation up to speed on his switch to gluten-free brew, Bieber has been posting lots of photos of him and his new bride, Hailey, along with hinting that he may be looking to upgrade his current home for something more suitable for a married man. Read more in TheBlast.com