Jump to content
This site uses cookies. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. More Info... ×
  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.




  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):



    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):


  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Help Celiac.com:
    eNewsletter
    Donate
  • Dr. Stephanie Chaney, DC
    Dr. Stephanie Chaney, DC

    Is Gluten the Next Billion Dollar Hoax? The Evidence Is In...

    Reviewed and edited by a celiac disease expert.

    Journal of Gluten Sensitivity Autumn 2013 Issue

    Is Gluten the Next Billion Dollar Hoax? The Evidence Is In... - Image: CC--401(K) 2012
    Caption: Image: CC--401(K) 2012

    Celiac.com 01/31/2017 - In my practice, I have had the pleasure and honor of helping hundreds of people reverse their diabetes and put their autoimmune diseases into remission. One of the many things that we test for is gluten reactivity. The research, much of which has been cited in our book on gluten, Lose the Gluten, Lose your Gut. Ditch the Grain, Save your Brain, clearly demonstrates the connection between gluten reactivity and most autoimmune diseases, including but not limited to: Hashimoto's thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. I intentionally didn't mention celiac disease, because, although it is very well established and accepted that gluten triggers celiac disease, what most don't realize is that those with celiac disease represent only a small percentage of people with autoimmunity that are impacted by gluten reactivity.

    What's alarming and disappointing to me is how many doctors 'pooh pooh' the concept of gluten reactivity, especially among their chronically ill patients. Because of this disconnect, patients continue to suffer needlessly with chronic diseases that, with the removal of gluten from the diet, would in many cases, clear up or go into remission. Hundreds of my patients tell me that when they told their health practitioner they had eliminated gluten from their diet, the health care worker didn't believe gluten would make a difference, or that since they didn't have celiac disease, eliminating gluten wouldn't help them. All this was said in the face of autoimmune diseases going into remission, or diabetes reversing right before their eyes, following the elimination of gluten from their diet.

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A12):
    The issue is that many health care practitioners are just not keeping current with the research. As such, they are inadvertently preventing their patients from truly getting healthy. The additional travesty with this is that so many people look to their health care practitioners as 'experts'. When these providers, who are not 'experts' in a particular subject, (in fact, many are completely ignorant of how dietary changes and supplement therapy can help people thrive) advise a patient against something that the research shows would likely help them, it becomes an issue of negligence and, quite frankly, laziness.

    One patient in particular comes to mind when I think of this disconnect. I had the pleasure of working with a retired nurse who, in her seventies, had come to me with several medical issues. For purposes of this article, I will refer to her as Mary. Mary suffered with hypothyroidism, which we quickly discovered through additional testing, was caused by an autoimmune disease called Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Interestingly, it is estimated that roughly 90% of the 26 million people in the U.S. that have hypothyroidism actually have Hashimoto's. This is an autoimmune disease in which your immune system attacks and destroys the thyroid gland. The research, and our clinical experience, has demonstrated that gluten will cause your immune system to flare-up and attack the thyroid.

    In addition to Hashimoto's, Mary also suffered with cardiac arrhythmia and she had a history of blood clots and strokes. She also had a long-standing issue with another autoimmune disease, called pleva, whereby her skin would rash up, itch and scab. Mary was very overweight, and exhausted all of the time. Mary had a full functional work-up in our office and she was confirmed, with testing, to be very gluten-reactive. After working with her for several months, with one very important instruction to go completely gluten-free, she easily lost over 40 lbs (with no additional exercise), her energy increased to the point where she stated she hadn't felt that good in decades, and her arrhythmia and pleva cleared up completely. Her cardiologist was ecstatic and her general practitioner told her to keep up whatever she was doing because she was so healthy now.

    I hadn't seen Mary for almost 6 months when she emailed me one day to update me on something that had happened with her. She went to a food class taught by a vegan. At the class the guests were told very directly that eating gluten-free was a 'billion dollar hoax' and that eating gluten-free could be dangerous and bad for your health. Mary, even after all of her success, in part from going gluten-free, was suddenly doubtful of her diet. She tested it, and for 3 days brought back gluten-containing foods. She told me she reacted very badly and felt horrible. For Mary, the point was driven home that gluten-reactivity was a very real issue regarding her health. The difference in how she felt was like night and day. Lucky for her, she observed this first hand and immediately went back on her gluten-free diet before her skin disease and arrhythmia flared-up.

    Whether one is a doctor, a nutritionist, or a regular Joe, making statements about any subject without having researched that subject in earnest, is unethical, and may even be harmful. We have done the research and have seen first-hand, with thousands of patients reversing everything from psoriasis to diabetes, that eating gluten-free, while very 'trendy' right now, is a trend that is solidly backed up by the evidence.


    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments



    Guest Dr.

    I am a board certified pediatrician, age 65, who first heard about gluten sensitivity being the possible cause of fibromyalgia, autoimmune disease, etc. at a Valley Children's Hospital CME lecture given by Dr. Marvin Ament, the "godfather" of pediatric gastroenterology. He also noted which ethnic groups were most likely to carry the celiac genes, ironically, mostly Europeans. I had already tested negative for celiac disease by the standard blood tests, so asked my family practitioner, a DO (few ABIM physicians care to help women with fibromyalgia), to test me for the two celiac genes Dr. Ament mentioned. Both genes were positive, and I began on a strict gluten free diet. At the same time I also began a multi-organism probiotic and took a week's worth of nystatin to clear my intestines of Candida. (The nystatin was originally prescribed by my DO rheumatologist in 2011, as his research had shown that FMS was associated with intestinal Candida overgrowth.) After about six weeks, my GERD completely disappeared and the FMS pain that had not already been reduced by normalizing my low levels of Vitamin D3 and B12 has almost completely disappeared. My so-called-by-the-internists Irritable Bowel Syndrome only returns when I forget to take my probiotic for a while or am low on magnesium. A gluten challenge resulted in severe diarrhea for 48 hours. Steve did not read the same article I did, because the author never said that the teacher of the vegan diet class was a doctor. The teacher probably was a government-certified nutritionist. Nutritionists who are not PhDs are not scientists, but merely regurgitate back to the patient whatever the USDA, FDA, and other government agencies tell them to say. They are not accountable for their results as long as they keep within the government's "fake science" dogmas, which are based on bureaucrats' consensus reports, not real science. Their most egregious "crime against humanity" was the "food pyramid" promoted by "expert" nutritionists in the USDA which has probably caused millions of cases of diabetes and obesity in children and adults on government assistance. Their "My Plate" is no more scientific than the Paleo Diet, the latter probably being more healthy for those of us with Ice Age hunter ancestors. The secularists bigoted refusal to acknowledge the longevity of Orthodox Christians by referring to the Orthodox dietary rule as the "Mediterranean Diet" is also testimony to the lack of open-mindedness required for true scientific reasoning. To my knowledge their has never been a study comparing outcomes and potentially harmful treatments by chiropractors and traditional medical school graduates. Most of the chiropractic profession's bad reputation comes from scams caused by insurance fraud and would be eliminated by replacement of phony "healthcare insurance" with savings accounts, cash and charity. Current "allopathic" physicians push many dangerous drugs, such as the statins and the proton pump inhibitors that cause much more harm than any chiropractor ever did. Today's medical schools all survived lawyer Flexner's unscientific report of 1914, pushed by the Order of the Skull and Bones and other promoters of pseudoscience that pushed the Progressive, humanist agenda a century ago. The Flexner Report's acceptance by state governments resulted in the closure of fifty percent of American medical schools, including most of those accepting Blacks and women. The academics of the remaining American medical schools publish journals that rarely publish anything that threatens their religious dogma. So one has to go outside of the U.S. to find out about fibromyalgia or the dangers of aluminum and DNA debris in vaccines. Like in the case of the Cystic Fibrosis Association, only private money, not government or establishment medicine, will lead to the eradication of the suffering and disease caused by gluten sensitivity in certain ethnic populations.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites



    Create an account or sign in to comment

    You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

    Create an account

    Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

    Register a new account

    Sign in

    Already have an account? Sign in here.

    Sign In Now

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Help Celiac.com:
    Donate
  • About Me

    Dr. Stephanie Chaney, DC

    Dr. Stephanie Chaney, DC has been practicing Chiropractic since 2001 in Annapolis Maryland. Her clinic, Living Health Integrative Medicine specializes in Chiropractic Care and Functional Medicine. Dr. Chaney currently focuses on Functional Medicine which is helping patients with various health challenges and reversing conditions naturally with nutrition and supplement therapy. Interested in learning more, please visit Living Health Integrative Medicine at mylivinghealth.com


  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):





    Celiac.com Sponsors (A17-M):




  • Related Articles

    Dr. Ron Hoggan, Ed.D.
    Celiac.com 10/16/2015 - Y Net News, under their "Health & Science" banner, published an article titled "Open Original Shared Link", on April 17, 2015 (1). ALS refers to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, also known as motor neuron disease. Authorship of this article is attributed to the news agency, Reuters. The article refers to a study in which the investigators identify an autoimmune dynamic in the brain (2). The Y Net News article quotes one of these investigators as warning ALS patients against experimenting with a gluten-free diet: "Patients should not be tempted to use a gluten-free diet without clear evidence for antibodies, because an unbalanced diet might harm"(1). This is the kind of advice that frequently appears in the popular media. There can be little...


    Dr. Ron Hoggan, Ed.D.
    Celiac.com 12/08/2015 - Is the rate of food sensitivity and allergy growing? Or are we just more concerned about it because children experience anaphylactic crisis, sometimes even dying from exposure to peanuts, strawberries, and all the other foods that most of us think of as harmless? Even if the rates are growing, what is the cause? And should we, in the gluten sensitive community, be concerned about developing such allergies? After all, celiac patients were often told that there was no greater risk of developing IgE food allergies among those with celiac disease than is experienced by the general population (1, 2). I was certainly told this, on more than one occasion, by apparently well qualified medical practitioners. Yet, more recent research is showing that those with any autoimmune...


    Dr. Ron Hoggan, Ed.D.
    Celiac.com 01/26/2016 - One part of our natural protection from the microbes and toxins in our environment is the innate part of our immune systems. This includes everything from our skin, to the mucous we produce in various tissues which engulfs unwanted or harmful particles, isolating them and ultimately expelling them from the body in fecal matter and mucous, such as from our sinuses. While our immune systems have other components, it is the innate system that provides most of our protection from the world outside our bodies. The intestinal mucosa is very much a part of this system. Thus, since Hollon et al found that "Increased intestinal permeability after gliadin exposure occurs in all individuals" (1), there should be little doubt that humans are not well adapted to consuming these...


    Dr. Ron Hoggan, Ed.D.
    Celiac.com 03/09/2016 - Many of us continue to struggle with a wide range of health concerns, digestive complaints, neurological symptoms, and/or apparently unrelated wellness issues such as low energy levels or continuing episodes of brain fog. Yet, we are gluten-free to the best of our ability. Some of us expend inordinate periods of time preparing all our own meals to ensure the strictness of our diets. Yet the symptoms persist or continue to escalate. For many of us, our health care providers are unable to help. They order more and more testing as they seek more and more obscure possible causes for our repeated visits. You may even be one of those people who simply gives up on the medical profession, and either continues to seek answers on your own, or just tries to accept your current...


    Jefferson Adams
    Celiac.com 06/09/2017 - More and more people are avoiding gluten these days, even folks who do not have a medical reason to do so.
    Perhaps looking to take advantage of the popularity of gluten-free dieting, or perhaps hoping their targets are easily fooled, one cheeky police department in California is offer to run a gluten check on people's meth.
    The Newark Police Department posted the offer on their Facebook page. The offer reads: "Is your meth laced with deadly gluten? Not sure? Bring your meth down…and we will test it for you for free!"
    Of course, however bad may be, and meth is plenty bad, it likely contains no gluten. Also, gluten aside, anyone who takes the police up on the offer will likely be arrested, which seems to be the point.
    The post appeared on Thursday, ...


    Jefferson Adams
    Celiac.com 01/16/2018 - More and more, people are adopting a gluten-free diet due to perceived health and weight-loss benefits.
    A team of researchers recently set out to ask people with celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity about their views on the health effects of gluten, and safety of vaccines and gluten-free food products.
    The research team included Loren G. Rabinowitz, Haley M. Zylberberg, Alan Levinovitz, Melissa S. Stockwell, Peter H. R. Green, and Benjamin Lebwohl. They are variously affiliated with the Department of Medicine, Celiac Disease Center, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons New York USA; the Department of Philosophy and Religion James Madison University Harrisonburg USA, the Department of Pediatrics Columbia University College of...


  • Recent Activity

    1. - knitty kitty replied to Holly15892's topic in Post Diagnosis, Recovery & Treatment of Celiac Disease
      7

      Growth spurt after diagnosis in adulthood

    2. - shadycharacter replied to Linedancegal's topic in Introduce Yourself / Share Stuff
      3

      25 year biopsy confirmed/ate pizza with no ill effects?

    3. - LimpToeTheTimeless replied to Holly15892's topic in Post Diagnosis, Recovery & Treatment of Celiac Disease
      7

      Growth spurt after diagnosis in adulthood

    4. - trents replied to AlyO's topic in Parents, Friends and Loved Ones of Celiacs
      3

      Possible gluten exposure in 4yo


  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):



  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      120,463
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748

    shadowblackwood
    Newest Member
    shadowblackwood
    Joined

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):


  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      120.2k
    • Total Posts
      1m

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):





  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):



  • Popular Now

    • Hannah24
    • jessiemariecar
    • Rhonda H
    • HayleyC123
    • Touche
  • Popular Articles

    • Scott Adams
    • Scott Adams
    • Scott Adams
    • Scott Adams
    • Scott Adams
  • Upcoming Events

×
×
  • Create New...