Celiac.com 04/26/2019 - Did you know that there are twenty-two benefits of the spices turmeric (which contains curcumin)?  And this just isn't just for people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivities. Look up the “22 Proven Health Benefits of Turmeric and Curcumin,” last updated in February 2019. An article written by John Slaughton, BASc. BFA and reviewed by Dr. Sandesh Krishna Bhosale (BAMS), PGDHA lists these proven health benefits for people who use this supplement. 

Celiacs with brain for issues take note: As a powerful antioxidant herb, turmeric can stimulate neural activity and prevent cognitive degradation, which often come in the form of Alzheimer's and dementia. In studies the herb has been shown to improve memory.

These spices are low cost, and you can use them to flavor soups or stews, or sprinkle them on your main meals and sandwich products. It is actually exciting to look up the health benefits of turmeric because the benefits go from helping eliminate depression, pain, protecting the digestive tract (those with celiac disease need as much help as they can get). 

Turmeric is closely related to the ginger plant family. It is a perennial herb native to India, derived from the rhizome of the plant. When dried it is ground up into the typical powdered form. It does need a rather specific temperature and environment to thrive, and it should never be frozen. Keep in a dry cool place, like on your spice shelf without any sunlight.

Other benefits include the alleviation of pain, slowing down aging, protecting the digestive tract and preventing cancer. It does smell slightly like mustard, but has a hot, almost pepper-like bitterness to it that complements a variety of dishes. This herb has also been praised as one of the most comprehensive and powerful herbal medications in Ayurvedic treatments.

Curcumin is the most important active ingredients of this "super herb". And due to the presence of curcumin, it acts as an anti-inflammatory agent says researchers from the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. As  a topical salve it can reduce the inflammation of hemorrhoids. It is also a nutritionally rich herb, and as per the USDA it contains good amounts of protein, vitamin C, calcium, iron, dietary fiber, and sodium, all in a 24 calorie tablespoon serving, and it also provides a rich supply of Vitamin B6, potassium, magnesium and manganese.

Turmeric can help keep your skin healthy in many ways. It keeps pimples at bay by inhibiting the growth of pimple-causing bacteria and reducing the oil secretion by the sebaceous glands. The constant use of turmeric clears acne scars, which makes your skin flawless and glowing.  You can even make a paste of turmeric and use it as a facial. In the past few years we have been bombarded with clay masks, and Vitamin C cleansers, along with Retinol, but women want a healthier skin clear of pimples and acne scars, so if we get an anti-inflammatory natural herb that is inexpensive with so many proven claims, including digestive tract aids, and the extensive research on turmeric's cancer prevention, specifically colon cancer that is one of the cancers that celiac people are concerned about, we should be "all over it". 

Celiac.com 04/11/2019 - Dieting, a word commonly used by people who are in the process of consuming food in a regulated and monitored manner. We normally equate someone who is dieting to someone who wants to lose weight and restricts their food intake to achieve a desired outcome, for example to prevent certain diseases or deal with obesity. 

For many reasons, the purpose of dieting has evolved. Currently there are many popular diet plans available, such as the gluten-free diet, keto diet, paleo diet and detox diet. But today we are only going to discuss the difference between two more widely used diets, which are the gluten-free and keto diets. 

What is a gluten-free diet?

A gluten-free diet is generally a diet that explicitly excludes gluten from meals. This diet is normally used to treat people with celiac disease, or those who have gluten sensitivity and experience discomfort and symptoms after consuming gluten.

Gluten is found in many foods that we consume today. It is found in wheat and other grains such as oats, rye and barley. Gluten has a glue-like property when mixed with water. For example, the gluten found in wheat bread flour helps create a sticky network that allows bread to rise and gives it a chewy texture. Unfortunately gluten is used very widely in various food additives and ingredients, which makes it difficult to avoid.

What is a keto diet?

A keto diet focuses on consuming only high-fat, moderate-protein and low-carbohydrate foods. It involves a substantial reduction of carbohydrate intake which is  replaced with fat. 

The purpose of the keto diet is to put your body into a metabolic state known as “ketosis.” What happens in this process is that your body will start efficiently burning fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates. 

What should we avoid in a gluten-free diet

Gluten is widely used during food production making it difficult at times to maintain a gluten-free diet. Although gluten is safe to be consume by many people, those with gluten sensitivity should avoid it to prevent complications. 

Below are some basic foods that contain gluten, and some examples that may contain gluten (see Celiac.com's Forbidden List for more info):

• Baked goods - Cookies, muffins, cakes, pizzas, etc.
• Bread - All wheat-based bread.
• Pasta - All wheat-based pasta.
• Snack foods - Pre-packaged chips, roasted nuts, candy, pretzels, crackers, etc.
• Beverages - Flavored alcoholic drinks or beer.
• Cereals - Unless stated gluten-free.
• Other foods - Sauces, couscous, broth cubes.

What can we eat on a gluten-free diet? 

However, even with limited food choices, there are many gluten-free options now available in markets. It isn’t that hard to adopt this diet as long as you keep an eye out for foods labeled with “gluten-free” or better yet, you can prepare home-cooked meals which will definitely be healthier. 

Below are foods that are naturally gluten-free:

• Fruits and vegetables - All types of fruits and vegetables are naturally gluten-free so eat away!
• Meats and fish - Avoid battered or coated meats or fish.
• Dairy - Products such as plain milk, plain yoghurt and plain cheese are gluten-free as long as it does not contain added ingredients.
• Grain - Rice, buckwheat, quinoa, corn, oats and tapioca, as long as labeled gluten-free.
• Starches and flour - Potatoes, corn, chickpea flour, potato flour, corn flour, soy flour, tapioca flour and coconut flour.
• Nuts and seeds
• Herbs and spices 
• Spreads and oils - All butter and vegetable oils (some celiacs avoid canola oil as it's often grown in the same fields as wheat).

Foods to avoid on a keto diet

This diet restricts a substantial amount of carbohydrates in your body to ensure that only fats will be burned. Therefore, any type of food with a high carbohydrate content should be limited. 

Here is a list of high-carb foods that should be limited:

• Grains and starches – Pasta, rice, cereals, wheat-based products,etc .
• Sugary foods – Cake, candy, ice cream, fruit juice, etc .
• Fruits – All kinds of fruits (except limited portions of berries).
• Beans and legumes – Chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils, peas ,etc.
• Root vegetables and tubers – Carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes, etc.
• Alcohol – Due to alcohol carb content, many alcoholic beverages are not recommended.
• Sugar-free diet foods – These food are often high in sugar alcohol and tend to be highly processed.

What can we eat on a keto diet?

As your body will only be focused to burn fats as fuel, you will require a substantial amount of fatty food. However, this does not mean to consume all the fried food you can find. In a high fat diet, you have to focus on consuming only healthy fat to still achieve your required nutrients. 

Your meals should be based around these foods:

• Fatty fish – Salmon, tuna, trout and mackerel.
• Meat – Chicken, steak, turkey, ham, sausages and bacon.
• Eggs – Opt for pastured or omega-3 whole eggs.
• Low carbohydrate veggies – Most green leaf veggies, tomatoes, onions, etc.
• Cheese – Unprocessed (goat, cheddar, cream, mozzarella or blue cheese).
• Butter and cream – Opt for grass fed.
• Healthy oils – Mainly extra virgin oil, avocado oil and coconut oil.
• Condiments – Salt, pepper or any herbs and spices.

Benefits of gluten-free diet

Obviously those who have celiac disease require a gluten-free diet, but even for those who don't a low-gluten diet can be beneficial. Excess consumption of gluten may lead to gut or other inflammation, which can result in bloating, stomach cramps or diarrhoea. 

Therefore, a gluten-free diet can be beneficial to anyone facing digestive problems such as bloating constipation and many other symptoms. It can help ease your digestive symptoms and reboot your digestive tract. 

Moreover, dropping gluten allows you to have more energy during your day. Eating an anti-inflammatory diet removes food stressors like gluten, sugary food and genetically modified food that will allow your body adrenals to come be reduced. This improves energy, reduces stress, and can aid one's emotional balance. 

Benefits of the keto diet

Although it may sound scary to focus on consuming a high amount of fatty foods, and it may even seem to be in conflict with your health goals, it is actually beneficial in many ways. 

Burning only fats can help you drop a lot of weight quickly. This is because ketones suppress your hunger hormones which in return reduces your appetite. You will be able to go for longer periods without eating. 

Next, a keto diet fuels and feeds your brain. As our brain is made up of at least 60% fat, and ketones provide an instant hit of energy whenever you're burning fat. Consumption of essential fatty acids will also help to grow and develop your brain. 

Possible negative effects of gluten-free and keto diets

As with all good things, there are sometimes bad things that come with them. Despite having a variety of health benefits, there are certain risks associated with both diets.

First, you may be at risk of nutrient deficiency due to the elimination of too many foods. This can cause you, for example, to not consume enough fiber from traditional sources. Fiber also assists your body in the absorption of nutrients.

Furthermore, the lack of fiber can lead you to have bowel issues such as constipation. Gluten-free and keto diets both eliminate many sources of fibre like wheat bran and fruits that promote good bowel movements. Constipation can cause serious issues if not dealt with.

Conclusion

Those with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity require a gluten-free diet, and don't have the luxury going off the diet—they must stay on the diet to maintain their health. It is always a good idea to consult a registered dietician before starting any major dietary change, and this is true for both the gluten-free and keto diets. Interestingly the keto diet is mostly gluten-free, or can easily be made gluten-free, so for celiacs who want or need to lose weight, it might be a good option.

Celiac.com 03/22/2019 - I'm going to talk about my journey through the Nexvax2 trial. It is a clinical trial to study the effectiveness of this drug to prevent mucosal damage due to cross contamination. There are 4 phases to this trial - Screening, Updosing, Maintenance, and Post-Study. Each phase has different requirements from the patient and different goals.

Screening for the Nexvax2 Clinical Trial

I found out about the Nexvax2 trial from my sister. Her job involves keeping up with medical stocks. She saw that ImmusanT had started their clinical trial - a double, blind, placebo controlled study for an injection to retrain the immune system to stop recognizing gluten as a foreign invader. It works similarly to allergy shots desensitizing the immune system to gluten. I looked up the trial at ClinicalTrials.gov and made a phone call to the nearest location. 

There were 35 trial locations across the US and a couple of locations in Australia. I live in Atlanta and the closest locations were in Jacksonville, FL or Nashville, TN. I decided to call Nashville because it is only a 4 hour drive compared to the 6 hour drive to Jacksonville.

I called and talked to Nurse Ratchet (not her real name, to protect the innocent). She explained that it was a long trial, about 7 months, and that I had to be in Nashville twice a week for six weeks. She said she would send me the patient disclosure and she would answer any questions I had when I was ready. She also said that I needed to be able to prove my Celiac diagnosis with both positive blood work and positive endoscopic biopsy. I would have to be on a gluten free diet for 12 months. I would also have to carry the DQ2.5 gene and do a gluten challenge. I will also have to decide if I'm going to participate in the optional endoscopy portion of the trial.

The twice a week for six weeks thing threw me for a loop. That would be a big time commitment, hard on my family, and very expensive. I wasn't sure we could do this.

As my husband and I review the disclosure document, there is a lot of information to take in. One of the requirements to get in the trial is having the DQ2.5 gene. I've had genetic testing done several times and knew I had one copy of DQ2.5. In reading the documents, if you have one copy of DQ2.5, you have a 1 in 2 chance of receiving the drug. If you have two copies of DQ2.5, you have a 2 in 3 chance of receiving the drug. Nexvax2 does not work for those with DQ8. According to research, over 90% of people with Celiac have DQ2.5.

So, I have 50/50 chance of getting the medicine and I have to be in Nashville twice a week for six weeks. That is a big time commitment for a 50/50 chance at the medicine. We decide it isn't worth it. Until, I talk to Nurse Ratchet and she confirms that if I get placebo in the trial, I will get the medicine when the drug is approved. Now we are talking. I have a 100% chance of getting the medicine - either sooner or later. We decide to go for it!!

I find my medical records that demonstrate I have Celiac disease, send them to Nurse Ratchet and we schedule my first appointment - November 1.

The first appointment lasts for 8 hours. The initial testing involves blood work, urine tests, EKG, physical, and do a gluten challenge. This is going to be a very long day. The gluten challenge is the most worrying part. I will have to ingest a lot of gluten - the equivalent of two slices of bread. They will gauge my reaction after the drink and monitor me for the next few hours. I have 5 minutes to consume the unflavored gluten drink.

At this point, you might be thinking why would I purposefully ingest gluten? I'm poisoning myself. I know I'm going to be sick. What sane person does this? A person that is tired of being sick. I'm tired of worrying about food all the time. If this is what I have to endure to ensure that I can get better, I'm in.

After consuming the gluten poison, we wait. After about an hour, I start feeling fatigue - mind numbing fatigue. The kind of fatigue that you just want to lay in a dark, cool room under a blanket thinking of nothing. At hour two, the vomiting starts. I throw up twice in about a 30 minute span. My reaction is severe enough to qualify into the study. But now I have to start to deal with the consequences of glutening myself. Once the testing is over, I get on an airplane and fly home. That was a miserable flight. I won't bore you with the unpleasant details, but know the flight was not good.

I'm miserable the whole week after the gluten challenge. Fatigue, brain fog, gastrointestinal distress, and just feeling bad is what I dealt with for a week. A full seven days of being completely incapable of living my life in any meaningful way. It was a week of watching TV, ordering food in, and just breathing. Eventually I get better. When the malaise lifts, it lifts like opening a curtain to reveal bright sunshine. I am finally better.

We opted to do the optional endoscopy study. I had to go back to Nashville at the beginning of December for the endoscopy. The flight, fasting, and doing the test in the early afternoon did not make for a great day. Really, it was a very bad day. Normally, I don't struggle with endoscopies. Normally I simply do the endoscopy and go eat a big meal and am fine for the rest of the day. This time I slept from about 1 hour before my procedure, through the procedure (they gave me good stuff to help with that), and then on the 4 hour car ride home. I slept a lot that day.

Then we wait. We have to wait for all of the blood tests and endoscopy results. About a week after the endoscopy, Nurse Ratchet confirms I have made the cut. I'm in the trial! 

During the trial, I had to promise to not start taking any supplements or medicine without letting them know. I had to put a card in my wallet that said that I was in a clinical trial and it not give me medicine until the doctor called this number.

There are also surveys you have to fill out on the little device they give you. You have to do them every night and they must be completed between 6 pm and midnight. Most days it is two surveys - one asking about symptoms and one about your bowel movements. The one about the symptoms asks you to rate how your symptoms are on a scale of 1 to 10. The other asks how many bowel movements you've had and tell what they were like on the Bristol Stool Chart.

In the whole 6 month period you are only allowed to miss 4 surveys. I set two alarms to remind me - one at 6 pm and one for 8:30 and carried the device with me at all times so I could do the survey when ready.

We have completed phase 1 - the screening phase. Now, it is time for phase 2 - updosing.

Updosing: Reaching the Nexvax2 Dosage

In reading the consent document, updosing is important because when they tried to give people the full dose of the medication in Phase 1 trials the side effects were too dramatic and people dropped out. The main side effects of this medicine are headache, fatigue, and diarrhea.

Those side effects are the same for me when I get cross contaminated so I wasn't worried about the side effects.

On the first injection day, I had to be in Nashville for for 4 hours so medical personnel can watch you and make sure you don't have an allergic reaction. They use a small insulin needle to inject the drug, so it doesn't hurt. The shot does have to go into your belly, so that's a little weird. I would have preferred it in my arm! The first dose is a very small dose of the medicine with a lot of saline. Over time the amount of medicine increases and saline decreases until about half way through. About half way through the up dosing, you get the medicine straight, no chaser (no saline).

The updosing is not a challenge. I did have periods where I did experience side effects. Occasionally, I had problems with fatigue and headache, but it did not affect my life or how I functioned. There was one time, specifically, I had an issue with fatigue and headache. This was a bad headache. It did not let up with ibuprofen or acetaminophen alternating every 4 hours. It was about half way through the updosing and it lasted for about 3 days. Then it lifted. Everything was gone and I was back to feeling good.

Also over the course of this study, I've had periods of flushing. Flushing where my face and neck would turn bright red and feel like they are on fire. When this happens, I would take a Benadryl and go to bed. My mom thinks it is menopause, but that's just for old ladies, not me. The hardest part about updosing was the travel and the grind of going twice a week. I also was doing this in December and January. December and January are hard because of the holiday season, but we also have 3 family birthdays during the span of this period. But we made the best of it and one time the whole family came with me and we spent a couple of days in Nashville.

Maintenance Dosing

Once updosing is complete, maintenance dosing starts. Maintenance dosing is 10 weeks of twice weekly injections of the full amount of medicine. They are self-injections. The injections need to stay refrigerated, so I have this super cool cooler in my fridge. TSA didn't even flinch when I came through security!

I got 20 auto-injectors for the ten weeks of twice weekly injections, alcohol swabs, and a log book. I had to log the date, time, and location of my injection. You inject in a pattern in your abdomen- upper right, lower left, lower right, and finally upper left. I will say this phase was a bit of a relief for me. It meant less travel and just kind of coasting along. Until, the food challenges - duh duh duh daaaaa!

The food challenges are to see if the medicine is working. There are three food challenges - one gluten, one placebo, and one either gluten or placebo. So, you will get gluten at least once but not more than twice. The challenges are spaced two weeks apart.

The procedure for the food challenge is much the same as at the initial gluten challenge. They do the normal stuff - weight, blood pressure, and temperature. Then they pull out the big white box with my name on it. Inside the big white box is three smaller white boxes. They all are sealed. These are my food challenge boxes. She takes the first box out and opens it. It contains a shaker bottle, a box of water, and two packets of powder. One packet of powder is flavoring and the other is the test material. She mixes the drink per the instructions and I have 5 minutes to consume this beverage.

The drink is pink and overly sweet. (At the gluten challenge, there was no flavoring. Just straight up gluten.) The test drink tastes terrible, but I consume the beverage. Then we wait.

We wait to see if my body reacts the same or differently to the initial gluten challenge at the start of the trial process. It is just a waiting game.

They said I could keep the shaker bottle we mix my food challenge drinks in. They are really nice shaker bottles. I cannot keep them. I truly never want to see those shaker bottles again. Those shaker bottles are my enemy and I want no part of them. Those shaker bottles make me sick and I don't want them.

I've done two food challenges to this point. One I had no reaction and the other I reacted. I threw up, but I wasn't tired for a week. I was tired for 24 hours.

So, that's where we are. We are working through the process.

I have no idea if I'm getting the medicine or placebo. I don't know if I got gluten at any of the food challenges. That is what makes this so hard. The mental gymnastics of am I getting the medicine or am I not - is very, very challenging. It can consume all of your thoughts if you let it.

Post Trial

I haven't gotten to this part yet, I'm still in the food challenges phase of the study. The final part of the study means I will turn in all my used autoinjectors and boxes, log from where and when I did injections, and be turned loose into the world with my new found protections against cross contamination. It will be exciting.

Conclusion

I don't know if I got medicine or placebo. I may never know for sure. I have guesses and theories but that is all I have, which makes this really hard mentally. It is hard to have symptoms or not have symptoms and not know if you are getting the medicine. But I think those mental gymnastics are not helpful. I went into this hoping for a cure with the expectation that I would not receive the medicine and would be sick quite often. I haven't been any more sick than I would have been living my life normally, so that's a good thing.

Some people argue that they never want a medicine for Celiac. They don't want a vaccine or any part of anything from Big Pharma. They say putting gluten in your body is inflammatory and bad for everyone. They say Roundup causes Celiac disease and if you eat organic all will be fine.

Here's my answer - If you don't want the medicine, don't take the medicine. It isn't required and nobody will force you to take it. But this disease has impacted my life so dramatically, I'm willing to try a new medicine to alleviate the symptoms. This disease has affected my family, my health, my social life, and my ability to vacation among other things.

Even if this or any other medicine is approved, I'm not sure I would return to a full gluten diet. I don't mind a gluten free diet. I mind the constant vigilance I have to have all the time while eating three meals a day. I mind that many labels are not accurate when they say an item is gluten free, but it has barley or rye in the product. I mind that I can't just take a road trip with my family without carefully planning each meal along the route so that I'm sure I can eat safely. I mind that I have to ask every waiter 15 million questions before ordering at a restaurant in order to get a meal that is safe and even then I'll probably be sick. I mind that I can't engage in normal social activities, like sharing a meal with someone, without doing research on where we can go or just having to bring my own food. I mind not being able to have a scoop of ice cream with my kids at the beach in the summer. I mind a lot of things that this disease has imposed on me.

I believe most other Celiac sufferers endure the same hardships I do in finding safe foods. So, finding a cure or at least something that makes our lives better is a worthy cause that should be encouraged and cheered. Maybe others don't share my struggles and that is great. Maybe they are happy never going to dinner or out with friends. I'm not. I want a normal life or even some semblance of one where I can do the most basic and ancient ritual of society - sharing a
meal without fear.

So, take the medicine or not - it's up to you, but don't knock the people who want it.

Celiac.com 03/08/2019 - How many times have you gone out to dinner and tried to find a gluten-free meal that wouldn't make you sick? How many times have you eaten that gluten-free meal, only to think, "gee, I wouldn't feed this to my dog?"

This leads to the question, do restaurants that serve gluten-free menu items taste test their offerings? If not, why not? Why do they think that people with gluten-intolerance or celiac disease want to eat cardboard? These and other questions continue to baffle me.

There are a few things that restaurants could do better. The gluten-free wave is sweeping the nation. Restaurants need to learn how to swim, or be swept away with the tide. These are some of my pet peeves when it comes to dining out gluten-free.

Running out of gluten free items, such as hamburger rolls or bread

It is really easy to buy really good packaged gluten-free hamburger buns or bread. How many times have you been told that the only gluten-free offering is a lettuce wrap? Really? If I want to eat salad, I will order salad!

Offering inedible gluten-free items

Have you ever had a really awful gluten-free muffin in a restaurant, or for that matter, on a cruise ship? I am sure that if the kitchen staff tried these stale pieces of sawdust, they would not want to eat them. Why do they think someone with celiac disease or gluten-intolerance would?

Trying and Failing to do it themselves (especially with dessert)

Believe me, I really do appreciate the effort a chef makes to give me a gluten-free dessert other than sorbet or a fruit plate. I had a wonderful experience on a cruise a few years ago. The chef attempted to make me a gluten and dairy free cake (I am also dairy intolerant). It was really great. Unfortunately, they waited until the last night of the cruise, and I could only eat one piece of it. But I have to admit, by that time I was really tired of eating fruit plates. It's not that difficult to buy a ready made gluten-free cake, cookie or muffin mix and give us some options.

Removing the "offending" gluten-free items until there's nothing left

How many times have you ordered a wonderful sounding dish, only to receive a pale, gluten-free comparison? Believe me, before I go out to eat, I study the allergen menu really closely and try to find something that will not be entirely ruined if it is made gluten-free. I am not always successful.

Sometimes the chef goes overboard in the interest of caution, and removes everything that could "possibly" contain anything remotely containing gluten. What I get is a tasteless shadow of the original dish, and resounding disappointment.

I don't order certain items, like crab cakes, because even though gluten-free breadcrumbs actually exist, it wouldn't occur to the chef to try to use them.

Improperly trained staff

I am sure you have all seen the eye-roll and the deer in the headlights look of waitstaff who panic, or sneer at the mere mention that you are gluten-free. Nor do they have a clue about menu items that might contain gluten. It might be obvious to those of us who live this life everyday, but the waitstaff and kitchen staff don't seem to know.

It is imperative that waitstaff and kitchen staff know what contains gluten, and what does not. I can't even count how many times I have gotten sick because I was told something was "fine".

Cross-contamination with gluten-containing foods

If you think your restaurant has a dedicated area to handle your gluten-free meal, you might be sadly mistaken. Using the same fryer, using the same pasta water, using the same utensils; these are just some of the things that are going on in the kitchen.

It is far easier for a busy kitchen staff to take shortcuts than to properly prepare a gluten-free meal. I have also noticed that the attention to detail goes up with the price-tag of the meal in question. You are likely to get more attention in a fine-dining restaurant than in a small mom and pop owned one. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. You are also more likely to get "glutened" on a busy night, as opposed to a slow one.

In Conclusion

I know in my heart that as the numbers of gluten-intolerant diners grows, so will the improvement of our collective dining experience. My love for dining out has waned since I became gluten-intolerant. I find I can make better food at home. I know this is not an option for everyone. But why should gluten-free be a tradeoff?

Celiac.com 02/15/2019 - Aiming for a wheat that is safe for people with coeliac disease and other gluten-sensitive individuals to consume, Professor Francisco Barro and colleagues of the CSIC Institute for Sustainable Agriculture in Cordoba, Spain have developed transgenic wheat lines in which the gliadin proteins (the gluten elements responsible for the damaging immune response of people with coeliac disease) have been strongly, and specifically, supressed.(1)

Now, a study published in December 2018 in the journal Nutrients(2) has shown that fresh bread, made from the new wheat line, causes no negative response in non-coeliac gluten sensitive (NCGS) individuals when consumed regularly over several days. The bread was considered highly palatable by the trial participants. Moreover, in addition to the success in not triggering any acute gut symptoms, analysis of gut microbial populations demonstrated that the low-gliadin bread caused clear changes in the microbial profile consistent with a more beneficial population of natural bacteria, when compared to the profile present whilst consuming a gluten-free diet.

The new wheat lines are being developed as an alternative option for people with gluten sensitivity by commercial partners of Plant Bioscience Limited, a UK-based technology transfer company, who have also patented the new wheat lines on behalf of CSIC.

Prof. Barro said "This wheat opens up exciting new perspectives for NCGS patients; it's like following a gluten-free diet but with the aroma and taste of traditional wheat bread and favouring a much healthier microbiome."

Professor Alastair Forbes, Clinical Professor in Medicine at the University of East Anglia, a leader in gastroenterology clinical research said; "This work is really encouraging news for the gluten sensitivity research community and the patients it serves. With no apparent drawbacks we now have a promising new wheat line in development that is non-toxic and promotes a healthier gut microbiome than the often-unpalatable gluten-free options hitherto available."

Sarah Sleet, Coeliac UK chief executive said: "This is an exciting development showing real potential to develop a new bread from wheat, that may be suitable for people with coeliac
disease. We’re not quite there yet, as this paper shows that bread from LGW is acceptable to people with gluten sensitivity but it has not completed testing in individuals with coeliac
disease. We look forward to seeing the results of the ongoing tests in coeliac patients, who currently must follow a lifelong strict gluten-free diet to manage this serious autoimmune condition."

For enquiries regarding the low-gliadin wheat, please contact Plant Bioscience Limited on telephone +44 (0)1603 45600, or via email info@pbltechnology.com.

The full article can be read for free here: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/10/12/1964 

References:

1. Effective shutdown in the expression of celiac disease-related wheat gliadin T-cell epitopes by RNA interference. Gil-Humanes J, Pistón F, Tollefsen S, Sollid LM, Barro F (2010). PNAS; 107(39): 17023-17028.
2. The Dietary Intervention of Transgenic Low-Gliadin Wheat Bread in Patients with Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS) Showed No Differences with Gluten Free Diet (GFD) but Provides Better Gut Microbiota Profile. Carmen Haro, Myriam Villatoro, Luis Vaquero, Jorge Pastor , María J. Giménez, Carmen V. Ozuna, Susana Sánchez-León, María D. García-Molina, Verónica Segura, Isabel Comino, Carolina Sousa, Santiago Vivas, Blanca B. Landa and Francisco Barro (2018). Nutrients; 10(12), 1964.