Gibson published a book and even created a popular cellphone app, "The Whole Pantry," and in the process made at least $300,000 from people who also hoped to cure cancer or other ailments by changing their diet. She had promised to donate a portion of those proceeds to cancer charity, but apparently kept all the money, which proved to be the catalyst for her subsequent downfall.

Deeper scrutiny and investigation of Gibson's claim revealed that she never actually had cancer in the first place.

Since being revealed as a fraudster, Gibson, 23, claimed that she had been taken in by a German "magnetic therapist" who told her she had cancer in various internal organs, which she never bothered to investigate further before starting a business based on how a change to a gluten-free diet had cured her.

Now, Gibson is in the news for admitting to the Australian Women's Weekly that she never had brain cancer either.

Is it worse that she claimed a gluten-free diet cured her cancer, or that she never had cancer in the first place? 

Sources:

• Open Original Shared Link
• Open Original Shared Link

The quick, promising rise and rapid demise of Bumbalooza still troubles sisters-in-law Holly Paeper and Monique Prato. In just two short years, their Charlotte-based gluten-free foods company, Bumbalooza, rose to prominence in the specialty foods community, winning fans, customers and awards.

Their promising start looked even rosier when, against stiff competition, the team won the Charlotte Chamber's Power Up Challenge, complete with a check for $25,000. The Power Up award is bestowed on small-business owners who provide innovative products, earn $1 million or less in revenue.

But just months later, Bumbalooza was facing dire straights due to high shelving costs for their products. Soon, the duo had to give up their distribution warehouse, and their office, and quickly stopped selling gluten-free baking mixes altogether.

They say they spent thousands and paid grocery chains more than $20,000 each in "slotting fees" to get Bumbalooza products on store shelves, only to face delayed and partial payments. They declined to name the large grocers involved.

Faced with high costs and impaired revenue, Prato and Paeper decided that closing was their best option.

Sadly, Bumbalooza is not the first, nor likely the last, food company to tumble as a result of high shelving costs.

Source:

• Open Original Shared Link.

Celiac.com 04/03/2015 - This list will help you find gluten-free candy and confections that are kosher for Passover.

You can order kosher candy from a number of online purveyors, including Open Original Shared Link. and Open Original Shared Link.

You can order L’Chaim chocolate bars and other kosher confections from Open Original Shared Link.

Gluten-free Kosher Candy Items Include:

BOSTON FRUIT SLICES—All products

ILLINOIS NUT 8 CANDY/RAISING THE CANDY BAR:

• Passover Chocolate Frogs
• Passover Chocolate Locust
• Passover Chocolate Kos Miriam
• Passover Chocolate Mousse Cup
• Passover Green Frogs
• Passover White Baking Bar
• Wild beasts

MANISCHEWITZ:

• Caramel Cashew Patties
• Dark Chocolate Almond Bark
• Dark Chocolate Macaroons
• Dark Chocolate Covered Marshmallows with Nuts
• Dark Chocolate Covered Potato Chips
• Dark Chocolate Seder Plate
• Hazelnut Truffles
• Fruit Slices Gift Pack
• Magic Max Cotton Candy
• Milk Chocolate Almond Butter Cups
• Milk Chocolate Frolic Bears
• Milk Chocolate Lollycones
• Mini Marshmallows
• Peppermint Patties
• Raspberry Jell Bars
• Tender Coconut Patties
• Toasted Coconut Marshmallows
• Ultimate Triple Chocolate Macaroons
• Viennese Crunch
• White Marshmallows

PASKEZ:

• Assorted Ball Pops
• Assorted Hazelnut Truffles
• Camille Bloch Torino Swiss Milk Chocolate
• Camille Bloch Torino Filled Dairy Chocolate
• Camille Bloch Torino Filled Pareve Chocolate
• Camille Bloch Torino Swiss Milk White Chocolate
• Camille Bloch Ragusa Jubile Dairy Chocolate
• Camille Bloch Torino Swiss Dark Parve Chocolate
• Chocolate Seder Plate
• Chocolate Bonbenniere
• Chocolate Bon Bons
• Chocolate Chips
• Cocoa Powder
• Creme De Menthe Chocolate
• Fruit Leathers
• Fruit Taffy
• Gummys and Sours—ALL
• Truffle Chocolates—ALL

Celiac.com 03/30/2015 - Researchers are calling for an overhaul of cleaning and decontamination procedures in the face of a study showing that three out of 20 flexible gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopes (15%) pose an infection risk, because they are contaminated with unacceptable levels of human biological matter.

The researchers are part of the 3M Infection Prevention Division, which recently conducted an assessment of endoscopes at five major hospitals.

For their study, the researchers analyzed 275 flexible duodenoscopes, gastroscopes, and colonoscopes and found that 30 percent, 24 percent, and 3 percent respectively harbored unacceptable levels of human biological matter.

The results surprised the team, as 15% constitutes an "unexpectedly high number of endoscopes failing a cleanliness criterion," says Marco Bommarito, PhD, lead investigator and lead research specialist, 3M Infection Prevention Division; adding that, ideally, no endoscopes would fail a cleanliness rating.

Because such endoscopes are used for routine screening, and are reused on different patients, sterilization is crucial to preventing infection.

The 3M team presented their findings in an abstract at the 40th Annual Conference of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2008 guidelines for cleaning endoscopes, contaminated endoscopes are linked to more healthcare-associated outbreaks than to any other medical device.

Even so, illnesses and reports of improperly cleaned endoscopes are on the rise at healthcare facilities across the country.

In the face of their findings, the researchers concluded that "cleaning protocols for flexible endoscopes need improvement, such as guidelines tailored to the type of scope or identifying if there is a critical step missing in the manual cleaning process, and documented quality control measures."

Source:

• Open Original Shared Link

Celiac.com 03/06/2015 - The Kellogg Co. has announced the launch of Eggo Gluten Free Waffles in both original and cinnamon flavors.

Coming on the heels of General Mill’s move to take Cheerios gluten-free, the announcement marks the latest move by major cereal manufacturers into the realm of gluten-free products.

Eggo Gluten Free Waffles are available nationwide in the frozen food aisle of grocery stores.

The gluten-free waffles contain eight vitamins and minerals and are considered an excellent source of calcium and iron, with 25% daily value of each. They also contain 15 grams of whole grains per 70-gram serving.

Kellogg's is taking special care to make their new gluten-free waffles "delicious and wholesome," and to avoid the pitfall of gluten-free products which "…sometimes sacrifice taste and texture compared with their original versions," said AnneMarie Suarez-Davis, vice-president of marketing and innovation for Kellogg’s Frozen Foods.

For more information, check out Open Original Shared Link.

Officials said in an official statement that hospital staff had been sterilizing the scopes according to the manufacturer's standards, but was now using "a decontamination process that goes above and beyond manufacturer and national standards."

Meanwhile, hospitals across the United States have reported exposures from the same type of medical equipment in recent years, and the Open Original Shared Link has said it was working with other government agencies and manufacturers of the scopes to minimize risks to patients.

The FDA says recent medical publications and adverse event reports associated multidrug-resistant bacterial infections in patients who have undergone ERCP with reprocessed duodenoscopes, "even when manufacturer reprocessing instructions are followed correctly."

The multidrug-resistant bacterial infections include carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) such as Klebsiella species and Escherichia coli.

The FDA says that from January 2013 through December 2014, they received 75 medical device reports involving about 135 patients related to possible microbial transmission from reprocessed duodenoscopes. "It is possible that not all cases have been reported to the FDA," the agency says.

Given the fact that celiac disease diagnosis and follow up care require the use of endoscopy, this news is particularly disturbing to those in the celiac community.

Source:

• Open Original Shared Link

Celiac.com 02/25/2015 - General Mills has announced that original Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios and three other Cheerios varieties will undergo formula changes, including a switch to gluten-free oats, and will be released as a gluten-free cereal.

The move by the food and cereal giant mirrors a similar recipe change that successfully boosted sales for its Chex brand, which has been gluten-free since 2010.

The company will likely begin selling gluten-free versions in July, says Jim Murphy, president of Big G Cereals, General Mills' ready-to-eat cereal division.

Apparently, General Mills felt that that could no longer ignore the skyrocketing sales of gluten-free foods, and the slow decline of foods that contain gluten, including breakfast cereals.

"People are actually walking away from cereal because they are avoiding gluten," says Murphy, a development that, at a time when cereal sales, including Cheerios, are already weak, the company can ill afford.

Meanwhile, unit sales growth of food with a gluten-free claim on its packaging grew 10.6% in 2014 compared to the previous year, and gluten-free sales, especially among breakfast cereals are expected to continue double-digit growth through at least 2018.

In the article, author Tom Philpott interviews Stephen Jones, a wheat breeder at Washington State University, who points out that bread rising times in commercial bakeries has been cut from hours or even days down to just minutes, through the use of fast-acting yeasts and additives.

What's more, Jones points out, commercial bakers add a lot of extra gluten to their products. Many supermarket sliced breads, especially whole-wheat breads include something called "vital wheat gluten" among the top four ingredients. Because whole-wheat flour has a lower gluten density than white flour, and to make the bread more soft and chewy, like white bread, commercial bakeries add extra gluten in the form of vital wheat gluten.

So bakers are using more gluten and fermenting very rapidly, compared with traditional fermentation techniques that take up to 12 hours and more. By contrast, the team in Jones' laboratory, located in a rural stretch along Puget Sound has found that the longer the bread rises, the more the gluten proteins are broken down in the finished bread.

It's certainly true that long fermentation reduces the amount of gluten in bread, and that long fermentation using strains of lactobacillus, as in many sourdough breads, breaks down even more of the gluten; in some cases, Open Original Shared Link

Celiac.com has written about this in several articles on the future of long-fermentation sourdough, its tolerability and gut healing potential in people with celiac disease.

However, Jones' notion that modern baking techniques, rather than modern wheat breeding techniques, are responsible for rising rates of celiac disease, and gluten-sensitivity remains unproven.

Celiac.com 02/20/2015 - Most all gins and whiskeys, and many vodkas, are distilled from grain. While many people with celiac disease and gluten-intolerance can drink them with no adverse effects, many others cannot.

These brands of gin, whiskey and vodka are made with gluten-free ingredients, and safe for people with celiac disease and wheat sensitivity.

So anyone with celiac disease who has been missing their gin or whiskey can now happily indulge. Cheers!

GLUTEN-FREE GIN

• Open Original Shared Link is distilled from potatoes. The company’s website says that, like their world-famous vodkas, their gluten-free gin is made with whole Maine potatoes and the pure water of Maine's Cold River.
• Cold River uses a recipe that “dates back to the early days of British gin,” and contains their own “secret blend of seven traditional botanicals that are steeped for the perfect amount of time to infuse the essential flavors.”

GLUTEN-FREE WHISKEY

• Open Original Shared Link, by Old Sugar Distillery is made entirely from sorghum. The idea of a whiskey made from gluten-free grains is sure to excite anyone with celiac disease who longs for a wee dram.
• The company’s web page says that Queen Jennie is made with 100% Wisconsin Sorghum, and is “Less sour than a bourbon and less harsh than a rye.”

GLUTEN-FREE VODKA

• Corn Vodka—Deep Eddy, Nikolai, Rain, Tito’s, UV
• Potato Vodka—Boyd & Blair, Cirrus, Chase, Chopin, Cold River Vodka, Cracovia, Grand Teton, Karlsson’s, Luksusowa, Monopolowa, Schramm Organic, Zodiac
• Monopolowa is one of my favorites, and is usually available at Trader Joe’s.
• Open Original Shared Link is triple-distilled in a copper pot still, from Maine potatoes and water from Maine's Cold River.
• Open Original Shared Link is six times distilled from corn in an old-fashioned pot still, just like fine single malt scotches and high-end French cognacs. Tito’s is certified Gluten-free.

What can a review of scientific literature teach us about the causes, diagnosis, mechanisms and clinical evidence regarding food intolerance and gastrointestinal symptoms? Researcher M. C. E. Lomer recently set out to critically analyze the scientific literature related to etiology, diagnosis, mechanisms and clinical evidence as it relates to food intolerance.

To do so, Lomer searched Pubmed, Embase and Scopus for the terms and variants of food intolerance, lactose, FODMAP, gluten, food chemicals. He restricted his search to human studies published in English. Lomer also conducted a physical search for references to these terms from relevant papers and appropriate studies.

By Lomer’s assessment, food intolerance affects 15–20% of the population and may be due to pharmacological effects of food ingredients, non-celiac gluten sensitivity or defects in enzyme and transport.

One area researchers now have a bit more solid scientific data about is the role of short-chain fermentable carbohydrates (FODMAPs) in causing gastrointestinal food intolerance. Food exclusion followed by gradual food reintroduction is the best way to diagnose such food intolerance, and to relieve symptoms.

There is increasing evidence to support the use of a low FODMAP diet to manage gastrointestinal symptoms in cases of suspected food intolerance. A low FODMAP diet is effective, but changes gastrointestinal microbiota, so reintroducing FODMAPs to the point of tolerance is part of the overall management strategy.

Exclusionary diets should be as brief as possible. They should be just long enough to induce symptom improvement. They should then be followed by gradual food reintroduction to establish individual tolerance.

This will help to increase dietary variety, ensure nutritional adequacy and minimize impact on the gastrointestinal microbiota.

Source:

• Open Original Shared Link
• Open Original Shared Link.

Celiac.com 02/02/2015 - On December 9th, 2014, Anna Marie Phillips filed a lawsuit in Santa Clara County Superior Court against P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Inc., headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, for discrimination and violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The suit claims that P.F. Chang's forces people with celiac disease to pay higher prices for gluten-free versions of their menu items. According to the complaint, P.F. Chang's charges one extra dollar per gluten-free item, however, they do not add these surcharges on to their regular menu items.

The lawsuit is seeking class action status, and claims that over the past four years more than 3,000 people in 39 states have been affected at P.F. Chang's 204 restaurants. The plaintiff claims that the gluten-free diet is medically necessary for those with celiac disease, and those who eat at P.F. Chang's are forced to pay higher prices for gluten-free dishes, even if the dishes they order are naturally gluten-free. The plaintiff asserts that this arbitrary and unequal treatment constitues discrimination against consumers who have celiac disease and gluten intolerance, and that the added surcharge is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In the lawsuit Ms. Phillips and her attorneys, Anthony J. Orshansky and Justin Kachadoorian of Counselone, P.C. in Beverly Hills, California, seek an immediate injunction against any further surcharges on gluten-free items, civil penalties, compensatory damages and punitive damages. P.F. Chang's is represented by Jon P. Karbassakis and Michael K. Grimaldi of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, in Los Angeles, California.

On January 23, 2015, P.F. Chang's removed the case to U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (case number 5:15-cv-00344).

Source:

• Open Original Shared Link

Celiac.com 01/27/2015 - Gluten-free beer drinkers rejoice! The first completely dedicated gluten-free brewery in the UK will open in Scotland in 2015.

Edinburgh-based Bellfield Brewery was founded by a group of friends, two of whom have celiac disease, and will be dedicated to the creation of naturally gluten-free beers.

Even though there are a number of naturally gluten-free, and some gluten-removed beers, already on the market, the news will doubtless put smiles on the faces of beer-loving celiacs and people with gluten-sensitivity, who must avoid traditionally produced beers to remain healthy.

Bellfield Brewery plans to widen the range of available gluten-free beers by producing a premium IPA, and eventually, a stout, lager, with other beers to follow.

To accomplish their goal, Bellfield’s owners are currently working with a number of master brewers in Scotland to develop new gluten-free recipes. Bellfield will debut its first products by summer 2015.

What do you think? Do we need more and better gluten-free beers? Are you game for a gluten-free IPA?