You read right. First, Pizza Hut has announced that, starting Jan. 26, it will be debuting a gluten-free pizza in about 2,400 locations in the U.S. The new pizza will be a 10-inch, six-slice pizza, which will go for $9.99. The pizza crust will be made by popular gluten-free brand Udi’s Foods, and certified gluten-free by the Gluten Intolerance Group.

Pizza Hut’s gluten-free pie will be one of the restaurant’s lowest-calorie pizzas, with about 100 fewer calories per serving than their current “Skinny Slice” pizza. 

Every Pizza Hut Gluten-Free Pizza will be baked fresh-to-order on parchment paper and delivered in a specially branded Udi’s Gluten-Free Pizza box. Also, all employees handling Pizza Hut’s Gluten-Free Pizza have been trained to wear gloves and use a designated gluten-free pizza cutter.

If that’s not enough good news, beer-loving gluten-free football fans in Seattle and Portland will be able to chase their gluten-free Pizza Hut pizzas with Coors’ new gluten-free Peak Copper Lager, which will debut in those markets on Superbowl Sunday.

Coors will gauge the response in its test markets as it looks to make Peak Copper Lager available in more U.S. markets.

Gluten-free Pizza Hut pizza and gluten-free Coors beer on Superbowl Sunday? I’m going to call that a touchdown.

Read more in Open Original Shared Link, and Open Original Shared Link.

Berger, it turns out, has non-celiac gluten-sensitivity. Sounds simple enough, right? But in Berger’s case, it took her one year and visits to a dozen doctors to get an accurate diagnosis.

Berger’s main symptom was tingling in her fingertips, a feeling of slight pins and needles, as if they were waking from a deep sleep. The sensation wasn’t painful, she said, but it was persistent, and concerned her enough that she sought medical help to figure out the cause.

When her first doctor diagnosed her with multiple sclerosis after a very brief visit, Berger sought a second, then a third, then a fourth opinion. In the course of her many visits, doctors told her she had nutritional deficiencies, heavy metal toxicity, Lyme disease, and depression.

After a dozen visits, she finally found an osteopath who was “well-versed in systems thinking,” and another physician who had trained in ayurvedic medicine, a holistic system of healing.

The tingling, which the first doctor believed to be a sign of MS, is actually a fairly common, though not classic, symptom of gluten sensitivity.

This story highlights the amount of work patients can face when they present with atypical symptoms of gluten-sensitivity. Many times, well-intended doctors can simply miss the dietary connection and get the diagnosis wrong.

Do you have a similar story of well-intended, but misguided doctors wrongly diagnosing gluten-sensitivity or celiac disease? 

Open Original Shared Link

The IDF will soon provide its soldiers with gluten-free battle rations, which means that combat service will be an option for Israelis who suffer from celiac disease.

Until last September, Israelis with celiac disease were exempted from army service, but permitted to volunteer in non-combat roles.

That all changed in June, when Defense Minister Yaalon announced changes to the rules, which now permit soldiers with celiac disease to receive a 97 profile ranking, the highest possible, allowing them to join combat units.

Currently, Israeli draft centers get about 250-300 people each year with celiac disease. So, while the overall numbers are small, the news is big to those affected, who can now get the gluten-free support they need to pursue full military careers, as they choose.

Source:

• Open Original Shared Link

That's because the Girl Scouts plans to debut a mobile app and a Web platform that offer scouts the ability to sell cookies online, and allows people who want to buy cookies to locate the cookie booth closest to them, without waiting for a knock on the door, or leaving the purchase to a chance encounter.

In addition to allowing users to find the nearest Girl Scout cookie booth, including the time, date of cookie sales for each location, the app and web platform also allow users to contact their local Girl Scout council, and to view a complete listing of Girl Scout Cookies available in every Zip code across the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

While most Girl Scout troops nationwide will be using the app and online platform to sell at least some of their cookies online, troops in Chicago are sticking to a traditional sales model, at least for now. So, will the familiar image of Girl Scouts selling cookies door-to-door, or from street corner tables become a thing of the past? Probably not.

Traditional methods will likely continue, while the app and web platform will offer a “fun, safe, and interactive space for girls to sell cookies,” and learn “vital 21st-century lessons about online marketing, app usage, and ecommerce.”

So remember, when you buy some cookies from your local Girl Scouts this year, you're also helping young entrepreneurs to master the latest technology to drive sales.

Girl Scouts of the USA will debut these newest features of the Girl Scout Cookie Program at the Open Original Shared Link (CES) at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas.

Download the app, and find Girl Scout Cookies, gluten-free and regular at Open Original Shared Link.

Celiac.com 12/22/2014 - Is your child sneaking a bite here and there off his or her needed gluten-free diet? You should know not only for the health of your child but to also ensure there are no other issues you need to help address, such as an allergy to nuts or dairy which can cause other issues. As a parent we need to stay on top of things to get to the bottom of any “unresolved” issues in their little bodies. If your child has been diagnosed with celiac disease, it’s critical that he or she follows a diet 100% free of gluten. Alarmingly, according to Celiac.com, 43% of celiacs cheat on their gluten-free diet, and 13% cheat 20-40 times per year or more for various reasons.

One of the reasons children may cheat on their diet is because they don’t have substitutes for their favorite gluten-containing foods. Have a talk with your child about the gluten-containing meals, snacks, and desserts he or she craves and misses and make sure there are plenty of gluten-free versions of these foods available at all times, especially over the holidays.

Another reason celiac children may cheat on their diet is because eating gluten doesn’t make them feel sick. It’s important to sit down with your celiac child and have a heart-to-heart talk about how even though your child doesn’t feel sick, gluten is still wreaking havoc on the villi of the intestines which in turn can lead to very serious health conditions such as infertility and gastrointestinal cancer. You may want to include your child’s doctor or nutritionist in this discussion.

Lastly, get your child excited and proud to be gluten-free. Have your celiac child join a local celiac children’s group to stay motivated and feel “normal” and connected to others with the same dietary restrictions. Pick out special gluten-free recipes to make for dinner or dessert. Attend a gluten-free cooking class together. There are many ways to his or her celiac pride.

Your child won’t be tempted to cheat when you make this recipe!

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is the original Toll House recipe, halved because I don’t want to make so many cookies. These are really delicious!

Ingredients:

• A heaping 1 ¾ cup rice flour or gluten-free flour mix
• ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 stick shortening, Earth Balance, or butter
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• ½ package gluten-free chocolate chips
• Nuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F degrees. Mix sugars and shortening or butter until creamy.
2. Beat in egg, then dry ingredients except chocolate chips and nuts, if using.
3. Once smooth, add chips and nuts and roll into balls.
4. Flatten slightly.
5. Bake 8-10 minutes.
6. Let cool on cookie sheets.
7. Remove and eat or store in an airtight container.
8. Enjoy!

 NOTE: You may replace the egg with egg replacer or applesauce to make them vegan.

Resources:

• Open Original Shared Link
• Open Original Shared Link
• Celiac.com: The Gluten-Free Diet: Curse or Cure? 

So what’s the deal? Did gobbling gluten cost Wade Miley his job with the Diamondbacks?

For his part, Miley, who was picked up by Boston last week, says he had butted heads this year with the Diamondbacks organization about not being gluten-free.

"After a while, they left me alone," he said. "But it was always that elephant in the room."

Without getting into specifics, Miley said that a gluten-free diet “might work for some people, but I didn't feel like it worked for me.”

So, according to Miley, his refusal to go gluten-free was an issue. But, was it an issue that got him traded? Diamondbacks GM Dave Stewart says that Miley’s diet was “never once discussed” by the team in the run up to the trade.

So, we may never know for sure just how much Miley’s refusal to give up gluten, or his attitudes about it, impacted his trade to Boston.

What many may wonder is whether right-handers Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webst, whom the Diamondbacks acquired in the trade, will be giving up their taste for those famously delicious toasted Boston-style subs when they come to Phoenix. Will they be going gluten-free?

What do you think? Should a sports team be able to make its players eat a certain way? Is it healthier for athletes to eat gluten-free? 

The market for gluten-free food has definitely gotten a boost from people looking to gluten-free food to help them lose weight or to improve their health, even though there is no good science to support such claims. More than half of the 90-plus million Americans who follow a gluten-free diet believe the diet to be “healthier” and more than one-quarter do so to lose weight. So what happens if these reasons are not borne out by science, or by experience? Will the market for gluten-free products begin to shrink?

Fassano thinks this is a possibility, saying that people who embrace “junk” reasons for following a gluten-free diet will likely not follow the diet for a lifetime. He explained that people without celiac disease or gluten-intolerance will only loose weight or become healthier if “they cut out pizza and donuts or other unhealthy foods made with gluten.”

There’s currently no hard evidence of a downturn in the demand for gluten-free food, but the high percentage of people eating and buying gluten-free for incorrect or whimsical reasons certainly has industry analysts a bit concerned. If a significant portion of those people switch back to gluten-containing foods, the market could see swift shrinkage, and many gluten-free products and offerings might disappear.

Certainly, people with celiac disease have benefitted from the explosion in gluten-free products, but has the gluten-free diet become too associated with fad dieters and celebrity health claims? Could reduced gluten-free demand have a negative impact on product options for people with celiac disease?

Source:

• Open Original Shared Link

Celiac.com 12/11/2014 - A pampered a Jack Russell terrier is being hailed as Britain’s oldest dog after reaching the ripe old age of 25 years, and gluten-free fish fingers are among the foods that keep her happy and healthy.

The dog, called Meg, eats whatever she likes theses days, says owner David Abrahams, of Stoke St Michael, Somerset, and that includes roast dinners, gluten-free fish fingers and Peppa Pig-shaped spaghetti in tomato sauce.

Of course, the pasta includes gluten, so Meg’s diet is not gluten-free, but Abrahams says, the “fish fingers and the Peppa Pig pasta have helped her along the way.”

Read the whole story at Open Original Shared Link.

Does your dog get gluten-free food or treats as part of its diet? How about your cat? Share your gluten-free pet stories below.

The FDA recently approved guidelines mandating that all products labeled as “gluten-free” contain less than 20ppm (20mg/kg) of gluten, but just how do products labeled as “gluten-free” actually measure up to this standard?

Researchers H.J. Lee, Z. Anderson, and D. Ryu recently set outto assess the concentrations of gluten in foods labeled "gluten free" available in the United States. For their study, they collected seventy-eight samples of foods labeled “gluten-free,” and analyzed the samples using a gliadin competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. They then calculated gluten content based on the assumption of the same ratio between gliadin and glutenin, testing gluten levels down to 10ppm (10mg/kg).

They found that forty-eight (61.5%) of the 78 samples labeled gluten-free contained less than 10ppm (10 mg/kg) gluten. Another 14 (17.9%) of the 78 samples contained less than 20ppm (20mg/kg) gluten, in accordance with the guidelines established by the Codex Alimentarius for gluten-free labeling.

However, 16 samples, over 20%, contained gluten levels above 20 mg/kg, ranging from 20.3 to as high as 60.3 mg/kg. Breakfast cereal was the main culprit, with five of eight breakfast cereal samples showing gluten contents above 20ppm (20 mg/kg).

The study does not name specific brands tested, nor do they indicate whether tested brands are themselves monitored by independent labs. Still, the results, while generally encouraging, show that more progress is needed to make sure that all products labeled as “gluten-free” meet the FDA guidelines. Until that time, it’s a matter of “caveat emptor,” or “buyer beware,” for consumers of gluten-free foods.

Source:

• Open Original Shared Link

The article points to a fast rising consumer demand for gluten-free products that began with sufferers of celiac disease, but has quickly grown to include large numbers of health conscious eaters, and which shows no sign of slowing down.

They cite a recent survey by market research firm Mintel, which says sales of gluten-free food and drink in the U.S. have surged from $5.4 billion to $8.8 billion since 2012, and are set to grow a further 20% by 2015.

They note that Mintel forecasts a 61% growth in gluten-free food sales in America by 2017, with similar increases expected in other rich countries, and they also point to double-digit sales growth of gluten-free products in most European countries--with Britain leading the way.

Basically, gluten-free food is a strong enough influence on businesses that it is changing the offerings at food markets and eating establishments across the board.

Grocers are giving precious shelf space, and restaurants are shifting their menus to incorporate gluten-free offerings. It was recently reported that more than half of restaurants in the U.S. will include gluten-free items on this menus by the end of 2014.

And, as the Economist notes, Europe is following suit. “Even small convenience stores in remote parts of rural Ireland and Italy now stock ranges of gluten-free bread and cakes,” the magazine points out. The big losers here, in terms of market share are other specialty products, such as vegetarian and meat replacement products, whose sales have fallen flat.

Interestingly, the trend is being ruled not by fad dieters, but largely by people worried about their health. The Economist points to a survey by the research firm Kantar, which found that only about 1 in 5 people who buy gluten-free food say they buy it for non-medical reasons.

Read the complete article in Open Original Shared Link

Celiac.com 11/21/2014 - When most people think of celiac disease, they think about gastrointestinal symptoms. However, researchers have documented a number of other medical conditions that are associated with celiac disease, and which improve when patients follow a strict gluten-free diet.

The recent case of a 75-year old man who experienced a dramatic recovery from Parkinson's disease after eliminating all forms of gluten from his diet for three months, has researchers thinking about the possibility that gluten sensitivity may be related to Parkinson's disease.

In fact, there is some evidence that patients with epilepsy and other conditions may benefit from ketogenic low carb and gluten-free diets.

The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate, and adequate protein diet developed 90 years ago at the Mayo Clinic. The high fat content creates ketosis, which appears to prevent seizures.

In addition to the ketogenic diet, there are several other high-fat, low-carbohydrate diets for seizure control: low-glycemic-index, medium-chain triglyceride, and modified Atkins diets. All require medical supervision and vitamin and mineral supplements.

In another example of food serving as medicine, high fat low carb ketogenic diets increasingly are being used to control seizures in epilepsy patients.

As reported in Open Original Shared Link, ketogenic diets made a significant difference for many patients with epilepsy who cannot control their seizures with medication.

In one study, more than 20 percent of the patients used the traditional ketogenic diet, while the rest used a modified Atkins diet that included medium-chain triglyceride supplements. These patients saw dramatic improvements.

In addition to reducing the number and severity of seizures, 65 percent of patients felt "more alert or brighter," while 35 percent had "more energy." Many of the patients also had shorter seizures when they occurred.

Sources: 

• Open Original Shared Link
• Open Original Shared Link

Many food pantries simply do not stock dedicated gluten-free items for celiac sufferers. Those that do try to meet the needs of their gluten-free clients face daunting challenges.

Some basic math can help to put the problem into perspective. About one-percent of Americans, or about 3.5 million people suffer from celiac disease. Assuming these folks use food banks at the same rate as other Americans, then, at any given time, one in seven, or about 500,000 of them will rely on food banks for nourishment.

Now, a number of food pantries are making efforts to collect, sort and distribute gluten-free items for people with celiac disease. However, their challenge is compounded by the fact that people with celiac disease are not solely concentrated in cities, where food banks may be more equipped to stock specialty gluten-free foods.

Also, those larger pantries that are located in big cities must, by definition, serve larger numbers of people with celiac disease.

For example, if we apply the numbers to the Phoenix metro area, with a population of 4.3 million people, about 600,000 people would require food pantry assistance at any given time. That would mean that pantries like the Foothills Food Bank would need to stock food for about 6,000 people with celiac disease on any given day.

To their credit, Open Original Shared Link in Phoenix prioritizes donated gluten-free items for people with celiac disease. But keeping enough food on their shelves is a constant challenge, and keeping specialty items, such as gluten-free food requires considerable effort.

So, while relief agencies like Open Original Shared Link in Buffalo, NY, try to educate soup kitchens and pantries about the importance of providing gluten-free items, they face an uphill battle that goes beyond their normal challenges of simply providing food.

One bright spot for gluten-free eaters in need of assistance is Open Original Shared Link in Massachusetts, which has dedicated a page on its website to helping people nationwide to find emergency gluten-free food.

With these stark realities facing both food banks and celiac sufferers in need of food assistance, please consider reaching out to your local food bank to make a donation of gluten-free food, especially during the holiday season.

Here’s a link to Open Original Shared Link