Celiac.com 04/01/2011 - On March 10th, Chef Damian Cardone boasted on Facebook that he delights in feeding diners who specifically requested gluten-free meals a variety of gluten-filled dishes instead. He states on his Facebook page that he does not believe in gluten intolerance and that it’s “all in their disturbed little heads.” Clearly, chef Cardone did not attend a reputable institution of culinary arts, where classes in food allergies are now standard, and guest lecturers who are specialists in celiac disease and gluten intolerance are frequently invited to speak to students. Hopefully in the future, dining will be safer, gluten-free guests will be accommodated with creativity and courtesy, and uneducated, malicious food workers like Mr. Cardone will be unable to find employment in the food industry.

I am also very surprised by Mr. Cardone’s naiveté, in assuming none of the diners who ate at his establishment would take legal action, and that there would be no repercussion. We are a litigious society, and I certainly hope that once word gets out in the gluten-free community, and make no mistake—it will—that legal action will be taken. I must also assume that Mr. Cardone is not aware of the current correctional institutional residence of a certain bread baker in North Carolina, who also knowingly sold gluten-containing items marketed as “gluten-free” to unsuspecting consumers. When these consumers became ill, they reported this to health authorities, who investigated. Their investigation quickly led to charges, and the conviction of the criminal involved. Most criminals are not very intelligent, and that’s why they are eventually caught, so I hope that Mr. Cardone keeps this in mind. If for no other reason than to save his own skin, this Colorado “Chef” should immediately give up any participation in the food preparation industry. His behavior is not intelligent, and he is not worthy of diners’ trust. This brings up another interesting line of thought regarding food service.

Does Mr. Cardone break any other rules? Does he wash his hands after using the bathroom, blowing his nose, or touching raw meat? Does he believe in food-borne illnesses such as Salmonella, E. coli outbreaks, or Clostridium? Does he feed soft cheeses to pregnant women, who may suffer miscarriage due to Listeriosis?

People can, and do, die from complications related to celiac disease, which now affects an estimated 1 in 100 people in the U.S. Non-celiac gluten intolerance may affect up to 12% of the population. That means that on a night when he plated 100 dinners, not uncommon for a mid-size restaurant, that 12 of those dinners had the potential to cause a negative reaction in the consumer. Mr. Cardone is apparently unaware that most reactions to gluten are not, in fact, gastrointestinal. Neurological reactions to gluten far outnumber gastrointestinal reactions. Neurological reactions can include: contributing to abnormal behaviors in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, foggy or disturbed thinking, ataxia (disturbances in gait and coordination), tremors, exacerbating and triggering MS symptoms, muscle weakness, fatigue, depression, bipolar disorder, and even schizophrenia. I personally know and have helped to treat gluten-intolerant patients with all of these disorders. So, Mr. Cardone was partially right. For many patients, it is “all in their heads”, but that doesn’t mean that the symptoms aren’t real, and that they are not caused by ingesting gluten. In fact, Mr. Cardone’s disturbed behavior may be caused by consuming a diet filled with gluten. Perhaps he deserves our compassion, and he needs a medical checkup—Pronto!

I am a foodie—a former prep, pantry, line-cook, and pastry chef. I have spent years working at many of the finer dining establishments in Boulder and Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Does Mr. Cardone think that I would willingly have given up making and eating my own gluten-filled homemade croissants, danish, challah, bagels, black forest cake, salmon-en-croute, beef wellington, spanakopita, and baklava if I didn’t have to? Celiac disease nearly killed me, and it caused me over a decade of severe pain, none of which was located in my gastro-intestinal tract. In my restaurant days, I had what I thought was “a cast-iron stomach”, never once experiencing a bout of diarrhea, bloating, indigestion, heartburn, or gas related to my dietary intake. But, eventually my health deteriorated, and eventually I was diagnosed with celiac disease, and all of my extra-gastrointestinal symptoms have subsided on a 100% gluten-free diet. It scares me to think that anyone would deliberately sabotage my health by substituting foods containing gluten for my specially requested gluten-free meal. I certainly hope there aren’t any copycats out there, who are stupid enough to engage in such risky and criminal behavior. Intentionally inflicting harm on anyone is a crime.

When dining out, I call ahead, I speak politely to my waitperson and often ask them to communicate with the chef, I eat what I’m served without complaint, I give verbal thanks, and I tip extraordinarily well when my request for a safe, gluten-free meal is accommodated. But Mr. Cardone does not want guests like me in his restaurant. That is his loss, but it is not and never will be his right, to purposefully inflict pain and suffering on other human beings, people who are paying him money to serve them safe food. He is guilty of so many crimes it’s difficult to fathom, and I certainly hope that his days of freedom to continue poisoning diners will end soon.

Luckily, the gluten-free community has many other options, and gluten-free diners will learn to avoid any establishment in which Mr. Cardone has any affiliation. Even though Mr. Cardone does not deserve any compassion, I would never wish for him, or anyone, to be diagnosed with celiac disease. It’s just too painful…

Author's Note:
Thank you to Chad Hines for spreading the word about this occurrence. Mr. Cardone live in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, where he works as a private chef, and also at the Italian restaurant "Florindo's" in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

Source:

• Open Original Shared Link

Celiac.com 02/25/2011 - In many parts of the world, recommendations by World Health Organization (WHO) regarding child nutrition are regarded as the scientific standard.

So, any time a major health organization comes out with recommendations that differ from those made by WHO, there is always much discussion about the science behind both sets of recommendations, and, occasionally, some intellectual and scientific jousting from both sides.

That was the case recently, when a magazine called BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal) published new and controversial recommendations regarding breastfeeding.

According to an article by Susan Perry on MinnPost.com, those recommendations, the resulting criticism from WHO, and BMJ reviewers' response make some excellent points about issues of conflict of interest in research.

The recommendations by BMJ suggest that breast milk should be supplemented with solid foods starting around the age of four months, two months earlier than currently recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the reviewers, waiting to introduce solid foods increases a baby’s risk of developing anemia, food allergies and celiac disease.

Those recommendations brought a strong response from WHO, which noted that its own decade-long no-solid-foods-until-six-months recommendation is “based on evidence that the early introduction of solid food to babies increases the risk of infection and disease.” The response from WHO then proceeds to refute each argument made by the BMJ reviewers. 

A response by Susan Perry to the spat appears on MinnPost.com, and makes some excellent points about issues of conflict of interest in research.

Now, this debate between WHO and BMJ is a bigger deal in certain places than in others. The United States never officially adopted the WHO recommendation, as did the U.K. in 2003.

Ironically, it seems that more American than British moms are following WHO standards. BMJ reviewers say that less than 1 percent of British mothers exclusively breastfeed their babies for six months. In the United States, that figure is 13 percent, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, that's a story for another day.

But, a strong rebuttal from WHO is not the only problem facing the authors of the new BMJ review. A more pressing problem for BMJ study is that three of the four authors admit that they took funding within the past three years from companies that manufacture infant formula and baby food.

Now, these researchers claim that their findings and recommendations are in no way influenced by their financial relationships with these companies:

"My colleagues and I are independent pediatricians and scientists, funded by universities or hospitals, and we received no funding for doing this review other than our normal salaries,” review author, Mary Fewtrell, a child nutritionist at University College London told NatureNews reporter Natasha Gilbert.

She adds that “all of us have had links with industry at some point. We are making no comment in our paper about what type of solid foods should be introduced — this could be home-prepared or commercial depending on the mum's choice — the main issue is that the food should be nutritionally adequate and safe."

But financial connection between study authors and industry cannot fail to raise legitimate questions about the independence of study findings. Moreover, such a relationship creates a cloud of potential doubt over the nature of the findings.

Indeed, the review itself indicates a strong desire within the baby food industry to get British health officials to change their current advice to mothers to breastfeed exclusively until six months if possible.

Survey data shows that British mothers are slowly pushing back the age at which they introduce solid foods to their babies.

Successive surveys since the 1970s show that nearly all UK infants receive solids by four months. The number in the 2000 survey, for example, was 85%. However, the 2005 figure drops to 51%, with mean age of introduction of solids at 19 weeks, a rise from 15 weeks in 2000.

In view of the higher reported rates of exclusive breast feeding to six months elsewhere in the West (more than 30% in Hungary and Portugal, for example), it seems likely that the impact of the UK recommendation will be greater in 2010 than in 2005. It is timely to consider whether such trends could influence health outcomes.

Susan Perry notes in her response that the study seems "extremely timely, therefore, for baby food companies to consider whether such trends are going to damage their bottom line — and to financially support, even if not always directly, the research efforts of "friendly" academics."

That’s one example of why researchers who accept money from industry should be prepared to have their studies, methodologies, data and recommendations questioned — along with their motives.

Source:

• Open Original Shared Link

Celiac.com 02/10/2011 - Like a lot of people, Lenord Dorr loves beer.  In fact, Lenord Dorr loves beer so much, he opened his own homebrew store. Unlike most people, though, who love beer and open beer-brewing shops, Lenord Dorr also has celiac disease.

Now, in general, loving beer and brewing beer does not jibe well with having celiac disease, since people with celiac disease have bad reactions to the wheat, and barley so central to the brewing process.

For Dorr, however, celiac disease and the love of beer and brewing is driving spark behind his own homebrew store.

"In 2001, I got sick with celiac, and gluten-free beers were just not available," said Dorr. "So I started brewing my own beers."

Ultimately, Dorr said, brewing gluten-free beers became a passion that "grew into my own business."

Dorr's shop offers the beginners through the professional brewer a complete range of ingredients and equipment for making wine or beer. Everything from Colorado grains, specialty sugars, malt extracts, and the equipment needed to magically turn those ingredients into a favorite brew.

Of course, Dorr offers plenty of ingredients to make gluten-free beers.

"There are more brewers than I thought," Dorr said. "There are a lot out there and many more who want to be."

Dorr and his wife, Rebecca, opened the doors to the Homebrew Connection just after Thanksgiving, and they have since sold 14 new beer-brewing kits.

"We'll have 14 new brewers after Christmas. That's exciting," Dorr said.

The Homebrew Connection is located just off Main Street at 20 S. Nevada Avenue in Montrose, Colorado. Store hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

Link: Open Original Shared Link

Celiac.com 02/08/2011 - Valentine's Day is upon us once again, and, once again, the options are many. Dine in? Dine out? Sweets or no sweets? Chocolates? Cakes? Candies? How to make sure it's all gluten-free?

The choices can be daunting enough, but for people with a gluten-free spouse or loved one, those choices can make or break a Valentine's Day celebration.

To make things easier and to help you have the best possible gluten-free Valentine's Day, celiac.com has prepared this list of ideas and tips.

Candy:
For a comprehensive list of gluten-free candies, please see Open Original Shared Link.

Dine-in:
For an easy, intimate Valentine's dinner at home, try gluten-free Open Original Shared Link.

Dessert:

Gluten-free Chocolate Valentine's Mousse

Ingredients:
8 strawberries (optional)
Chocolate Hearts (optional)
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup milk
½ cup water
4 egg yolks, beaten
1 ¾ cups Hershey's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips or Hershey's Milk Chocolate Chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup whipping cream, whipped
½ cup whipping cream, whipped

Directions:

1. Prepare Chocolate Hearts.
2. Stir together sugar and cornstarch in medium heavy saucepan. Stir in milk and water. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until boiling. Stir about half of hot mixture into beaten egg yolks. Return all to saucepan. Boil gently 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
3. Add chocolate chips and vanilla to hot mixture; stir until chocolate is melted. Pour into small metal bowl. Set bowl inside a larger bowl filled with ice water. Beat on high speed of mixer about 5 minutes or until chocolate mixture is completely cooled. Fold in the whipped ¾ cup cream. Spoon into martini glasses or dessert dishes.
4. Cover lightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate 30 minutes or up to 2 days. Just before serving, top each with a dollop of the whipped ½ cup cream and a strawberry, if desired. Peel chocolate hearts from wax paper; place one on each dessert. 8 servings.

Chocolate Hearts: Place ¼ cup Hershey's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips or Milk Chocolate Chips and ½ teaspoon shortening (do not use butter, margarine, spread or oil) in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at HIGH (100%) 45 seconds; stir until melted. Let stand 2 minutes. Pour into heavy duty small plastic bag, Cut off a tiny corner of the bag. Squeeze bag to pipe mixture into heart shapes on wax paper. Refrigerate until firm.

Tip: To form perfectly shaped chocolate hearts, trace around a small heart-shaped cookie cutter on a piece of white paper. Tape wax paper over the white paper; pipe chocolate on wax paper following the outline.

For an alternative to chocolate mousse, Open Original Shared Link make a great Valentine's treat.

If baking is the path to the heart of your beloved, then try making this flowerless chocolate cake.

Flourless Chocolate Valentine's Cake

Ingredients:
8-10 strawberries
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon of powdered sugar
18 ounces bittersweet chocolate in small pieces
1 cup unsalted butter
6 eggs
Sprig of mint (garnish)

Directions:
Heat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).

Grease one 10 inch round cake pan and set aside.

In a small saucepan over medium heat combine the water, salt and sugar. Stir until completely dissolved and set aside.

Use a double boiler or a microwave oven to melt the bittersweet chocolate.

Pour the melted chocolate into a mixing bowl.

Cut the butter into small pieces and beat the butter into the chocolate, 1 piece at a time. Beat in the hot sugar-water. Slowly beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Pour the mixture into the greased cake pan.

Fill a pan that is larger than the cake pan halfway with boiling water.

Place the cake pan and mixture into the pan with the boiling water.

Bake cake in the water bath at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 45 minutes. When the cake is done, the center will still look wet.

Remove the pan from the water and place in a refrigerator overnight. To release from the mold, place the bottom of the cake pan in hot water for 10-15 seconds and flip onto a serving plate. Dust with powdered sugar. Garnish each slice with strawberry, and a sprig of mint.

Gluten-free Valentine Cookie Delivery:
If baking is the key to your gluten-free Valentine's heart, yet you have no time to bake, try ordering some delicious Open Original Shared Link, the cookies Al Rokker calls "the most beautiful cookies in the world."

Dine-out:
Dining out at a romantic restaurant is a time-honored way to put a smile on your Valentine's face. You'll get extra points if you can pull off a romantic Valentine restaurant dinner for your gluten-free loved one.

Remember, certain types of cuisine are more naturally gluten-free than others. Generally speaking, Asian, Mexican, Central- and South American cuisines are a good bet. However, with a bit of scouting, even Italian can deliver a great gluten-free Valentine's dinner.

Many full-service Italian restaurant feature secondi piatti, such as roasted meats, seafoods, and risottos, Many of these are gluten-free, or can be prepared without flour.

Whatever cuisine you choose, be sure to call ahead to the restaurant, and to ask about any menu item, or method of preparation if you are not sure about the gluten status.

So, the key to a great gluten-free Valentine's Day is a bit of planning, some double-checking, and dash of pure romance.

With those things in your favor, your'e sure to deliver a great gluten-free Valentine's Day!

Celiac.com 02/07/2011 - Maintaining a diet completely free of gluten can be a challenge for celiac disease patients, especially when it comes to avoiding cross-contamination. Currently there is only one treatment for celiac disease, an autoimmune reaction caused by exposure to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye—and this treatment is the elimination of gluten from the diet. Despite our best efforts, gluten can sneak its way into our food, making us quite ill. While home testing kits are available to test food for gluten, these can be an inconvenience when dining out and can only detect 10 ppm of gluten or more. A recent article published by USA Today has made waves in the gluten-free world, making us aware of another method of testing for gluten—using gluten-detecting dogs.

The article featured Hollie Scott and her dog, two-year-old Elias, a Beaceron who is also an AKG Grand Champion. Hollie Scott is a celiac whose reaction to gluten is particularly serious; even just the tiniest amount of the substance in her food can give her the symptoms of a severe stomach flu for several weeks. Scott attends the University of Missouri, where her dog attends classes and social functions with her and keeps her company at restaurants and on buses, trains, and airplanes.

Elias was trained in Slovenia over the course of many weeks for his gluten detection training. Now he has the capability of detecting gluten in all sorts of hot and cold foods.  According to USA Today, “Teaching a dog to be alert to the scent of gluten is much more complicated than most scent-detection training, because gluten comes in so many forms.” Gluten can appear in bread and cereal products and can be processed in many different ways. It can also appear in less obvious products as binders or thickeners, in foods such as salad dressing and even in products such as Play-doh and lipstick.

How does Elias do his job? Scott places a cover punctured with holes over the item while Elias sniffs it. Scott also practices with him on a daily basis, giving him gluten-containing items to test for her. When Elias detects gluten, he pulls the item away, and if there’s nothing to worry about, he looks away. Getting a gluten-detection dog may not be an option for many of us celiacs, but vigilantly reading labels, contacting companies, and clearly communicating with servers, chefs, and hosts can greatly reduce the risk of cross-contamination. Another option is a testing kit such as EZ Gluten® by ELISA Technologies, which is sensitive enough to detect 10 ppm in your food. Unfortunately, as USA Today says, “even hyper-vigilance isn't a 100% guarantee.” If you are particularly sensitive to gluten, as is Scott, getting a gluten-detection dog may be a smart idea. Perhaps in the future, gluten-detection dogs may be more widely used.

With an increase in research and awareness, we have not only witnessed an increase in celiac disease diagnosis, but also several advancements, for instance the availability of products such as home gluten testing kits, home celiac testing kits, and gluten-digesting enzyme formulas, which have all contributed toward making gluten-free living less of a challenge. Gluten-detecting dog training is yet another advancement, which I hope will have a positive impact on the lives of severe celiac cases such as Hollie Scott.  

Resources:

• ELISA Technologies: EZ Gluten® http://www.elisa-tek.com/ez%20gluten.htm
• Gluten Free Society: Gluten Detecting Dogs http://www.glutenfreesociety.org/gluten-free-society-blog/gluten-detecting-dogs/
• Two Little Cavaliers: Gluten Detection Dog  http://blogs.dogtime.com/two-little-cavaliers/2011/01/gluten-detection-dog
• USA Today: Pet Talk: Show dog knows his business, and his gluten http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/pets/dogs/2011-01-11-pettalk11_ST_N.htm 

To become so accomplished at gluten-detection, Elias spent weeks in Slovenia undergoing intense gluten-detection training, and now he can detect and warn her away from anything containing gluten, hot or cold, in all its many forms. Teaching a dog to be alert to the scent of gluten is more challenging than other scent-detection training, precisely because gluten comes in so many forms. When it's time for Elias to do the sniff test for Scott, she places a cover with holes over the item, and the dog takes a sniff. If Elias smells gluten, he tries to pull the item away from her; if it's safe, he just looks away. To help Elias keep his edge, Scott tests him daily with known gluten-containing foods, and adds in products she hopes are gluten-free.

Scott was diagnosed with celiac disease about two years ago after spending much time "in and out of hospitals" She's now acutely vigilant about checking labels and trying to avoid cross-contamination. "You can't drop your guard for even a minute," says Scott, who likens an attack to "a really extremely bad case of stomach flu" from which her body doesn't recover fully for nearly three weeks. That's where Elias works like a charm.

Dear China Millman,
Thank you for your interesting article on gluten-free dieting.  I was very pleased to read that you include patients with non-celiac gluten sensitivity among those who should follow a gluten free diet.  I assume that you have arrived at your estimate of 20 million who are afflicted with wheat allergy, non-celiac and celiac gluten sensitivity using Dr. Fasano’s  estimate that 6 to 7 percent of Americans have what you refer to as this “milder form of gluten intolerance”.  There are other estimates. For instance, Dr. Kenneth Fine did random blood draws at a shopping center in Dallas, Texas and found an 11% rate of gluten sensitivity. Congruently, Dr. Marios Hadjivassiliou has reported rates as high as 12% in the United Kingdom and Dr. Rodney Ford reports a prevalence estimate of 10% in New Zealand.  Each investigator used different methods to arrive at their estimate, and each method is likely to underestimate the true prevalence of non-celiac gluten sensitivity. For instance, they all rely on a single class of antibody reaction against a single sub-group of proteins found in gluten grains. Thus, Dr. Fasano’s estimate may be unduly conservative as it is substantially lower than others have found in similar populations and the testing used to arrive at Dr. Fasano's estimate also carries all of the other limitations mentioned above.

As for the notion that non-celiac gluten sensitivity is milder than celiac disease, Anderson et al, in their study titled “Malignancy and mortality in a population-based cohort of patients with coeliac disease or ‘gluten sensitivity’ World J Gastroenterol 2007 January 7; 13(1): 146-151, report a higher rate of malignancy and early mortality among those with non-celiac gluten sensitivity than among those with celiac disease.  This finding may be the result of the common recommendation that patients ignore test results that show non-celiac gluten sensitivity, as many physicians believe that such results are “non-specific” and do not warrant a gluten free diet. However, it may also reflect that non-celiac gluten sensitivity is a more serious illness than celiac disease. It may also reflect something entirely different than these two interpretations, but it does make a very good case for the need for more research in this very neglected area.

As for the comments by Heather Mangieri and the American Dietetics Association, they might benefit from reading studies such as the one by Dr. Cheng et al titled “Body Mass Index in Celiac Disease Beneficial Effect of a Gluten-free Diet” in the 2009 Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology. They found that, after diagnosis with celiac disease, about half of the overweight and obese patients lost weight. Given the conservative data you report, suggesting that at least 90% of American cases of celiac disease go undiagnosed, there can be little doubt that a large portion of those with undiagnosed celiac disease who are overweight or obese would be likely to lose weight. The number who would lose weight should be greater among those who chose to follow a gluten free diet to lose weight, as some of those who are diagnosed with celiac disease do not comply with the diet.  If one accepts the proposition that those with non-celiac gluten sensitivity, IBS, and IBD often have similarly problematic reactions to gluten, the number of Americans who could lose weight and live healthier, and therefore happier, lives (eating a gluten free diet) rises exponentially.

On a personal level, my mother lost 66 pounds during her first years on a gluten free diet. Now, some 15 years later, she has lost almost 100 pounds. I doubt that she would still be alive had she not undertaken the gluten free diet purely on the basis of test results suggestive of non-celiac gluten sensitivity.  

In the current context of excessive under-diagnosis of celiac disease and limited understandings of the dynamics by which a gluten free diet causes weight loss among celiac patients, and an enormously greater number of Americans who have non-celiac gluten sensitivity, it is difficult to understand why anyone would be cautioned against following a gluten free diet with weight loss as their objective.  Whether these individuals are undiagnosed celiac patients, have undiagnosed non-celiac gluten sensitivity, or they find that a gluten free diet is helping them to achieve their body mass objectives, there is little legitimate cause to "warn" people away from a gluten free diet. Overall, your article does raise awareness of gluten as a potential health threat, so its overall impact is positive despite the misinformation that a gluten free diet does not help with weight loss.

Sincerely,
Ron Hoggan, Ed. D.
Royal Roads University, Continuing Studies

Celiac.com 01/13/2011 - It might be rocket science, after all. Well, sort of. It turns out that engineering a good loaf of gluten-free bread is the focus of some of the best scientific minds in the food business.

It also turns out that scientists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Manhattan, Kansas, have developed a process that produces a high-quality, gluten-free bread.

Such bread, if produced on a large scale, might benefit the millions of Americans with celiac disease who are unable to digest gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. Gluten-free grains include corn, sorghum, and rice, among others.

The new bread-making process is the work of chemists Scott Bean and Tilman Schober at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Grain Quality and Structure Research Unit.

They discovered that removing a certain amount of fat from a corn protein called zein, allowed them to craft a gluten-free dough that is more like wheat dough, and free-standing, bakery-type rolls are more like traditional wheat rolls. ARS is the chief intramural scientific research agency of USDA.

Bean and Schober had some success crafting gluten-free pan bread using other grains, but they were unable to make free-standing rolls because the rolls expanded too much. According to Bean, the resulting bread was lower quality than comparable wheat bread.

Bean and Schober had shown earlier that zein-a readily available byproduct from corn wet milling and fuel-ethanol production-could be used to make dough that was more similar to wheat dough. The dough still didn't meet their standards, though, because the rolls produced from it were crumbly and flat.

Removing more of the fat from the zein protein's surface, Bean and Schober found, allowed the proteins to stick to each other much like wheat proteins do, giving the zein-based dough  elastic properties similar to wheat dough.

Bean and Schober's findings may also apply to sorghum, which, says Bean, may prove to be a better grain to use since it is a gluten-free grain.

The team used corn as an intermediate step toward to achieve the ideal standard for gluten-free breads: a wheat-flour-like dough made with non-wheat proteins, resulting in products with a fluffy, light texture.

This research may prove useful in creating commercial, gluten-free bread for the 2 to 3 million Americans who have celiac disease. For many of those folks, tasty, gluten-free breads and rolls from corn, rice and sorghum would be a welcome addition to their diet.

Source:

• Open Original Shared Link

To better serve those students who suffer from celiac disease or are gluten-intolerant, the students have teamed with dining director Dennis Pierce and culinary development manager Robert Landlophi, to transform UConn’s menus.

An estimated 75-100 students on a meal plan have celiac disease.

The social and medical challenges and stigmas that can follow sufferers of celiac disease make it difficult to eat outside the home, particularly in a college dining hall.

Medical advances in recent years have allowed for doctors better diagnose patients leading to a spike in the popularity of gluten-free diets. Pierce notes that the demand for a greater variety of gluten-free foods in grocery stores and restaurants is growing.

As the author of the website, “The Gluten-Free Chef” and cookbook, Gluten-Free Everyday Cookbook, Landlophi knows the gluten-free lifestyle incredibly well after his wife was diagnosed with celiac disease. By sharing his family’s personal story, he has helped shed a brighter light on the solution that has brought relief to thousands: gluten-free for life.

The culinary brain-child of Pierce and Landlophi comes as part of a joint effort to bring a gluten-free diet into the mainstream. Their menu, which took a few months to rework, already contained about 20% naturally gluten-free items, and needed only modest adjustments. As the country’s third largest residential student food program, serving nearly 180,000 meals each week, the menu stands out as national model for other schools.

Pierce is also joining forces with Boston’s Children’s Hospital, who have implored his expertise in gluten-free lifestyles, to create a series of informational training videos and reading materials for those who suffer from celiac disease and other food service professionals. It is the hope of those involved that this information will also be utilized by parents of gluten-intolerant children to help insure a lifelong commitment to remaining gluten-free.

Landlophi will be joining Pierce who will be attending the National Association of College and University Food Service Conference in Dallas, Texas. The two plan on making a presentation that addresses the growing need for gluten-free awareness on campuses across the country. Attendants can expect to hear about UConn’s self-imposed strict cooking protocols that are adhered to in order to avoid contamination with wheat products. UConn has taken it a step further to ensure that each student with a meal plan gets personal attention from the dining service staff which includes a detailed assessment of food allergies and dietary requirements.

The selection and quality of gluten-free products available to the public is steadily improving, and the organizers have invested a great deal of time to guarantee that the best possible products are served to UConn’s students.

Congratulations to UConn for forging a clear path for gluten-free students!

Celiac.com 11/09/2010 - Each year in the United States, millions of people undergo gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopic procedures. Generally, the procedures have been regarded as safe, with a physician-reported complication rate for endoscopies of just 7%.

However, most systems, including the gastroenterology department at Beth Israel,  maintain a voluntary, paper-based physician reporting system wherein each gastroenterologist submits a monthly log describing any known complications.

To get a better idea of actual numbers based on Emergency Room (ER) visits within two weeks of an endoscopy, Daniel A. Leffler, MD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, set out with a research team to conduct a more in-depth review. 

Their review of electronic medical records (EMR) showed that complications after endoscopy may be more common than previously thought.

Dr. Leffler and his colleagues reviewed over 400 emergency department (ED) visits logged in one hospital's EMR system within two weeks of an endoscopic procedure.

They found that nearly one-third of those visits were related to the previous endoscopy.

Overall, they looked at records for follow-up visits for 6,383 esophagogastroduodenoscopies and 11,632 colonoscopies. The medical center's electronic reporting system showed 419 ED visits within two weeks of these procedures.

The review team determined 32%, or 134 of these visits, to be directly related to the endoscopic procedure. Yet only about 7% of these were reported using the standard physician reporting system, the researchers said (P<0.001).

The team also found that 29% of 266 subsequent hospitalizations were directly related to the patients' endoscopic procedure.

Most of the ER visits were a result of abdominal pain (47%), gastrointestinal tract bleeding (12%), or chest pain (11%).

By looking at actual electronic admission data, rather than relying on the more cumbersome physician reporting data, the research team found "a 1% incidence of related hospital visits within 14 days of outpatient endoscopy, 2- to 3-fold higher than recent estimates."

This is important not just from a patient wellness perspective, but from a financial one. According to Medicare standardized rates, the average costs of endoscopic-related complications is $1403 per ED visit, and $10123 per hospitalization. Over the full screening and surveillance program, such complications added an extra $48 to each exam.

The team's own words reinforce their conclusions: "Although the overall rate of severe complications, including perforation, myocardial infarction, and death remained low, the true range of adverse events is much greater than typically appreciated."

Moreover, "standard physician reporting greatly underestimated the burden of medical care related to endoscopic procedures and unexpected hospital utilization," Leffler and colleagues wrote.

With so many cases of celiac disease relying on biopsy via endoscopy, these numbers might be especially interesting to people with celiac disease, in addition to anyone else facing endoscopy in the future.

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The reason it's a bad idea to express your anger by making bomb threats is because the authorities tend to take you at your word, or at least feel that the matter warrants further investigation, if not prosecution.

For Yates, a convicted killer already jailed for violating his parole on a manslaughter conviction on a 2001 slaying, that means felony charges after telling King County Jail staff that he was planning a murderous rampage in part because his dietary concerns -- he claimed to need wheat-free food -- weren't being addressed in jail.

In the note, Yates, 27, allegedly threatened to "start blowing up buildings and killing everyone" if he were released.

That means Yates will likely spend a lot more time in the very same King's County Jail that seems to have little or no ability or inclination to address the gluten-free complaints that led to his threats in the first place.

So, one more time. Bomb threats: Bad way to get released from jail. Bad way to get gluten-free food in jail. Bad way to do pretty much anything except get in trouble.

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