Celiac.com 05/06/2022 - To the newly diagnosed celiac patient, beginning a gluten free diet is often overwhelming, confusing, and sometimes, depressing. Initially it may be a relief to finally have a diagnosis. All seems easy and uncomplicated when sitting in the comfort of the doctor’s office. A visit to the store and the purchase of a few things that may be safe to eat is the time when most of us come face-to-face with the fact that life as we knew it is over.
If you are lucky and do some homework, you find that gluten is hidden in almost everything. Gluten is the protein in wheat, rye, barley and oats. Or is it? Conflicting information regarding gluten abounds. Some authorities believe oats are safe for the celiac patient, and gluten is frequently being listed as including only w...

Celiac.com 06/02/2022 - Many individuals with celiac disease express frustration and disappointment with the cavalier attitudes and misinformation they encounter. The objective observer may wonder what our complaint is with uninformed medical practitioners. Is it the lengthy delays to diagnosis coupled with our many years of unnecessary suffering? Is it the unnecessarily premature death of one or more of our loved ones, which may have been prevented by a greater awareness of celiac disease and its many manifestations? Is it the common refusal of appropriate testing for celiac disease? Is it the oft-heard cynicism about our diet expressed by those who have little or no experience with it? Perhaps all of these complaints contribute to the angst so often found in our community. However, I am...

Celiac.com 08/20/2022 - It is not much of a reach to suspect additional food sensitivities in the context of celiac disease or gluten sensitivity. After all, celiac disease causes increased intestinal permeability(1) otherwise known as “leaky gut.” Since large, undigested gluten proteins can sometimes pass into the bloodstream, other food proteins are also likely to reach the circulation. The immune system reacts against such foreign proteins in an attempt to protect us. The presence of non-self proteins causes an immune system reaction just as if they were infectious microbes. And herein lies one answer to some, perhaps many, cases of incomplete recovery and refractory sprue. These conditions may sometimes be relatively easy to correct through the detection and avoidance of additional foo...

Celiac.com 08/27/2022 - Just as “bovine spongiform encephalopathy,” better known as mad cow disease, is thought to be the result of feeding infected animal parts to cattle, gluten sensitivity, dermatitis herpetiformis, celiac disease, and a host of autoimmune diseases are the result of feeding grains to humans. Cattle are better equipped to eat grains and we are better equipped to eat meats. And when we step outside the food sources that shaped our evolution, we can expect some problems––sometimes very serious problems.
Let’s start by comparing human and ruminant digestive processes. Cows, for instance, have a stomach that is divided into four chambers. When grazing, cattle eat large quantities of food. They mix it with saliva and form it into boluses that they can swallow. After th...