Ny Newsday Araticle

[MommaMoody]

This article was in last Thursday's Newday here on Long Island. Great info and shopping suggestions.

Hope this helps!

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[ravenwoodglass]

That was a pretty good article with one exception. I really disagree with this:

"Is everyone better off avoiding gluten?

No. A gluten-free diet is not a healthy diet. It's deficient in fiber, vitamins and minerals - and is more expensive. There is no evidence that people without gluten sensitivity will benefit from abstaining from gluten."

While I don't think everyone would be better off avoiding gluten I do strongly disagree that it is not a healthy diet. Processed wheat foods are not the only source of fiber and any vitamins and nutrients found in those foods are usually supplemented in. My diet is much healthier now than before I was diagnosed and I don't think I am alone in that.

[Lisa]

Here is some additional food for thought:

https://www.celiac.com/articles/21783/1/B-V...Diet/Page1.html

B Vitamins Beneficial for Celiacs on Gluten-Free Diet

Celiac.com 04/15/2009 - A recent clinical study has shown B vitamins to be beneficial for celiac sufferers following gluten-free diets. Vitamin deficiency and less than optimal health are common problems for people with celiac disease, even those who faithfully follow a gluten-free diet. Common problems associated with long-term celiac disease include general malaise, and less than optimal well-being.

To better understand the benefits of supplemental doses of B vitamins for patients with celia disease, a team of researchers recently set out to evaluate the biochemical and clinical effects of B vitamin supplements in adults with long-term celiac disease. The research was made up of doctors C. Hallert, M. Svensson, J. Tholstrup, and B. Hultberg.

The team assembled a group of 65 adults with celiac disease for a double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. 61% of the group was female, and each had followed a gluten-free diet for several years.

For 6 months, patients received daily doses of either a placebo, or of B vitamins in the amount of 0.8 mg folic acid, 0.5 mg cyanocobalamin and 3 mg pyridoxine. At the end of the trial period, doctors gauged vitamin effectiveness by measuring psychological general well-being (PGWB), together with total levels of plasma total homocysteine (tHcy), a reliable indicator of B vitamin status.

In all, 57 of the 61 enrolled patients completed the trial (88%). Baseline tHcy levels for these patients averaged 11.7 micromoles/L (range = 7.4 to 23.0), which was markedly higher than the 10.2 micromoles/L for the control group (range = 6.7 to 22.6) (P < 0.01).

After the B vitamin treatment, patient tHcy levels dropped an average of 34% (P < 0.001). Patients experienced substantial improvement in well-being (P < 0.01). Even patients who initially reported poor well-being showed notable improvements in Anxiety (P < 0.05) and Depressed Mood (P < 0.05) .

These improvements, the normalization of tHcy levels, together with the substantial increase in well-being, led the research team to conclude that people living gluten-free with long-term celiac disease do indeed benefit from daily supplemental doses of vitamin B, and that doctors should consider advising the use of B vitamins supplements for these patients.

Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2009 Apr 15;29(8):811-6.

[Gemini]

That was a pretty good article with one exception. I really disagree with this:

"Is everyone better off avoiding gluten?

No. A gluten-free diet is not a healthy diet. It's deficient in fiber, vitamins and minerals - and is more expensive. There is no evidence that people without gluten sensitivity will benefit from abstaining from gluten."

While I don't think everyone would be better off avoiding gluten I do strongly disagree that it is not a healthy diet. Processed wheat foods are not the only source of fiber and any vitamins and nutrients found in those foods are usually supplemented in. My diet is much healthier now than before I was diagnosed and I don't think I am alone in that.

I totally agree with you on this! I always refer to the gluten-free diet as the "thinking" persons diet. Even if most gluten-free flours are not supplemented or enriched, any person who can read can supplement on their own, usually with much better quality supplements also. If you eat the fruits and veggies you are supposed to, then fiber won't be an issue. The only reason foods are supplemented is because most people don't take the time to make sure they are eating a healthy, balanced diet so they load up the crappy food with vitamins and minerals. It's the cheapo way to eat but not very healthy.

Can you believe that someone would write this? We all know that chickpea, teff, amaranth and buckwheat flours are just so much more lacking in nutrition than over processed, bleached white flour!

[VioletBlue]

Hmmm, well maybe supplemental vitamin B is good for EVERYONE and not just Celiacs? Now granted we tend to be deficient in it at diagnosis but then we tend to be deficient across the board at diagnosis. Who's to say once we've been on the diet awhile that we must be anymore deficient than someone without Celiacs or benefit anymore than a "normal" person? Unless I missed THAT study?

Here is some additional food for thought:

https://www.celiac.com/articles/21783/1/B-V...Diet/Page1.html

B Vitamins Beneficial for Celiacs on Gluten-Free Diet

Celiac.com 04/15/2009 - A recent clinical study has shown B vitamins to be beneficial for celiac sufferers following gluten-free diets. Vitamin deficiency and less than optimal health are common problems for people with celiac disease, even those who faithfully follow a gluten-free diet. Common problems associated with long-term celiac disease include general malaise, and less than optimal well-being.

To better understand the benefits of supplemental doses of B vitamins for patients with celia disease, a team of researchers recently set out to evaluate the biochemical and clinical effects of B vitamin supplements in adults with long-term celiac disease. The research was made up of doctors C. Hallert, M. Svensson, J. Tholstrup, and B. Hultberg.

The team assembled a group of 65 adults with celiac disease for a double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. 61% of the group was female, and each had followed a gluten-free diet for several years.

For 6 months, patients received daily doses of either a placebo, or of B vitamins in the amount of 0.8 mg folic acid, 0.5 mg cyanocobalamin and 3 mg pyridoxine. At the end of the trial period, doctors gauged vitamin effectiveness by measuring psychological general well-being (PGWB), together with total levels of plasma total homocysteine (tHcy), a reliable indicator of B vitamin status.

In all, 57 of the 61 enrolled patients completed the trial (88%). Baseline tHcy levels for these patients averaged 11.7 micromoles/L (range = 7.4 to 23.0), which was markedly higher than the 10.2 micromoles/L for the control group (range = 6.7 to 22.6) (P < 0.01).

After the B vitamin treatment, patient tHcy levels dropped an average of 34% (P < 0.001). Patients experienced substantial improvement in well-being (P < 0.01). Even patients who initially reported poor well-being showed notable improvements in Anxiety (P < 0.05) and Depressed Mood (P < 0.05) .

These improvements, the normalization of tHcy levels, together with the substantial increase in well-being, led the research team to conclude that people living gluten-free with long-term celiac disease do indeed benefit from daily supplemental doses of vitamin B, and that doctors should consider advising the use of B vitamins supplements for these patients.

Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2009 Apr 15;29(8):811-6.

[Tim-n-VA]

Probably a contradiction but consider someone with a typical diet who is getting all of the nutrition they need. If they eliminate a segment of that diet, they will be eliminating some of the nutritional items they need. But that leaves a big question: What, if anything, do they replace those items with?

To make any generic statement about a gluten free diet without some assumption, caveat or knowledge about that adjustment almost has to be wrong.