Devigest & Syntol Defeat Celiac Disease?

[Ester41]

Hi,

my mother in law has celiac disease form decades, she's over 70 yrs old and I just found these 2 natural products on the net (Devigest and Syntol: Open Original Shared Link) that are described like to be able to control and make possible for celiac people to start eat again foods with gluten.

Devigest is a digestive enzyme blend that, I quote from the website abstract, "brokes down into harmless peptide fragments the gliadin and other glutamine and proline-rich proteins" and Syntol is an high quality probiotic supplement that contains several billion CFUs (Colony Forming Units) of eight different non-competing strains of probiotics that inhibit the toxic effects of gliadin on intestinal cells and reduce intestinal permeability, which is a precursor to developing symptoms outside of the intestines.

Are these informations true? Should she start taking both of them and then restart eating some foods with gluten?

We are located in Italy, could be that our doctors are not yet informed about that...

Please let me know, any feedback is truly appreciated.

Thank you very much - regards

[Scott Adams]

Bad idea, you cannot eat such supplements and expect them to counter the effects of celiac disease. The only treatment for celiac disease is a gluten-free diet. Any marketing by this company which states that one could do this is irresponsible at best, and dangerous at worst.

Take care,

Scott

[kareng]

I agree with Scott. If they really worked, they wouldn't be selling them on the internet.

[Roda]

NO, NO, NO she should not start eating gluten again. While digestive enzymes and probiotics are beneficial and often helpful, they will not enable her to eat gluten again. It's a shame that there are companies that pray on people like that. She needs to stay gluten free.

[shadowicewolf]

I call bs on that claim.... No such product exsists to be able to overcome the gluten...

[Ester41]

Hi,

I appreciate your feedback but I've a question: what about this Open Original Shared Link published on the home page of the American Celiac Disease Alliance (latest news on the right, Open Original Shared Link)?

Also here they talk about gluten degradation with gluten-specific proteases (enzyme)...

Thank you!!!

Bye

[kareng]

Hi,

I appreciate your feedback but I've a question: what about this Open Original Shared Link published on the home page of the American Celiac Disease Alliance (latest news on the right, Open Original Shared Link)?

Also here they talk about gluten degradation with gluten-specific proteases (enzyme)...

Thank you!!!

Bye

This looks like this company is applying for a patent. I would think they would have to test it before it would be legal. Really doesn't say what they expect it to do for us that I see.

My other thought is, why take an unproven perhaps unsafe medication for an illness with a natural solution.

[Takala]

Why would you want to start feeding your celiac mother a scam supplement and gluten again, to make her sick, just because of some slick marketing !?

The Alvine Pharmaceuticals link was on the businesswire.com page linked from the celiace alliance site. It was news of a patent being issued so the company could study the proteases they have made, as a potential treatment , NOT an endorsement that they have been tested over a period of years, and found to have worked. They don't know.

[psawyer]

A patent application is proof of, well, something the inventor thinks is new and unique. If issued, the patent protects the inventor's right to exclusively use or SELL the invention for the life of the patent, usually twenty years. A patent is no proof that the invention works, although there is a common law requirement that it be "useful."

The "American Celiac Disease Alliance" seems to be a lobby group, but until today I had never heard of them. As someone who has been a diagnosed celiac for eleven years, their existence is news to me. They do not speak for me.

As Scott said, if you have celiac disease, the only treatment is a gluten-free diet for life.

[Ester41]

A patent application is proof of, well, something the inventor thinks is new and unique. If issued, the patent protects the inventor's right to exclusively use or SELL the invention for the life of the patent, usually twenty years. A patent is no proof that the invention works, although there is a common law requirement that it be "useful."

The "American Celiac Disease Alliance" seems to be a lobby group, but until today I had never heard of them. As someone who has been a diagnosed celiac for eleven years, their existence is news to me. They do not speak for me.

As Scott said, if you have celiac disease, the only treatment is a gluten-free diet for life.

Got it.

I thank you everyone for replying, sorry if I asked something someway "irritating" for people with celiac disease, just wanted to understand if that was an actual way to help my mother in law or not.

Are these products, in your opinion, at least helpful in case of trace of gluten in a gluten free diet?

The link (Open Original Shared Link) indicates at the bottom of the page several studies supporting the fact, I quote, that these enzymes "are able to accelerate the degradation of gluten in the digestive system, thereby increasing the amount of gluten that is safe to eat and reducing the burden of a highly restrictive gluten-free diet for patients diagnosed with celiac disease".

Again, not to avoid a gluten free diet, just to not have problems in case of a food with trace of gluten (as you all know sometimes, espcially dining out, what's guarantee gluten free isn't actually gluten free sometimes, in fact she doesn't trust 99% what she doesn't know for sure - we're located in Italy).

Thank you!

[ravenwoodglass]

Got it.

I thank you everyone for replying, sorry if I asked something someway "irritating" for people with celiac disease, just wanted to understand if that was an actual way to help my mother in law or not.

Are these products, in your opinion, at least helpful in case of trace of gluten in a gluten free diet?

The link (Open Original Shared Link) indicates at the bottom of the page several studies supporting the fact, I quote, that these enzymes "are able to accelerate the degradation of gluten in the digestive system, thereby increasing the amount of gluten that is safe to eat and reducing the burden of a highly restrictive gluten-free diet for patients diagnosed with celiac disease".

Again, not to avoid a gluten free diet, just to not have problems in case of a food with trace of gluten (as you all know sometimes, espcially dining out, what's guarantee gluten free isn't actually gluten free sometimes, in fact she doesn't trust 99% what she doesn't know for sure - we're located in Italy).

Thank you!

While they may be able to "accelerate the degradation of gluten in the digestive system" the antibody autoimmune action actually begins in the mucous membranes of the mouth when we eat something. I don't know if it would ease some of the digestive symptoms but I am quite certain it would not prevent that antibody attack. Since that attack can affect pretty much any organ including the brain personally I would leave these on the shelf.

[GFinDC]

DPP-4 or DPP-IV, listed as the active enzyme in Devigest has been available for several years now. You can get it from several makers. It is not new. It won't prevent an auto-immune reaction from starting though, our bodies aren't fooled that easily. There is a product called GlutenEase that has it and other companies sell it also.

If it helps a little bit I think that is better than no help myself. So I do take DPP-4 sometimes when I think I might have got some CC. Celiac is not like lactose intolerance though where you just take enough and then you can eat dairy. The auto-immune reaction doesn't stop on a dime once it is started and that is the problem. DPP-4 doesn't prevent the auto-immune reaction so it can't keep her safe from gluten.

She can take DPP-4 but she shouldn't expect much symptom relief from it.

[Takala]

Got it.

I thank you everyone for replying, sorry if I asked something someway "irritating" for people with celiac disease, just wanted to understand if that was an actual way to help my mother in law or not.

Are these products, in your opinion, at least helpful in case of trace of gluten in a gluten free diet?

The link (Open Original Shared Link) indicates at the bottom of the page several studies supporting the fact, I quote, that these enzymes "are able to accelerate the degradation of gluten in the digestive system, thereby increasing the amount of gluten that is safe to eat and reducing the burden of a highly restrictive gluten-free diet for patients diagnosed with celiac disease".

Again, not to avoid a gluten free diet, just to not have problems in case of a food with trace of gluten (as you all know sometimes, espcially dining out, what's guarantee gluten free isn't actually gluten free sometimes, in fact she doesn't trust 99% what she doesn't know for sure - we're located in Italy).

Thank you!

______________________

No, these products are dangerous because they would encourage a celiac or gluten intolerant person to be sloppy in their eating habits, and think that they could avoid damage by taking a supplement which is using deceptive marketing practices and misleading statements.

Again, the elderly are more vulnerable to marketing scams and may not be using their best judgement, especially if they are already being glutened and suffering the mental effects of it.

from the link you provided, I will highlight the misleading statements-

While removing all sources of gluten, and therefore gliadin, from the diet will prevent this damage from occurring, following a strict gluten-free diet will not correct the underlying digestive impairment that is at the root of celiac disease. Studies have shown that even when celiac disease is in remission, Dipeptidyl Peptidase levels are low [6]. As a result, the damage can continue.

When people with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity take Devigest, they receive highly potent Peptidase with 500 units of DPP-IV activity per serving. This helps boost digestion of gliadin and other proline- and glutamin-rich proteins in their diet, like the casein found in milk. While incompletely digested fragments of these proteins are not as toxic as gliadin for celiacs, it doesn't mean they are completely harmless.

Proteases, another type of enzyme found in Divest, are also important for helping people with celiac disease. Two different clinical trials have shown that a number of proteases are able to accelerate the degradation of gluten in the digestive system, thereby increasing the amount of gluten that is safe to eat and reducing the burden of a highly restrictive gluten-free diet for patients diagnosed with celiac disease [7,8].

Removing the irritant, in this case gluten, will stop the reaction for almost all celiacs unless they have a very rare, severe form of the disease.

"damage can continue" is false.

"thereby increasing the amount of gluten that is safe to eat" is false. there is no "safe" amount to eat. the goal is to eat no gluten.

"reducing the burden of a highly restrictive gluten-free diet" - what burden would that be, the burden of not having some supplement maker making more money selling a worthless product that will make people ill ? Implying or stating out right that a celiac can take a supplement that allows them to un restrict their gluten free diet if they just take an over the counter supplement to break down proteins completely into a non lethal form is ridiculous, when it's already been shown that small amounts of cross contamination can have giant consequences. There is no way you could actually time this supposedly magic concoction to be everywhere in the intestines at just the right time and amount to sort out and vaporize all the proteins before they touch the gut walls - it's ludicrous.

The link also claims that the poop of celiacs on a gluten-free diet still contain supposedly larger amounts of harmful bacteria, indicating inflamation- again, I want to emphasize, if you were celiac, and then deliberately continuing to re introduce gluten, an inflammatory, that is not going to make the supplements with these allegedly better bacteria "fix it." Because bacteria are competitive, and the ones with the friendliest environments combined with their own characteristics win. You create the chemistry by what you eat.

[Skylark]

DPP-IV products are ineffective at breaking down the toxic portion of gliadin. They only cleave terminal prolines, not ones in the middle of peptides. They cannot protect from traces of gluten, detoxify gluten, reduce celiac symptoms, or do pretty much anything that website claims. Yes, the web page cites studies, but if you take the trouble to read them you will find that they do not support the claims on the web page. In addition, the enzymes in clinical trials, in the research papers, and in the patent application are not DPP-IV. This website is a scam, pure and simple.

You are getting a lot of irritated replies becasue people with celiac disease are sick of being taken for stupid. The disease is hard enough without scam artists trying to sell useless enzyme preparations and our families wondering why we don't take them.

Many celiacs so feel better after taking enzyme preparations because they have a little pancreatic enzyme insufficiency. If your MIL finds enzymes helpful, grab some papain and bromelain at the health food store and save lots of money.

[Scott Adams]

From time to time I speak directly with a pharmaceutical company that is in clinical trials right now with a patented therapy to treat celiac disease (Alba Therapeutics). According to them their drug is not intended to replace a gluten-free diet, and it is my understanding that no enzyme treatment is intended to be able allow people to eat gluten--they just don't work well enough to break down all the gluten in a piece of pizza or bread. It is a nice dream, but the buyer must beware of any unproven claims. This approach was first done by a group at Stanford University about 10 years ago...I still haven't heard of a drug made by them, but I was also in contact with the doctors in the Stanford group as well (Dr. Grey and Chosla), and they wrote a couple of progress reports for my Journal of Gluten Sensitivity. They also found that this would not allow a celiac to eat gluten on a daily basis, or eat a regular gluten diet.

The therapies discussed here are now focusing on mitigating cross-contamination issues...so, for example, you might take them before eating out, or before going to a party, and they may prove helpful on dealing with small amounts of gluten that may be ingested.

Take care,

Scott