Celiac: The Trendy Disease For Rich White People - Science 2.0

[Scott Adams]

Celiac.com

Open Original Shared Link Science 2.0 Unfortunately, some people really do have Celiac disease, an actual immune disorder - gluten is like poison to them, not an 'I feel better if I don't eat a bagel' issue. Those sufferers are not the laughable 1% suddenly claiming they have Celiac ... The Celiac Disease Confusion Celiac.com Open Original Shared Link The Daily meal Open Original Shared Link Equities.com Open Original Shared Link  -Open Original Shared Link  -Open Original Shared Link Open Original Shared Link

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[Takala]

Oh, those people, again.

He hit all the pet lobbyist talking points, it's just a matter of whether I can determine he ("Hank Campbell") is a real or fake identity, and his relationship with the others in his pro - GMO "troll" group who get paid to do this. This is probably their response to the New York Times opinion piece that was published this weekend, about the auto immune theories - inflammation in the womb theory of causes of autism, and how the genes for celiac and diabetes are linked, and the increased incidence of autism rates.

While it is difficult to believe there is an organized "science bloggers" group that is tasked with doing this attack on celiac disease and gluten intolerant medical patients, by outright MOCKING them as neurotic food diletantes and dabblers in a lifestyle, this is a fine example of it.

So it would seem, at least according to trends about other beliefs. Along with believing more in UFOs, psychics and astrology than right-wing people, left-wing people also believe they are hyper-sensitive to food. That could be genetic and may lend credence to often-dismissed kooky claims that they can taste GMOs or are allergic to them. Same with vaccines. Anti-vaccine people are overwhelmingly left-wing; while a right-wing state such as Mississippi is almost at 100% vaccination, left-wing Washington State is sinking below herd immunity levels and kindergartens in Seattle report 25% non-vaccinated children. Maybe they don't need vaccines the way genetically inferior right-wing people do. It could be that left-wing people have co-evolved a much stronger immune system to go along with their super-smart brains. Well, except for celiac disease, they have a super-strong immune system.

I've seen solicitations on the internet for writers to write "science" blogs to bolster the vaccination industry, and this is what you get.

[1974girl]

This is the dumbest article I have read on celiac. That picture of the lady in food with the caption "she doesn't have a rash...she must be a republican!" was an insult. Obviously they didn't see me eating my gluten free brownie last night while watching the RNC convention. Haha. I can't believe people publish this junk.

[Kate79]

This is the dumbest article I have read on celiac. That picture of the lady in food with the caption "she doesn't have a rash...she must be a republican!" was an insult. Obviously they didn't see me eating my gluten free brownie last night while watching the RNC convention. Haha. I can't believe people publish this junk.

The whole article is an insult - especially since it's published on a 'science' website. The guy obviously has some weird political axe to grind. Not sure why, since both me (very liberal) and my aunt (evangelical conservative) suffer from it, lol.

But the part that really made me mad is that his scientific facts are just plain wrong. No testing for celiac disease? Um, since when? No difference between gluten intolerance and celiac? Again, since when? I don't understand why people choose to pick on this - it's like saying diabetics trying to eat low carb are just following that trendy Atkins diet.

[kareng]

Glad to hear a housewife with teenagers in the middle of the country is trendy! Look for my pic on People magazine or the National Inquirer soon!

"Karen G Shocker! Is that really a gluten-free cupcake?"

[Menic]

I think the author was trying to be really sarcastic here and it just kind of flew over most people's heads. I think his main point was that not all the people who are gluten-free need to be, and that it's an easy to claim as a self-diagnosis. Unfortunately the article wasn't written well enough to make that clear.

He does claim that more people than necessary are going gluten-free, which on an individual basis is sort of meaningless. If someone finds that if they do X (in this case a specific diet) and they feel better, then the results justify the methods, even if it's indirect, how can you argue that? He may have a point that people actively seek a reason to feel the way they do and then clamp on to it, whether it's gluten, ADD, vaccines, or radio waves from your cell phone. If gluten-free is the new way to get attention, we just have to bear it for now.

I think he was also trying to point out that all this causes a certain malaise to start creeping into society. Is Lady Gaga gluten-sensitive? Hell if I or anyone else knows, really. And maybe that's the problem.

As for the losing weight thing, a gluten-free diet is no better or worse for you in general than regular food, and that's the biggest misconception, but I see how it could come about.

"I stopped eating four donuts for breakfast and drinking a six pack of beer every night, and I lost 50 pounds! Must have been the gluten!"

You get my point...

[tom]

I think the author was trying to be really sarcastic here and it just kind of flew over most people's heads.

...

I take it you didn't also read the comments section, w/ the author's replies?

[GottaSki]

The author's comments have gone from bad to worse. He and his sidekick are tag teaming with ridiculous answers that are not based in science. It seems as though they are intentionally stirring the pot with their responses. The author has been asked at least twice to provide information regarding where he is coming up with the multitudes of people that are faking Celiac Disease thus causing harm to those of us that are dx'd.

And I love this...the author called one of the responders to his article an "anti-scientific crank" so I had to open my big mouth:

"Pot-Kettle. It seems that you are the anti-scientific crank that is promoting nonsense that is not based on peer-reviewed scientific publications, but your own personal opinion."

To which the author responded:

"There is no peer reviewed evidence showing millions of people have Celiac disease. It is incredibly disrespectful of you, if you are one of the pretenders who resents being called out rather than a misguided person circling the wagons around faddish people who want attention, to demean people who have Celiac disease by making anyone who claims to have it seem legitimate."

Yay - turns out I must not have Celiac Disease because I dared to asked him to back up the premise of his article

[Menic]

No, I didn't read all the posts and responses. Anyone who blogs and responds that much is probably trolling pretty hard. Also noted that he's trying to promote a book elsewhere so he's probably just trying to get as many hits as possible. See the previous idiotic blog about coffee from a few months ago.

I'm not sure where the author is seeing all these "fake Celiacs". I've heard of lots of celebs and such going gluten-free but can't name one that claims to be a Celiac without a diagnosis.

For a "scientist" this author doesn't seem to understand some basic principles, like that you can't disprove something by demanding evidence of it. A lot of people go gluten-free based on deductive (rather than objective) reasoning. "I feel better without gluten, ergo I should not eat it." Since there's no way to prove it objectively, you can't rule it out.

It seems any acutal points he may have had he totally voided in his comments.

[psawyer]

I need a shovel. There is a lot of $h!t here. I hope I don't get any on my boots.

[mommida]

He seems to be a bitter individual. i believe he was spurned by a gluten free individual. he has now chosen to lash out at others.

Does he expect every gluten free person to whip out doctor's notes to prove diagnoses? humans have free will to reject amorous advances and eat what we choose. LOL

[lovegrov]

Trying to turn it into a right/eft thing was ridiculously stupid. I wanted to comment but can't read any of the CAPTCHA codes I got.

richard

[IrishHeart]

He made the first mistake by using the ridiculous title he did– and it went downhill from there. There’s that word “trendy” again.

I am not rich, buddy; we spent all our savings trying to figure out what was killing me for 3 years.

From what I gathered from his article and then,later in his comments defending himself from the bruhaha he instigated,

he honestly thinks he is doing us a favor by “calling out” people for proclaiming themselves a celiac? (when they have not been diagnosed)

and

he honestly believes that there is no such thing as NCGI.

He is not helping. He is wrong on so many levels— and I hope he continues to receive backlash for his asinine article.

Here is what I wish for most of all:

I am begging the blogging world, the journalists, the bimbos on the Today show and anyone else out there who thinks they are helping the cause for celiac awareness to please, please stop using the using the word “trendy” and celiac in the same sentence.

If you do not understand celiac disease, please, shut the hell up.

I have enough trouble getting someone to take me seriously (and not roll their eyes and sigh with frustration or scoff at me ) when I ask for a gluten free menu because I need it to keep myself alive and healthy.

I am still recovering from a rare outing at a restaurant–something I did because I was traveling and I wanted to trust this place– and here I am, 11 days later still in pain.

My guess is? That server could give two shytes about my need to be gluten-free because she did not take my request seriously— because it IS labeled a “trend”.

I am sick, suffering a major migraine for 3 days, severe increased muscle/bone & tendon pain, dizziness, ataxia, TMJ pain, heart palps, those lovely sores on my face and scalp, ITCHINESS , burning nerves, fatigue, NAUSEA, the big D and feeling really foggy and weak, short of breath, insomnia, yada yada, yada….

Meanwhile, I finally did something “productive” today besides

pat the cat and water my plants and wear sunglasses inside the house because my eyes hurt and the vertigo is awful and I wonder….

…does anyone really care if one more celebrity goes gluten-free to “lose weight”.??

Stupid Beeyutches!–come over here and watch me lose weight as I live on the toilet and develop an indented red ring around my butt and have my legs go numb. You can hold the cold cloth on my head–

oh, and the heat pack on my back needs propping, too.

Don’t bother combing my hair–the strands will just fall out everywhere anyway….

yeah, that’s me–still the trendiest person alive.

[GottaSki]

Oh Irish - so sorry you got hit - beyond frustrating and always unfair. Hope you are feeling better quickly!

Loved your post - yes we are indeed a trendy bunch

[bartfull]

Lately I say things like, "When I was diagnosed with celiac disease...", even though I never got tested by a doctor. I am SELF diagnosed, but if I say that no one takes me seriously. The way I say it, I'm not lying exactly, just heading off the misconceptions.

[GottaSki]

Lately I say things like, "When I was diagnosed with celiac disease...", even though I never got tested by a doctor. I am SELF diagnosed, but if I say that no one takes me seriously. The way I say it, I'm not lying exactly, just heading off the misconceptions.

Brilliant

You are exactly whom I thought of when I read his ridiculous rant. There are many folks like you with no doubt that gluten is the root of their health problems. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck is it faking being a duck? I think not.

Speaking as a mother of one diagnosed duckling along with a couple undiagnosed ducklings -- they are all gluten-free ducks and have improved health to show for it.

[tom]

Open Original Shared Link

<font size="-1">Unfortunately, some people really do have <b>Celiac</b> disease, an actual immune disorder - gluten is like poison to them, not an 'I feel better if I don't eat a bagel' issue. Those sufferers are not the laughable 1% suddenly claiming they have <b>Celiac</b>

href="Open Original Shared Link

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Don't most of us agree that this article deserves no mention here at all?

Did it sneak in by pretending to be scientific via its hosting on a blog called Science2.0?

I'm thinking these 'Publications' posts are auto-generated, so its initial posting is a price paid for the convenience. But if something as ridiculous as this makes it through again, wouldn't we be better off if a mod or Scott edited out links to such articles? Nothing to learn there & no point in giving traffic to a nonsense site/article.

Or maybe it's just too late to delete it once ppl are commenting on it, I don't know. I see nearly all of the posts in the Publications section & now I'm ready to commend the many many posts w/OUT bs nonsense useless articles.

Surprised more haven't snuck through whatever path "Science"2.0 took.

[kareng]

Don't most of us agree that this article deserves no mention here at all?

Did it sneak in by pretending to be scientific via its hosting on a blog called Science2.0?

I'm thinking these 'Publications' posts are auto-generated, so its initial posting is a price paid for the convenience. But if something as ridiculous as this makes it through again, wouldn't we be better off if a mod or Scott edited out links to such articles? Nothing to learn there & no point in giving traffic to a nonsense site/article.

Or maybe it's just too late to delete it once ppl are commenting on it, I don't know. I see nearly all of the posts in the Publications section & now I'm ready to commend the many many posts w/OUT bs nonsense useless articles.

Surprised more haven't snuck through whatever path "Science"2.0 took.

If you wish to recommend a way to make this site better, why don't you PM Scott with your suggestions?

[IrishHeart]

Moderators cannot edit out publications that are posted by admin.

I see ones like "Miley Cryus goes Gluten free" and think, yeah so?

This blog/article is making news all over twitter and the internet (according to the Gluten Dude today) and I think, is relevant to the celiac community. The "trendy" aspect is something we have to deal with, I'm afraid.

I suggest contacting Scott via PM with your concerns.

I suspect this guy is not the only one with a perverted idea of celiac, gluten intolerance and the so-called "trendiness" of a gluten-free diet in Hollywood.

I thought this article was worthy of comment. That's why I made one.

[GottaSki]

I initially thought this guy's article wasn't worthy of a response, but then I read the first few comments where he was slamming those offering actual facts regarding Celiac.

I commented a few times because the more I thought about it, the more irritated I became that someone with zero experience regarding Celiac Disease or Gluten Intolerance may read and believe this garbage spinning around in hyperspace.

Should someone stumble upon his article now they have an opportunity to learn actual facts regarding Celiac Disease and Gluten Intolerance posted in the comments section.

That is the best we can do - as the idiots that post similar crap are not likely to change their opinion, at least their readers have the opportunity to decide for themselves if accurate information is added to the post.

[tom]

Hey I'm just saying there have been thousands of similarly moronic, useless articles about gluten-free on all sorts of blogs that WEREN'T given the publicity of a post here.

Why this one?

My googling of "science 2.0" & gluten doesn't support the idea that this article is making news all over the internet.

As far as my starting w/ a PM to Scott first instead of asking the forum community whether they agree w/ me, I'm not sure I understand the downside. If the majority of the community WANTS the Publications section to include inane misguidedly-political links, I'd accept it.

It's not like I'd be expecting Scott to act on my sole concerns in the first place. In contrast, the forum community's thoughts on the matter would be an actual factor.

[IrishHeart]

Gotta ski?...amen

Tom,

I am not surprised that you disagree with anything I say. That's what always happens. So be it.

From the lack of responses to the number of publications that ARE posted on a daily basis, I would say that the majority of the members here do not read many of the publications as they are too busy, too sick or too busy still figuring out why they are sick.

Those of us who responded to this one --just felt like it.

If you have a problem with the article, just disregard it ---or take it up with Scott.

It's not the "Mods' job" to stop articles coming in.

[kareng]

I think this is just one of those people who like to argue for fun. Correlating gluten problems with political leanings is just so silly it appears to be meant to incite arguments. I don't really get it but these people are on the internet. Sometimes they come on here. I remember two that openly admitted they were here because they liked to argue. Next week the guy will be saying kids have diabetes because there mothers ate too many sweets while pregnant and voting for a liberal!

[kareng]

Hey I'm just saying there have been thousands of similarly moronic, useless articles about gluten-free on all sorts of blogs that WEREN'T given the publicity of a post here.

Why this one?

My googling of "science 2.0" & gluten doesn't support the idea that this article is making news all over the internet.

As far as my starting w/ a PM to Scott first instead of asking the forum community whether they agree w/ me, I'm not sure I understand the downside. If the majority of the community WANTS the Publications section to include inane misguidedly-political links, I'd accept it.

It's not like I'd be expecting Scott to act on my sole concerns in the first place. In contrast, the forum community's thoughts on the matter would be an actual factor.

I'm saying that if you have a problem with the "moronic, useless articles" that appear here, and you really want to improve the site, you would discuss this with the person who is in charge of what goes on this forum site.

[tom]

...

Should someone stumble upon his article now they have an opportunity to learn actual facts regarding Celiac Disease and Gluten Intolerance posted in the comments section.

...

Maybe I'm misreading this, but is it saying that the comments section there only has some fact-based commenters because of the link in this thread here?

That seems unlikely.