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Celiac disease is a serious autoimmune disease that occurs in genetically predisposed people where the ingestion of gluten leads to damage in the small intestine. It is estimated to affect 1 in 100 people worldwide. Two and one-half million Americans are undiagnosed and are at risk for long-term health complications. When people with celiac disease eat gluten (a protein found in wheat, rye and barley), their body mounts an immune response that attacks the small intestine. These attacks lead to damage on the villi, small finger like projections that line the small intestine, that promote nutrient absorption. When the villi...

It is amazing what has happened to our wheat products in a few short decades. In efforts to increase yield, improve shelf life, and enhance our appetites, modern food producers have taken a staple of our diet (breads and grains) that humans have consumed for millennia with little or no health issues, and turned it into a "Frankenfood". Bread, which was a cheap, nutritious way to fill our stomachs for thousands of years, is now potentially the cause of obesity and a variety of inflammatory diseases. A look at the processes we use to grow, harvest, mill, refine, enrich, and...

Norwegian scientists have discovered the cause of coeliac disease, the auto-immune disorder which causes gluten intolerance in about one in a hundred people Professor Ludvig Sollid and his team at the University of Oslo have discovered that coeliac sufferers have one of two defective human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) which cause the immune system to see gluten molecules as dangerous, triggering an immune response which causes severe inflammation and other symptoms. “When a person who has coeliac disease eats gluten, the immune system reacts to gluten as if it were a virus or a bacterium,” Sollid told Norway’s NRK. “It attacks...

Lesley University is not nearly so isolated, but it has the same mandatory policy about its student cafeteria. There was a problem however. Several students had Celiac disease. They needed to eat gluten free in order to not get sick. So naturally they told the college and the college allowed them an exception to the mandatory cafeteria plan, letting them keep the money and use it to buy gluten-free food off campus. Right? No, the students sued the college to mandate that the college accommodate them. I don’t feel sorry for Lesley because, frankly, I still bear a grudge against...

My husband bought me some of my favorite soup, Campbell's Cream of Potato. My mouth got all ready and I sipped the first spoon. I spit it back in the bowl. It tasted TERRIBLE! I thought it was spoiled. Nope. Now! With Sea Salt Added! If I wanted sea salt I'd go float in the ocean! I just discovered that they've done the same to Vegetarian Vegetable. No more Campbell's soup for me. And I wrote them to tell them where they can stick their sea salt! I don't buy Healthy Choice soups because they taste awful. So they are...

CLYDE, MISSOURI -The Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde, Mo., have developed a Communion host that is extremely low in gluten – allowing Catholics who can’t tolerate gluten an alternative to taking only the cup during communion. Many people are gluten intolerant suffer from celiac disease, or celiac sprue, an inherited autoimmune disease that affects over 3 million people in the United States, or one in every 133 people. This is a genetic disease and often several members of the same family will have it. It is caused by an immune system malfunction that causes the body to attack...

Recent research findings indicate a possible connection between virus infections, the immune system and the onset of gluten intolerance, also known as coeliac disease. A research project in the Academy of Finland's Research Programme on Nutrition, Food and Health (ELVIRA) has brought new knowledge on the hereditary nature of gluten intolerance and identified genes that carry a higher risk of developing the condition. Research has shown that the genes in question are closely linked with the human immune system and the occurrence of inflammations, rather than being connected with the actual breakdown of gluten in the digestive tract. "Some of...

LOVELAND, CO — As a mother of seven, Anne Miller already had a whopping grocery bill. When doctors recommended her teenage daughter go on a gluten-free diet, the family food bill went higher than Miller could afford. So Miller was first in line this week when a food pantry in this northern Colorado city became the nation's first to promote gluten-free food for needy families with wheat allergies. "Basically the whole family has to eat gluten-free now," said Miller, who walked out of the House of Neighborly Service food bank with a grocery cart full of gluten-free soups, pastas and...

Among the weird findings: Pulling a tick off the wrong way can lead to meat allergy. An Australian doctor found the link while studying rising cases of the allergy among people who live on Sydney's tick-prone northern beaches. "I now tell everybody I see who lives anywhere near ticks to use `Aerostart' (spray-on engine cleaner) or another high-alcohol substance," said Dr Sheryl van Nunen. "Stun the tick before you scrape it out and it can't inject what it injects." The first US case of "cannabinoid hyperemesis" was recorded in the medical literature. The syndrome was first described in 2004 in...

Americans finding soaring food prices hard to stomach can battle back by growing their own food. [Click image for a larger version] Dean Fosdick Dean Fosdick Home vegetable gardens appear to be booming as a result of the twin movements to eat local and pinch pennies. At the Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta this winter, D. Landreth Seed Co. of New Freedom, Pa., sold three to four times more seed packets than last year, says Barb Melera, president. "This is the first time I've ever heard people say, 'I can grow this more cheaply than I can buy it in...

Research Advances May Help Prevent And Improve Diagnosis Of Celiac Disease ScienceDaily (May 21, 2008) — For those suffering from celiac disease, there may be good news on the horizon. New research presented at Digestive Disease Week® 2008 (DDW®) will discuss the latest advancements in the diagnosis and prevention of celiac sprue. "At this time, the only effective treatment for celiac disease is a lifelong gluten-free diet, a lifestyle that is difficult for many patients to manage," said Peter H. Green, MD, Columbia University Medical School. "Unfortunately, many people are unaware that they have celiac disease, and if left untreated,...

Seven Gene Regions Linked To Celiac Disease ScienceDaily (Mar. 5, 2008) — Scientists who last year identified a new genetic risk factor for celiac disease, have, following continued research, discovered an additional seven gene regions implicated in causing the condition. The team, lead by David van Heel, Professor of Gastrointestinal Genetics at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, have further demonstrated that of the nine celiac gene regions now know, four of these are also predisposing factors for type 1 diabetes. Their research sheds light not only on the nature of coeliac disease, but on the common...

Freeper Maria Bush's husband is in the hospital. He requires tranfusions.

Bone and gut disorders 'linked'Osteoporosis patients should be screened for a gut disease, US researchers believe.Coeliac disease is an intolerance to gluten - found in wheat A Washington University Bone Clinic study of 840 people found those with the brittle bone disorder were 17 times more likely to have coeliac disease. The disease, an intolerance to gluten which makes digestion difficult, is found in 1% of the general population. The team told the Archives of Internal Medicine the study provided evidence of the benefits of a screening programme. Although coeliac disease patients commonly have a low bone mineral density, the...

The food pyramid is a three-sided polygon of lies. First, since it is almost exclusively presented in two dimensions, it is not technically a pyramid but a triangle. Second--and far more importantly, according to nutrition expert and author Danna Korn--the so-called food pyramid puts an abnormal emphasis on the consumption of wheat and wheat products, a diet that couldn't be less adapted to the human digestive system. Wheat, she insists, is the devil's food--even more than the delightful chocolate cake of the same name. Korn's campaign against wheat began 14 years ago when her son was diagnosed with celiac disease--a...

In the September issue of O Magazine in the Satelite Sisters section there was a very insensitive article.. that was brought to my attention by Celiac Kids E-group..For more information about celiac disease go to CELIAC.COM Copy of message I recieved..... The September issue of O Magazine ridicules gluten-free kids in its one page, monthly feature called "Satellite Sisters." The feature is about how to avoid socially undesirable people who are trying to befriend you. It is titled "Sorry, But I Think I'm Sick That Day," and the first line of the subtitle is "The neighbor with gluten-free children itching...