This is something I had never considered before, but it looks like gluten free wheat may be on the way. According to Washington State University, scientists are working on developing a gluten free wheat for people with Celiac Disease.

Here is an excerpt from their post:

Thanks to the research of Diter von Wettstein and a new grant of nearly $1 million from the National Institutes of Health, millions of people around the world suffering from Celiac disease have new reasons for hope.

Dr. von Wettstein, who is R.A. Nilan Distinguished Professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at Washington State University, will use the four-year, $837,000 NSF grant to advance his research to develop gluten-free wheat varieties safe to eat by people with Celiac disease.

NIH has declared urgency
“Medical experts at the National Institutes of Health have declared urgency in dealing with the most food-sensitive intestinal condition in humans, and require faster and more decisive methods such as transgenic breeding,” Dr. Von Wettstein said.

Dr. Von Wettstein, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and his team have discovered a fully viable, lysine-rich mutant which lacks gliadin-type proteins in barley, showing the way to make Celiac-safe wheat. Lysine is an amino acid essential for an optimal diet, but typically deficient in wheat.

Doctors have always told patients that the only treatment for Celiac Disease is to the lifelong avoidance of ingesting gluten. But is this really true? We know that there is such a thing as gluten intolerance, and we know that some people are more sensitive to gluten than others.

Over at APhAnet they recently tackled the question, how much gluten is to much gluten?  A couple key points from this article:

Key point: There is insufficient evidence to suggest a definitive threshold of gluten intake for patients with celiac disease (CD); however, less than 10 mg of gluten daily is unlikely to cause significant mucosal abnormalities.

Finer points:A systematic review of 13 clinical trials evaluating CD patients and gluten intake tolerance revealed that patients who consume more than 200 mg of gluten daily for a minimum of 4 weeks are likely to develop intestinal changes. Only three randomized, controlled trials were identified in this review.

Overall, studies were conducted in four continents and assessed gluten intake ranging from 1 to 200 mg/day for periods of 1 week to 8 years. Endpoints varied and included quality of life, mucosal histology, and symptoms. Investigators were unable to conduct a meta-analysis because of the significant heterogeneity in study design, quantity of gluten ingested, length of gluten exposure, and assessment of gluten effects among the clinical trials.

And also:

What your patients need to know:Tell patients with CD to avoid gluten to minimize symptoms. Encourage these patients to consume products that are naturally gluten-free. Explain that even products labeled “gluten free” typically contain the protein, albeit in small amounts. No one knows for sure how much gluten is too much for CD patients, but less than 10 mg daily is generally well-tolerated. Tell patients to be aware of how much gluten their body can tolerate and adjust their consumption accordingly.

I’ve heard speculation in the past that various diseases can cause hair loss, but this is the first I’ve seen in print.   According to the Stop Now Hair Loss blog:

Although future hair loss cannot be predicted one hundred percent, new genetic research and advanced medical tests now allow to reveal your chances for contracting alopecia later in life. Baldness in the coming years can be determined by a number of ways, including the analysis of personal health status and family history, or the application of recently invented folliscope technology or genetic testing.

Personal health factors, such as illnesses, smoking, nutrition, hormonal status, and even medications you take, can play a big role in assessing your risks of contracting baldness.

Certain diseases, including metabolic syndrome and diabetes; polycystic ovarian syndrome; low thyroid function; depression and other mental illnesses; and celiac disease, are now named among those triggering the destruction of healthy hair follicles and facilitating hair loss.

Click over to check out the whole article!

When you attend Celiac events, are there are overwhelming number of women there compared to men? According to a post at Newswise, Celiac Disease affects twice as many woman.

Many people haven’t ever heard of celiac disease, but for the millions of people unable to eat bread, cookies, pizza crust and pasta, it’s a reality they have to live with every day. Celiac disease is an autoimmune digestive disorder that wreaks havoc on the body’s intestines when foods containing gluten are consumed. It affects roughly twice as many women as men. In the United States, it affects two million people or about one in 133 people.

It may seem like an easy condition to manage, but gluten is a protein found in many grains and is in a multitude of foods that include wheat, rye, barley or oats. When foods with gluten are digested, an immune reaction is triggered that damages the surface of the small intestine, resulting in the body’s inability to absorb needed vitamins and nutrients from food.

The other problem is that celiac disease is difficult to diagnose. “In the United States, many cases remain undiagnosed because symptoms vary from person to person and because physicians have not been adequately trained in what to look for,” reports Alessio Fasano, M.D., professor of pediatrics, medicine and physiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore and director of its Center for Celiac Research, in the center’s newsletter.

Celiac disease can develop at any time in a person’s life. It is more common in Caucasian people and those of European descent. If a family member has the disease, the risk for other members increases, as well. Celiac disease is associated with other autoimmune conditions, including lupus, Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, colitis and thyroid disease.

Click over to check out the rest of the article!

A big reason that many people with Celiac Disease remain undiagnosed is due to being misdiagnosed.  The most common mis-diagnosis is Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).

According to a recent published report at Medical News Today, it looks like testing for Celiac Disease will now be required prior to an official diagnosis with Irritable Bowel Syndrome.   This site is setup for the United Kingdom, however, so it is unclear to me if this is for the UK only or not.

Here is an excerpt:

The new guidelines regarding the diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) announced recently by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) could ensure this should no longer happen by introducing new diagnostic criteria, which ensures testing for coeliac disease should be undertaken before a final diagnosis of IBS is made.

Patrick Kirby, director of Xtritica, the midland based healthcare company that promotes the Biocard Celiac Test In the UK, an easy to use home screening test which can aid the detection coeliac disease within 15 minutes, says: “We very much welcome these new guidelines which will help to speed up the diagnosis of coeliac disease. Many of the symptoms are similar to those of IBS, but it is good to know that patients will now be tested automatically for coeliac disease when previously this may have been missed. Hopefully, fewer people will now have to suffer unnecessarily, often for many years, and will avoid enduring serious digestive problems and associated health problems of coeliac disease.”