Celiac Meeting Notes Oct. 14, 2013 News Items The Fargo GIG Conference is coming up! If youve never been to one, please try and attend this year. It is very educational, and every bit worth going to! See attachment. We talked again about how our group could be proactive by educating the community, clinics, and restaurants. We are doing a survey on what items the group may like to do. Please complete this survey and e-mail it back to me. Monday night, Oct. 28th, (instead of the 21st as announced at the meeting) a Gluten Free Make, Take, and Bake will be held at the Hy-Vee on E. 10th St, put on by Ann Wipf. This is a great way to prep gluten free meals to eat later. The meals are: baked meatballs, pizza (assorted toppings), chicken enchilada casserole, stuffed pork chops and a veggie lasagna. 6-7pm. Price is $74.99 for 3, $99.00 for 5 meals. Lets support the hard work Ann puts in to cater to us! A member stated that Hardees now carries what is called a Lo-Carb burger, a hamburger with a lettuce wrap that could be gluten free if workers are careful enough. Tyson Foods also carries gluten free breaded chicken products. Ive also attached the newest GF restaurant listing. Pie Crust Sampling Wow, did we have some great pies to eat! The winner for best tasting crust was the Gluten Free Pantry Mix, followed by a tie between the pre-made Kinnikinnik crusts and a homemade Coconut crust. A homemade cottage cheese crust came in 3rd, and the Pillsbury dough crust coming in 4th. Recipes are attached. Speaker Janine Albers gave a report about the conference she attended in Omaha, NE on Sat., Oct. 12th. Dr. David Thompson talked first. CSA people also gave reports of what they learned from the Celiac Symposium in Chicago, IL in Sept. What the doctors and researchers are studying - • Non celiac , gluten sensitivity - Those people may be sensitive to different parts of gluten or wheat. Prevalence of CD has increased 4 fold. More medical professionals are more aware of it and are diagnosing it, along with gluten sensitivity. • Gut Flora - We are such a clean society, that the gut flora has changed over the years. We dont get enough germs, dirt, etc. that our guts are not producing enough good bacteria. Sugar and highly processed foods also change the gut flora. This was the big focus at the symposium in Chicago. Probiotics can be beneficial to some people. • Clinical trials for a pill - Clinical trials are being held at the cellular level, then tested on animals, then on to the 3rd test phase, for a pill to help with the adverse reactions to gluten. Not totally sure what the pill does, but would probably help shut down the auto immune reaction. It would work on the cells within the villi in the gut to tighten the junctions so gluten can’t get thru and trigger the immune response. It will not replace the GF diet but be an adjunct diet, to help in those times if you accidentally get gluten. Diagnosis, support, healing For those just diagnosed with CD, these things are important: early dietary support, a support group, and getting a Dexa scan. It’s really important to be around others like yourself (like our support group) to help you out with questions, and to be supported. After starting the GF diet, healing can take 1-2 years. Blood tests should decrease, but another speaker said that even though the blood levels are down, that doesn’t mean the gut is healed. It means the immune system is calmed down, but all gut healing may not be. If still not feeling better after being on GF diet, maybe you have other food allergies. Dr. Thompson suggests that all who have CD should get the pneumonia vaccine. Cross Contamination Watch for cross contamination with other grains. Inherently GF grains, meaning corn, for example, which doesn’t contain gluten of itself, may contain gluten just because of cross-contamination. Many grains tested out above 20 parts per mill. So you should always buy Bob’s Red Mill products, or products produced in a totally GF facility. The doctor says to have a dedicated space in the kitchen, and mark your GF items to prevent cross contamination. It is even important to wash your hands between handling others food, or your pets food. Also wipe the counter top after another family member may have left gluten crumbs. Check your medications to make sure they are gluten free. It is probably a good idea to have the doctor write gluten free on the prescription pad that is given to the pharmacist. Biopsies Doctors are finding out that many biopsies that are being taken in the small intestine are not including the duodenal bulb. Dr. Thompson stated that biopsies must include the duodenal bulb, with at least 1-2 biopsies taken from the bulb, then 2-3 taken from the 2nd and 3rd part of the duodenum. 9-13% of people tested (biopsied) are missed and actually have celiac disease. Just because you had testing done once, Dr. Thompson suggests you be retested if you are still having symptoms or have a family case of it. Labeling laws The new guidelines will include dietary supplements. One thing to be aware of with the new labeling is that a box may still say processed in a facility that contains wheat, or may even contain a small percentage of a wheat starch (for example), but still be labeled GF because the wheat tests under 20 ppm, or has been distilled out of a product. A lot in our group stated that they would be wary of buying anything that said it had wheat in it. There are 6.2 billion gluten free products in the U.S. today - a huge market, and growing. Debunking myths in the GF world Does a GF diet make you fat? No, it doesn’t make you fat, an unhealthy diet makes you gain weight. Myth - that only skinny people have CD - 40% of people diagnosed with CD are overweight, only 4-5% are underweight. Only a small percentage are non responsive to a GF diet. If nonresponsive, only a natural raw diet needs to be tried. Children and CD Dr. Fasano talked about the 4 of 5 rule for diagnosis for children if the parents dont want to put the child through a scoping. He stated that endoscopy is still the gold standard. 1. If child has adverse symptoms 2. Positive blood test 3. Try a GF diet and see improvement 4. The child has the genetic markers for CD 5. Intestinal biopsy. He’s suggesting that if you have the first 4 you maybe don’t have to do the biopsy (for children only), and it would be considered that they have CD. Not all doctors are on board with that line of reasoning yet. Some researchers have found that kids have a greater chance for CD if their Moms gave birth to them via a C-Section.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Oct 2013 22:36:26 +0000
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