by Melissa Diane Smith

If you know wheat bothers you but have never been tested for gluten sensitivity or celiac disease and continue to eat wheat, you likely are putting your life at risk. A large 2009 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that people with diagnosed, undiagnosed and “latent” celiac disease (also called gluten sensitivity) have a higher risk of death, mostly from heart disease and cancer.

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by Melissa Diane Smith

If your doctor thinks there is no research to support gluten sensitivity that is not celiac disease, three new scientific abstracts published in a Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition supplement and presented at the annual NASPGHAN pediatric gastroenterology scientific meeting in mid-November might change his or her mind. Leading gluten researchers Alessio Fasano, MD, of the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research was involved in two of the research reports, and Rodney Ford, MD, of the Children’s Gastroenterology Clinic in Christchurch, New Zealand, authored the other.

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What fun it was to meet and chat with another practitioner who is as enthusiastic about spreading the word about gluten sensitivity as I am! That’s exactly what happened when Dr. Rodney Ford, a pediatrician, gastroenterologist and allergist from New Zealand, came to Tucson with his lovely wife Chris. We had animated discussions about current and future research on gluten sensitivity, and we enjoyed several gluten-free meals, including particularly good ones at El Charro Café (loved that Shrimp Topopo Salad!) and Feast, two Tucson restaurants with gluten-free menus.

Dr. Ford had a flip videocam with him and, after a long day of sightseeing, he decided to film a quick public service announcement with me about gluten sensitivity. Check out our youTube video and be sure to send the link to others who may not be aware of gluten sensitivity and how common it is.

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by Melissa Diane Smith

Gluten sensitivity is much more than celiac disease: It is ten times more common than celiac disease and it is a brain and nerve disease, not a gut disease, New Zealand’s Dr. Rodney Ford said at the Southern Arizona Celiac Support Group general meeting in Tucson on November 7th.

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by Melissa Diane Smith

Dr. Rodney Ford, who is known as “Dr. Gluten” because of his expertise in gluten sensitivity, will present evidence to support his breakthrough idea that gluten sensitivity is caused by neurological harm, not gut damage as is commonly thought, at the Southern Arizona Celiac Support Group meeting in Tucson, Arizona, at 9 a.m. on Saturday, November 7, 2009. The event will take place at the Pima Community College District Office Campus, 4905 E. Broadway, Building C, and it is free and open to the public. To view a map of the location, click here.

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by Melissa Diane Smith

People with gastrointestinal symptoms who test negative for celiac disease have long known that they are apt to get a diagnosis of “irritable bowel syndrome” (IBS) from a doctor rather than a diagnosis of gluten sensitivity. But gluten sensitivity provides a trigger that can explain at least part of the spectrum of symptoms that constitutes IBS, a group of doctors from the Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute in Canada and the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota propose.

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by Melissa Diane Smith

(Opinion) – It used to be that I was the only one writing about non-celiac gluten sensitivity, a condition largely dismissed by mainstream doctors. Major newspapers wouldn’t come close to touching the subject. Now, seven years after my Going Against the Grain book came out, the Los Angeles Times, a newspaper with a circulation of three-quarters of a million people, has run a story “Gluten sensitivity: A long road toward discovery” and a follow-up story a few weeks later, “Going gluten-free – for many reasons.”

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by Melissa Diane Smith

Ever wonder how gluten can cause such a wide array of symptoms in so many different people? Dr. Rodney Ford, a doctor from Christchurch, New Zealand who is known as “Doctor Gluten,” just may have the answer – that gluten causes symptoms, in both celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity, by directly and indirectly injuring nerve networks that control various organs and systems in the body.

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What’s coming in the new year? Plenty of changes, most of which were put into motion in 2008. A new U.S. president is the most obvious change, but there will also be changes in foods and drinks on supermarket store shelves, finance-driven modifications in eating and lifestyle habits, and research and news about health topics that used to be so underground that they were only covered on blogs on the Internet such as this one!

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An update on my Top Celiac Researcher Speaks Out About Gluten Sensitivity post: This past week I asked Alessio Fasano, M.D., from the Center for Celiac Research, a few questions for a magazine article I was writing. He said that there is “no doubt” that gluten sensitivity affects many more people than celiac disease does and that 60 to 70 percent of the patients who come to the Center for Celiac Research fit his criteria for gluten sensitivity. His criteria for gluten sensitivity is not testing positive for celiac disease or for wheat allergy but responding positively to a gluten-free diet with resolution of symptoms. New screening tests for gluten sensitivity may be coming in the near future to change the criteria, Dr. Fasano says.

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