Gluten-free diet

By Marane Plaza

Most of us know that there are people who suffer from different sorts of food allergies. We might have heard about a neighbor who?s allergic to chicken, or maybe a relative who gets rashes after eating seafood. But have you heard of people who are allergic to wheat and oats?

You sure have heard that prevention is better than cure, but the first step to prevention is the awareness of your health problems or issues, before you could actually formulate or find solutions. And in the case of food allergies, the best answer is, of course, a special form of diet.

Healthy Options, the leading all-natural products store in the Philippines, has recently spearheaded the campaign of disseminating knowledge and information about the Gluten-Free Diet, and its many help in fighting specific food allergies and other diseases. Healthy Options has recently invited Shelley Case, an international nutrition expert and registered dietitian, to talk about the gluten-free diet and its connection to celiac disease, gluten intolerance, wheat allergy, and autism.

Case is a member of the Medical Advisory Boards of the Celiac Disease Foundation and Gluten Intolerance Group in the United States and of the Canadian Celiac Association. Having been a frequent guest on television and radio abroad, including NBC Today Show and CBC Newsworld, Case has delivered numerous lectures and workshops at medical, dietetic, celiac, and food industry conferences and has done several studies about celiac disease and the gluten-free diet throughout the US and Canada. In 1997, Case started sharing information about celiac disease as she opened her own nutrition consulting business. And in 2001, she published her first book Gluten-Free Diet?A Comprehensive Resource Guide, which was followed by several editions in years. It is a very helpful guide to dietitians, doctors, and individuals with gluten intolerance and celiac disease in terms of nutritional concerns, food preparation, meal planning, and gluten-free cooking suggestions. The book has become extremely popular in the States because of its many help to doctors, dietitians, and patients. She also pens many articles about the gluten-free diet in leading publications, and writes ?Ask the Celiac Expert? column for Allergic Living magazine.

Gluten is the general name for the storage proteins (prolamins) found in wheat, oats, rye, and barley. Gluten intolerance is a malabsorption syndrome caused by a reaction to a gluten protein. This type of sensitivity does not manifest in any noticeable symptoms, so people may have it without really knowing about it. Some may experience abdominal pain, bloating and gas, constipation, fatigue, unexplained headaches, low blood cholesterol, iron-deficiency anemia, and low levels of vital nutrients and vitamins in the body. The same symptoms are experienced by people with wheat allergy. Gluten intolerance and wheat allergy do not choose gender or age. It can plague kids and elderly members of the family, and anyone in between. The only treatment for these metabolic problems is a strict gluten-free diet.

The threatening part is that these same symptoms are experienced by people who have gluten-sensitive enteropathy, or celiac disease. Celiac disease is a more serious ailment, a chronic autoimmune intestinal disorder.

?Your body is normally designed to attack foreign substances like viruses, and bacteria. Your immune system sends an alert that your body should attack these foreign objects inside your body. So when you do have this autoimmune disease, it?s like your body has a computer chip with a wrong program in there, that mistakenly thought of gluten as bacteria, viruses. So when your body starts attacking, it then attacks its own tissue, your gastrointestinal track, the small intestines, which causes inflammation in there. It attacks the villi, the finger-like projections in your intestine, that absorb all of your nutrients and vitamins, like iron, calcium, vitamins A, B, C, etc., so when these villi are destroyed, your body can no longer absorb the nutrients, and so in time, if you keep on eating bread because you don?t know you have this disease, you become deficient in iron and calcium; you become anemic or your bones may suffer. It will soon attack the thyroid tissues, and neurological tissues which may result to thyroid disease, migraine, and neurological symptoms such as speech problems,? Case explained. ?This might even result to miscarriages and infertility and long-time complications like lymphoma.?

Case highlighted that people who have celiac disease may be misdiagnosed due to common symptoms. What?s even more alarming is that you tend to ignore these simple symptoms, and continue eating meals with gluten that would worsen the condition. Patients may be misdiagnosed of other medical conditions like irregular bowel movements, ulcer or too much acid inside the stomach, and they might be given inappropriate medicine. While blood tests are 90-percent accurate, celiac diseases cannot really be traced by blood tests alone.

In a large study conducted by Case in Canada, wherein 2,700 Canadians were tested, it turned out that it took 11.7 years for people to complain the symptoms to their doctors. Some may not experience symptoms or may not have it at all in the early stage of their lives, but there are situations that might switch on this autoimmune that can result to celiac disease, like puberty, pregnancy, and surgeries.

One in 100 people in the world do have celiac disease, and reports are usually from the UK, Northern America, some European countries, India and Pakistan. There have been no reports of celiac disease in the Philippines, yet, but it does not mean that we are free from it. ?I don?t know whether Filipinos do or don?t get celiac disease, and I certainly want to educate people about celiac disease. My goal is to alert physicians before they misdiagnosed patients, to educate people about this through seminars and trainings, and my books, and, of course, to promote the gluten-free diet.?

There are also claims that the gluten-free diet is helpful in lessening autistic symptoms such as impulsive behaviors, lack of focus, and even speech problems. ?This diet has not been really proven yet scientifically, but anecdotally, a lot of parents have reported that their children with autism had better eye contact, better communication, improvement in their bowel problems, better sleep patterns after trying gluten-free meals,? Case said.

Gluten-free, casein-free diet advocates caution that even a little bit of wheat or dairy could have a big impact on a child with autism. As such, it is important to read labels carefully?wheat and dairy are often ?hidden? ingredients in packaged products. It?s also very important to inform teachers, therapists, and other adults in your child?s life that he is now wheat and dairy free. Addressing the special dietary requirements of autistic kids takes concerted efforts of family, doctors/nutritionists and other people.

For quality gluten-free natural products, visit Healthy Options, with branches located nationwide at Level 1 of Shangri-La Plaza Mall, Mandaluyong City; Rustan?s Supermarket, Makati City; Level 2 of Festival Supermall, Filinvest, Alabang; ground level of Ayala Center, Cebu City; lower ground floor of SM City, North Edsa; Level 2 of SM City Manila; Greenbelt, Ayala Center, Makati City; at Level 2 of SM Megamall B, Edsa, Mandaluyong City; SM Pampanga; SM Sta. Rosa; SM Mall of Asia; SM Clark; Bonifacio High Street at The Fort; the newly opened branches at Trinoma in North Edsa, Quezon City; SM City Davao; Rockwell-Makati; and at the new upscale wing in SM City Cebu called ?The North.? Or visit the Healthy Options Web site at www.healthyoptions.com.ph. Case?s book, the Gluten-Free Diet?A Comprehensive Resource Guide is also available at Healthy Options.