Dr. Gordon’s Comments:

WSJ says the new epidemic is gluten sensitivity and it is different than celiac disease but is now being blamed for multiple common symptoms. It is not easy to live gluten free since it seems to be everywhere. See The Gluten Connection by Shari Lieberman and others on Amazon.

Garry F. Gordon MD,DO,MD(H)
President, Gordon Research Institute
www.gordonresearch.com

Link: http://drhyman.com/gluten-what-you-dont-know-might-kill-you-11/?utm_source=Publicaster&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=drhyman%20newsletter%20issue%20#17&utm_term=Get+the+story

Excerpt:

Gluten: What You Don’t Know Might Kill You
Dr Mark Hyman

SOMETHING YOU’RE EATING may be killing you, and you probably don’t even know it! If you eat cheeseburgers or French fries all the time or drink six sodas a day, you likely know you are shortening your life. But eating a nice dark, crunchy slice of whole wheat bread–how could that be bad for you? Well, bread contains gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, spelt, kamut, and oats. It is hidden in pizza, pasta, bread, wraps, rolls, and most processed foods. Clearly, gluten is a staple of the American diet. What most people don’t know is that gluten can cause serious health complications for many. You may be at risk even if you don’t have full blown celiac disease. I want to reveal the truth about gluten, explain the dangers, and provide you with a simple system that will help you determine whether or not gluten is a problem for you.

 Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB40001424052748704893604576200393522456636.html?mod=djempersonal 

Excerpt: Wall Street Journal
•HEALTH JOURNAL 
•MARCH 16, 2011 
Gluten sensitive? Here’s why 
By Melinda Beck

Lisa Rayburn felt dizzy, bloated and exhausted. Wynn Avocette suffered migraines and body aches. Stephanie Meade’s 4-year-old daughter had constipation and threw temper tantrums. 

All three tested negative for celiac disease, a severe intolerance to gluten, a protein found in wheat and other grains. 

But after their doctors ruled out other causes, all three adults did their own research and cut gluten—and saw the symptoms subside. A new study in the journal BMC Medicine may shed some light on why. It shows gluten can set off a distinct reaction in the intestines and the immune system, even in people who don’t have celiac disease.

Gluten sensitivity, does everyone have some tendency to this common affliction? It is great to have gluten free foods becoming widely available and Harvard admitting this is hard to rule in or out. Not everyone has the classic symptoms yet this can be contributing to poor health for many people.

Now the hot button they are not touching is the issue about the epidemic Of AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE, as the book by Donna Nakazawa has so forcefully covered. That ties in to diseases where my F.I.G.H.T. program can be helping over 29 million who are afflicted with any one of the more than 100 entities now known to be autoimmune related.

What about leaky gut?  What about the need for probiotics and the right kind of fiber as found only in my opinion in Beyond Fiber? But will anyone dare mention avoid GMO foods? Can anyone at Harvard connect the dots between BACILLUS Theringensis, which kills insects by ripping apart their intestines and the rapidly developing epidemic of food sensitivities that are contributing to so many chronic health problems? At least Harvard has part of the story!  There is a major problem with food related diseases.

Sincerely,

Garry F. Gordon MD,DO,MD(H)
President, Gordon Research Institute
www.gordonresearch.com

Notable from Harvard Medical School

** The Sensitive Gut

Have you ever wondered why your stomach feels queasy when you’re nervous or why emotions sometimes roil your intestines? If so, you are experiencing the symptoms of the gut-brain connection. The Sensitive Gut describes the many gastrointestinal conditions that are caused or at least exacerbated by stress, emotion, anxiety, and other brain-to-gut messages. Irritable bowel syndrome, heartburn and reflux, dyspepsia, and even gas and constipation are described here along with self-help and medical treatments.

Getting out the gluten

Celiac disease (an autoimmune disorder whose symptoms are triggered by gluten, the protein content in wheat, barley, rye, and spelt ) is on the rise. That’s one reason for the rise in popularity of gluten-free food.
Celiac specialists say the disease isn’t diagnosed as often as it should be. As a result, many people suffer with it for years, often after getting other — and incorrect — diagnoses and useless treatments.
But a growing number of the people dodging gluten fall into a gray area: they don’t have celiac disease but seem to be unable to digest gluten properly. There are no tests or strict criteria for this problem, aside from simple trial and error with a gluten-free diet. Some people may be getting caught up in a food fad. But many others probably do have trouble digesting gluten or perhaps the sugars in some of these grains (like the lactose intolerance that makes it hard to digest dairy foods).

Do you have a gluten problem?
The classic and most immediately noticeable symptoms of celiac disease are, not surprisingly, gastrointestinal: bloating, flatulence, and diarrhea, sometimes with smelly stools. People who can’t digest gluten or grain sugars may have similar symptoms.
Celiac disease can severely impair the absorption of nutrients. In children, this may lead to stunted growth; in adults, the consequences include anemia (because iron isn’t being absorbed) and weaker bones (because calcium and vitamin D aren’t getting into the body). Anemia causes fatigue and malaise, but some people with celiac disease feel that way without anemia.
Doctors sometimes miss the celiac disease diagnosis because they’re looking for the classic gastrointestinal symptoms, not the vaguer ones that stem for the most part from malabsorption of nutrients.
One major difference between celiac disease and grain-related digestion problems is that when it’s just a digestion problem it typically doesn’t lead to malabsorption and nutritional deficiencies.
Women with untreated celiac disease have higher-than-normal rates of menstrual abnormalities and infertility. A large study published in 2007 found an increased risk of pancreatitis in people with celiac disease. It’s not clear whether these associations suggest a cause-and-effect relationship or if celiac disease and these conditions happen to share an underlying cause.

Grains for the gluten-challenged
We’re often too quick to depend on pills instead of first working to change our diet and exercise habits. But with celiac disease, there’s no pill, and a fairly radical change in diet is the only treatment. Drug companies have started to take some interest in the disease, and treatments that would block the absorption of gluten are being investigated, but none so far are close to gaining FDA approval.
Until you need to avoid gluten, you probably don’t realize how ubiquitous it is. Gluten is used as a thickening agent and filler in everything from ketchup to ice cream. The inactive ingredients in many medications are gluten-based. And even when gluten isn’t an ingredient, it may inadvertently get into a food because a wheat-based food was processed in the same factory, or wheat was grown in a nearby field. At home, wooden utensils and toaster ovens are gluten “hot spots.” Oats don’t contain gluten, but many people with celiac disease avoid them because of contamination problems.
The gluten-free diet has traditionally depended on starch from rice, corn, and potatoes. Food makers have also learned how to use xanthan and guar gums to replace gluten’s elasticity: a common complaint about gluten-free baked goods is that they are powdery. But these formulations can also leave diets short of fiber and B vitamins. Melinda Dennis, the nutrition coordinator at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Celiac Center, encourages patients to eat foods made with unconventional but nutritionally well-rounded substitutes, including amaranth, buckwheat (no relation to wheat), millet, quinoa, sorghum, and teff. She calls them the “super six” because of their high vitamin and fiber content.
Eating out is one of the biggest issues for people with gluten problems. Vegetables get contaminated because they are steamed over pots of pasta water. Fish and chicken are floured to hold seasonings. But many restaurants are beginning to offer gluten-free items. And there are some celiac-friendly cuisines, even if they are not overtly gluten-free. Ethiopian (which uses teff), Indian, Mexican, and Thai are good possibilities.

For more information on common digestive disorders, order our Special Health Report, The Sensitive Gut, at www.health.harvard.edu/SG.