[Sca-cooks] Re:Celiac Gluten Free was Queston on Flours

[Amanda Baker]

Greetings,

        I've not seen anyone else say this, so I will...

Someone wrote:

>Tara Sersen Boroson wrote:
>> Another wheat question, for those who know more than me:
>> My brother-in-law-to-be is borderline celiac.  He can eat some gluten,
>> but cannot eat anything made with flour that has the gluten "boosted"
>> with malted barley or vital wheat gluten.  Does anybody know of a
>> website that delineates the amount of gluten in different commercial
>> brands of flour?  > -Magdalena

        There is no such thing as 'able to eat a little gluten' if one
is celiac.  This is an autoimmune reaction, which makes the celiac person
an ultra-sensitive gluten detector (and the similar proteins in rye, barley
and probably oats).  It is estimated that 1 in 7 celiac sufferers who
continue to ingest even small quantities of these proteins die an agonizing
death from bowel cancer.  The only treatment for celiac is the complete
withdrawal of gluten and the similar proteins from their diet: absolutely
no wheat, rye or barley, and it seems oats are sufficiently closely related,
or perhaps in processing, that they have to be removed from the diet as well.

        I have gleaned this information from www.celiac.com and professional
medical research articles in the British Medical Journal, the New England
Journal of Medicine and other peer-reviewed publications.

        The diagnosis of celiac disease is now relatively straightforward.
There is a combination of a _controlled_ withdrawal of the offending proteins
from the diet, a series of bowel biopsies, and antibody tests which are
extremely reliable (very few false positives and negatives, high 90s
percentage specificity and sensitivity).  The treatment is relatively
straightforward too - there are lots of yummy wheat/barley/rye/oat free
foods, as I discovered when I went on 6 months withdrawal of these grains
to learn how to cook for my celiac friend.

        Bottom line: get properly tested for celiac, and enjoy all those
yummy rice and maize and other naturally celiac-friendly foods if you are
diagnosed positive - and don't waver on cutting out the
wheat/barley/rye/oats.  It's relatively easy if you cook for yourself.

        Best regards from Drachenwald,

        Amanda