HUGE NEWS, a friend just sent me this!



Study confirms increase in wheat gluten disorder

A Minnesota study using frozen blood samples taken from Air Force recruits 50 years ago has found that intolerance of wheat gluten, a debilitating digestive condition, is four times more common today than it was in the 1950s.
The findings contradict the prevailing belief that a sharp increase in diagnoses of wheat gluten intolerance has come about because of greater awareness and detection, and raises questions about whether dramatic changes in the American diet have played a role.
"It's become much more common," said Dr. Joseph Murray, the Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist who led the study. No one knows why, he said, but one reason might be rapid changes in eating habits and food processing over the last half century.
"Fifty years is way too fast for human genetics to have changed," Murray said. "Which tells us it has to be a pervasive environmental influence."
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota who conducted the study also found that the recruits who had the undiagnosed digestive disorder, called celiac disease, also had a four-fold increase in the risk of death.
Today an estimated one of 100 people suffer from the inherited disorder, though most of the time people don't know they have it.
The disease occurs in people whose bodies cannot digest gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley. The undigested protein triggers the body's immune system to attack the lining of the small intestine, causing diarrhea, nausea and abdominal pain. Though people live with it for many years, over time it destroys the lining of the small intestine, leading to an inability to absorb nutrients such as iron and calcium. That, in turn, causes serious problems, including anemia, osteoporosis and even infertility.
The only treatment is a gluten-free diet -- no wheat, rye or barley.
Murray said he initiated the study to find out whether the disease is on the rise, and whether it had long-term health consequences if undiagnosed and untreated.


He turned to medical archaeology to find the answers - a treasure-trove of blood samples taken from recruits at the Warren Air Force base in Cheyenne, Wyo., between 1948 and 1954. At the time, strep infections were raging among the recruits, mostly young men on their way to fight in the Korean war. Doctors there drew the samples as part of a study that proved treating the infections with antibiotics would prevent rheumatic fever, a serious heart ailment that can follow strep throat.
One of the doctors in that study took some of the samples with him when he moved to the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. When he decided to retire two decades ago, he asked Dr. Edward Kaplan, a strep specialist at the University of Minnesota, to become their guardian. The vials were transported in frozen-pizza delivery trucks to Minneapolis, where they reside today.
"Nobody has anything like it," said Kaplan. "There are other collections, but none go back this far."
In 2000 they were used to help resolve an intense debate among researchers over whether hepatitis C infection meant certain death, or whether many people could live with it for years.
Murray used a similar design for the study on celiac disease, published today in the journal Gastroenterology. He tested more than 9,133 samples for the antibodies that proved the recruits had celiac disease; 43, or about one out of 652, had the disease. He then tested blood samples from groups of men from Olmsted County, more than 12,000 in all. In an older group of men, one in 121 tested positive, and in the younger group one in 106 tested positive, an increase of four to four-and-a-half times.
His findings raise questions about why the number of people with the disease has grown so fast. But rates of other immune diseases have also increased a lot. One theory is that modern, clean living, which has resulted in fewer infections, parasites and microbes in our bodies, causes the immune system to turn on healthy tissue instead. Or it might be the modern diet, Murray said.
"The types of food we eat now are different," he said.

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- bd: 45 yo F; I stopped scrubs, using salicylic acid after shower + homemade lotion; Burt's carrot soap or clean&clear on face; homemade body butter with Citric Acid as AHA; reg. exercise; OilPulling; a basic multi-vite plus Vit D, o3s, spirulina; eating GLUTEN-FREE DIET for Celiac Disease, and not much dairy as I get allergic reaction; Arms 95% clear, face neck chest 90%, legs 90% clear, butt is 99% clear. All dietary treatments above help reduce my sinus congestion and joint pain.

Bd,

Did you see this article?

July 2, 2009, 11:17 am
Celiac Disease Becoming More Common

By Tara Parker-PopeCeliac disease, a serious immune system reaction to the protein in wheat and other grains, is far more common today than it was 50 years ago, a new study shows.
People who have celiac disease can’t tolerate gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye or barley. Life with celiac is difficult because gluten is found in many medications and processed foods. When gluten is consumed, the body’s immune system damages the small intestine and nutrients can’t be absorbed.
While it’s been known that the incidence of celiac is on the rise, it hasn’t been clear whether doctors are simply looking for it more often, and therefore finding more cases. But new research from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., suggests that the disease is four times more common today than it was in the 1950s, and not just because doctors are more likely to test for it.
The study, published in the journal Gastroenterology, analyzed blood samples collected from 9,133 healthy adults collected at Warren Air Force Base between 1948 and 1954. Another 12,768 gender-matched subjects from a study in Olmsted County, Minn., were also analyzed for signs of celiac disease.
Of the blood samples collected 50 years ago, only 0.2 percent had celiac disease. In the more recent blood samples, the incidence of celiac disease was more than four times greater. Today, it’s estimated that about one in 100 people have celiac disease.
Doctors don’t know why celiac is on the rise. It may be due to changes in the way wheat is grown and processed, or the ubiquity of gluten in medications and processed foods. Symptoms of celiac disease include diarrhea, abdominal pain and weight loss. Nutritional problems are also common, and anemia, loss of teeth and premature bone loss can occur.
The trend is concerning because celiac disease is often misdiagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome or another condition. It’s been estimated that for every person diagnosed with celiac disease, another 30 people have it but haven’t been diagnosed. Once diagnosed, the disease can be managed by eating a gluten-free diet. But when people don’t know they have the problem and continue to eat gluten-containing products, the intestines become severely damaged, leading to long-term health problems and a higher risk of dying compared to people who don’t have celiac.
From Celiac Disease Becoming More Common - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

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My treatment: Oil pulling daily; candida diet (minimum of carbs, no sugars); omega-3 from canned salmon and sardines; sun exposure 10-15 minutes, 3 days a week, without sunblock; program to strengthen immune system; probiotic supplements; lots of water; moderate daily exercise; exfoliation with epsom salts and sugar several times a week. KP reduced 99%. If I go "off diet" -- grains, sugars, etc. -- or stop oil pulling, KP returns.

Thanks! You may like to look at this Dr's blog:
The Heart Scan Blog: Wheat

He's WAY onto the gluten-free boat for heart-health reasons, nothing to do with celiac, tho there is commentary about that.

Also, while wheat is not GMO, it has been bred into a hybrid that is quite unlike what our ancestors would have been growing thousands of years ago. Perhaps by breeding it to have more and more gluten in it, we have created more celiacs....

__________________
- bd: 45 yo F; I stopped scrubs, using salicylic acid after shower + homemade lotion; Burt's carrot soap or clean&clear on face; homemade body butter with Citric Acid as AHA; reg. exercise; OilPulling; a basic multi-vite plus Vit D, o3s, spirulina; eating GLUTEN-FREE DIET for Celiac Disease, and not much dairy as I get allergic reaction; Arms 95% clear, face neck chest 90%, legs 90% clear, butt is 99% clear. All dietary treatments above help reduce my sinus congestion and joint pain.