Welcome to the Gluten Free Raleigh Blog. This blog focuses on living with Celiac Disease and successfully navigating the Gluten Free Lifestyle in Raleigh, NC.
Own, Manage or Cook at a restaurant? Are you a Dietitian with Celiac patients? Interested in becoming certified Gluten Free? The Gluten Free Raleigh Blog can help. Click the picture above for more information.
1 out of every 133 Americans (about 3 million people or 1% of population) has Celiac Disease.
97% of Americans estimated to have CD are not diagnosed.
CD has over 300 known symptoms although some people experience none.
Age of diagnosis is key: If you are diagnosed between age 2-4, your chance of getting an additional autoimmune disorder is 10.5%. Over the age of 20, that rockets up to 34%.
30% of the US population is estimated to have the genes necessary for CD.
2.5 babies are born every minute in the USA with the genetic makeup to have CD.
There are 15 states in the US with populations less than the total number of Celiacs in the US.
CD affects more people in the US than Crohn’s Disease, Cystic Fibrosis, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease combined.
500,000 new Celiac diagnoses are expected to occur in the US by 2012 -- thanks to efforts to raise public awareness of the disease.
People with CD dine out 80% less than they used to before diagnosis and believe less than 10% of eating establishments have a 'very good' or 'good' understanding of GF diets.
It takes an average of 11 years for patients to be properly diagnosed with CD even though a simple blood test exists.
The average cost of misdiagnosis is $5,000 - $12,000 per person per year. Improving the time to diagnosis could save the health care system millions of dollars annually in unnecessary medical care.
A recent study by Packaged Facts projects that the sales of GF food will reach $2.63 Billion by 2012. The GF market is also projected to hit $5 Billion by 2015.
GF foods are, on average, 242% more expensive then their non-GF counterparts.
The smallest amount of gluten which has been shown by a biopsy to cause damage to a Celiac is 0.1 gram per day - or 1/48th of a slice of bread.
The Food Allergen Labeling & Consumer Protection Act became law in 2006 allowing for easier reading of food labels for those with CD but the law only requires labeling of wheat. Nearly 5 years later, the FDA still has not finalized what it means to label a product Gluten Free.
12% of people in the US who have Down Syndrome also have CD.
8% of people in the US who have Type 1 Diabetes also have CD.
Among people who have a first-degree relative diagnosed with Celiac, as many as 1 in 22 people may have the disease. First degree relatives should be tested yearly for CD even if previous tests were negative.
There are currently 0 drugs available to treat CD.
New research will be funded by the US Government to develop "wheat varieties with reduced Celiac Disease-causing proteins" - basically Gluten Free Wheat. That's a novel idea but kinda hard to imagine. Arcadia Biosciences, Inc and Washington State University will use the $855,500 grant to conduct the research over the next 2 years. The Savvy Celiac blog has a great write up here. Somehow this seems like a good idea in concept but may be hard to put into place in the real world. Will there be GF wheat and normal wheat products? Will we have to read the label with even more confusion? What about barley and rye? Hmm...
Quick update for Asheville, NC and the Posana Cafe... There has been a lot of reviews done about this Gluten Free restaurant so I just wanted to spread the word. Another excellent review from the Celiac Chicks blog from New York City. Here is another article from Celiac-Disease.com. Can't wait to check this place out on my next visit to Asheville.
Check out a blog post from Custom Choice Cereal where they detail their use of Gluten Free cleaning supplies from Mrs. Meyer's Household Cleaners. This company takes Gluten Free seriously, right down to the products they use to clean their facility and hands!
Check out Gluten Free Durham's update on Gluten Free Week @ Camp Kanata here. With your help, Gluten Free Raleigh has raised nearly $1,200 for this camp. You can also check out Nancy Lapid's About.com Celiac Disease page for her summary of a recent study that shows summer camps really benefit kids with Celiac.
Gluten Free Greenie highlights the disappointing GF options during her recent visit to Duke Raleigh Hospital here. Yikes! We gotta do something about this!
Starbucks Gluten Free options expand. Check out the following from Triumph Gluten Free here as well as another write up from Celiac-Disease.com here. Dr. Lucy's cookies are now available. I've picked up the 3 varieties shown below at the Starbucks on Falls of Neuse (next door to ZPizza) and thought they were pretty good. Triumph also reviewed these cookies here.
Twin Cakes Bakery's latest newsletter says the following about their new Gluten Product Testing Policy...Product testing: We are in the process of randomly checking our products for gluten. We so far we have tested three products and all have come back negative! We will continue to product test all of our products to ensure quality and safety. (We are using the EZ Gluten testing)". This is great news! I highly encourage all companies that make Gluten Free products to test their products (or obtain an independent certification like GIG's GFCO) if they are not already doing so. I also highly encourage you as the GF consumer to support those companies going the extra mile (and expense) to prove to you that their products are safe.
Saw the following in the February 7th, 2010 bulletin (see page 7) from Sacred Heart Cathedral (Downtown Raleigh Catholic Church) about offering low gluten host for communion - "the Cathedral will make available the low gluten hosts for our gluten-intolerant parishioners." Just as an FYI, tests performed on these low gluten hosts have come back at 100 PPM.
Triumph Dining helps spread the word about the NC Dept. of Agriculture case versus Great Specialty Products and provides the FDA's phone number for you to call and tell them about it. They should know that their lack of action is leading to this fraudulent type of behavior. More to come on this case next week.
Chatham Street Cafe in Cary gets reviewed by the News & Observer. The review includes the mention that the restaurant has some Gluten Free items.
Hi Zach, About my trip to Raleigh Duke Cafe. A friend of mine read my blog and wrote the dietitian at the hospital before I got a chance, here's her response:
I received your complaint about the food selections in the Duke Raleigh Hospital Cafe and wanted to follow up with you. I really appreciate you bringing this to my attention and wanted to involve you by asking what we could have done better to meet your needs. If there are items we could stock or use signs for, please let me know. Celiac disease is a growing concern for our community and I want people dealing with all diets to find it easy to eat in our Cafe.
Thank you-
Jessica G. Zombek RD/LDN Duke Raleigh Hospital Director, Nutrition Services
I helped with the response but I was even more astounded by the letter. You are a dietitian, do you not know what to serve a person with Celiac? I kept thinking do they serve people in the hospital?
When I had out patient surgery at "Big" Duke, they wanted to give me something to eat before giving me a pain pill but had nothing to give me but graham crackers or saltines. Luckily, I had a snack in my purse.
Click the gavel for the latest information on the case of the fraudulent Gluten Free Baker.
Food Allergy Poster
Please click the link below to view the Food Allergy Education Poster.
Restaurant owners - please download, print and post in your kitchen to educate your staff!
Please see the following posts about my Petition to Wake County, NC for the requirement of posting a food allergy poster at every restaurant in the county.
1 comments:
Hi Zach, About my trip to Raleigh Duke Cafe. A friend of mine read my blog and wrote the dietitian at the hospital before I got a chance, here's her response:
I received your complaint about the food selections in the Duke Raleigh Hospital Cafe and wanted to follow up with you. I really appreciate you bringing this to my attention and wanted to involve you by asking what we could have done better to meet your needs. If there are items we could stock or use signs for, please let me know. Celiac disease is a growing concern for our community and I want people dealing with all diets to find it easy to eat in our Cafe.
Thank you-
Jessica G. Zombek RD/LDN
Duke Raleigh Hospital
Director, Nutrition Services
I helped with the response but I was even more astounded by the letter. You are a dietitian, do you not know what to serve a person with Celiac? I kept thinking do they serve people in the hospital?
When I had out patient surgery at "Big" Duke, they wanted to give me something to eat before giving me a pain pill but had nothing to give me but graham crackers or saltines. Luckily, I had a snack in my purse.
I just don't understand.
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