A Good Read: New Information on Gluten Free Market

Check out the following article recently published on MSNBC.com titled "Malady Stricken Consumers Find Relief in Booming Gluten-Free Food and Beverage Market".

See below for some interesting updates on the Gluten Free Market.

• The market for gluten-free food and beverage products grew at a compound annual growth rate of 28% from 2004 to 2008 to finish with almost $1.6 billion in retail sales last year (2008).


• Projections show that ensuing years will experience double-digit growth due to an overwhelming number of positive factors, the most important of which is the existence of more gluten-free products in stores through both product introduction and the conversion of existing products to gluten-free status.


• By 2012, the market is expected to reach about $2.6 billion in sales.


• The increased diagnosis of celiac disease has been a catalyst and driving force in the gluten-free food and beverage market, rescuing it from being generally regarded as a mere fad popular within the health conscious populace.


• To meet consumer demand, more than 225 marketers introduced new gluten-free products into the United States in 2008. From supermarkets with private-label brands to single product-line specialty marketers, every conceivable type of food and beverage marketer in the U.S. introduced new products into the market last year.

The data above is according to market research publisher Packaged Facts in the brand-new report, "The Gluten-Free Food and Beverage Market: Trends and Developments Worldwide, 2nd Edition."

A Good Read: The History of Celiac Disease

Check out the Celiac Disease / Gluten Free Diet Time Line which was recently published in this celiac.com article by Jefferson Adams. Some pretty interesting information about the history of Celiac Disease and the Gluten Free Diet.

A Celiac Disease / Gluten-Free Diet Time Line

250 A.D.—The first written account of celiac symptoms in western medicine occurs when the Greek Physician, Aretaeus the Cappadocean, known as Galen, describes the characteristic stool, noting that the disease was more common in women than men and that children can also be affected.

1669—The Dutch physician Vincent Ketelaer publishes a book that contains an account of a diarrheal illness in which he notes feces so voluminous that, "several basins or pots scarcely hold these accumulations."

1737—John Bricknell writes of patients who suffer from what he terms the "white flux.” Both Ketelaer and Bricknell were likely describing celiac disease, though that name would not be attached it for another century and a half.

1887—Dr. Samuel Gee ushers in the modern era of celiac disease, when he drew attention to the disorder in a lecture delivered at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London.

1888—Gee publishes his classic paper, "On the Coeliac Affection,” in which he describes aspects of the celiac disease with great accuracy and suggests that, "if the patient can be cured at all, it must be by means of diet.” He experimented with various diets and noted that children who were fed a quart of the best Dutch mussels daily, throve splendidly, but relapsed when the season for mussels ended.

1908—British Physician Christian Herter becomes the first to discover that celiac disease can cause stunted growth, especially among children in their middle years.

1921—British Physician John Howland devises the healthy, three-stage diet for celiac patients known as the milk/protein diet.

1932—Danish physician Thorwald Thaysen provides the first clinical explanation of celiac disease in adults, though he lacks detailed knowledge on intestinal pathology for a full understanding of the disease.

1950—Dutch pediatrician Willem Karel Dicke isolates cereal grains as the factor in aggravating the symptoms of celiac disease, especially in children.

1954—Experimenting with surgical biopsy material, Doctor J. W. Paulley makes the first discovery of the intestinal lesions caused by celiac disease in patients.

1955—Margo Shiner invents the tiny biopsy tube that is still used today for confirming the presence of celiac disease in the small intestines. The important celiac disease discoveries of Paulley and Shiner meant that, from the mid 1950s onwards, doctors had a means by which to reliably diagnose the disease. Their discoveries gave rise to an explosion in the understanding of celiac disease that continues to this day.

1965—Dermatologists recognize that people suffering from the itchy skin rash, dermatitis herpetiformis, have an abnormal jejunal biopsy just like those with celiac disease and that the rash usually subsides with the observance of a gluten-free diet.

1970—In the early 1970s, researchers identify genetic markers for celiac disease. Even though the gene or genes that cause celiac disease have not been identified, researchers remain hopeful that they will succeed in doing so, and thereby give rise to a new generation of celiac treatments that do not require a gluten-free diet.

1980s—Fiber optic technology enables doctors to take small bowel biopsies using fiber-optic endoscopes, while the development of reliable screening blood tests greatly increases the number of celiac diagnosis.

1981—The Codex Alimentarius Commission establishes the earliest standards for gluten-free food. Under this original standard, foods labeled “gluten-free” must be made from naturally gluten-free grains, such as corn or rice or from gluten grains (wheat, barley, rye) that had been rendered gluten free through processing. At the time, there was no way to test for the presence of gluten, so tests gauged the levels of gluten by measuring nitrogen levels, an imprecise method.

~1985—It is discovered that gliadin initiate damage to the absorptive epithelium of the small intestine to produce symptoms of celiac disease in susceptible individuals.

1990s—Early in the decade, doctors thought celiac disease to be rare and affect just 40,000 or so Americans. Over the last decade or so, the number of Americans diagnosed with celiac disease has nearly tripled, to 110,000, but that’s just the start. The National Institutes of Health now estimates that about 1% of the population, or about 3 million people suffer from celiac disease, and that only about 3% of existing cases have been diagnosed. A full 97% of celiac cases remain undiagnosed. That’s about 2.9 million people who remain undiagnosed and in danger. More and more of those who are diagnosed are reporting no symptoms.

1995—Scott Adams launches Celiac.com in San Francisco, California, one of the first websites dedicated to celiac disease. The site quickly evolves into one of the most authoritative, informative, and comprehensive sources for celiac disease and gluten-free diet information. The celiac.com forum is one of the most popular places on the web for people with celiac disease to get answers and share information.

1996—Alessio Fasano, MD, publishes his seminal study in the Archives of Internal Medicine that indicates that 1 in 133 people in the USA have celiac disease.

1998—Codex Alimentarius revises its standards for foods labeled ‘gluten-free’ to be made from naturally gluten-free ingredients and contain 20 parts gluten per million, or less, while foods processed to be reduce gluten, such as wheat starch, can have no more than 200 parts per million gluten.

1998—The Gluten-Free Mall (www.GlutenFreeMall.com) launches its "Special Diet Superstore!" to provide home delivery of top quality foods and other products that are free of wheat, rye and barley gluten, soy, dairy, eggs, corn, and other common allergens. The Gluten-Free Mall now sells thousands of gluten-free products including breads, cookies, cakes, pizzas, mixes, full meals, frozen foods, cosmetics, gluten-free guides, books, and more.

1997 to 2007, the number of people under-18 diagnosed with food or digestive allergies rises nearly 20%, and nearly 3 million young people now suffer from food allergies. About 12 million Americans suffer from a food allergy, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, with nearly 90% of all food allergies arising from reactions to just eight foods: Cow’s milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, soy and wheat.

2000—Scientists at the University of Maryland discover Zonulin, which is a protein that participates in tight junctions between cells of the wall of the digestive tract.

Since 2004, food retailers have added nearly 2,500 new gluten free products to their shelves.

2007—Studies show a high instance of arthritis and osteoporosis in people with celiac disease, and other studies show a high prevalence of celiac disease among people with type-1 diabetes.

2008—A team of researchers works to develop a simple saliva test after concluding that it is possible to accurately measure salivary tTG-Abs; both at initial diagnosis for celiac disease, and also while patients are following a gluten-free diet.

2008—Rates of celiac disease are shown to be 2.5 times higher among elderly people than among the general population.

2009—Canada debuts the home celiac disease test kit as part of its national health care plan.

2009—The company Nexpep is currently preparing for a clinical trial program for a peptide-based therapeutic vaccine, and intends to commence a Phase 1 in the first half of 2009. According to Nexpep, the peptide-based therapeutic vaccine is designed to treat the main problem T-cell epitopes of gluten, and has the potential to treat at about 80% of people with celiac disease and the appropriate genetic background.

2009—Sometime this year the US FDA is expected to adopt long awaited regulations for the use of the term "gluten-free" on USA food labels. The new regulation would require foods with "gluten-free" on their labels to contain less than 20 parts per million of gliadin.

Several pharmaceutical companies are currently working on treatments for celiac disease, such as Alvine Pharmaceuticals (enzyme therapy), and Alba Therapeutics is developing a zonulin receptor antagonist called AT-1001, which is currently in phase 2 clinical trials.

2012—All food made in the E.U. with ‘gluten-free’ on its label must contain less than 20 parts per million of gliadin, in accordance with the Codex Alimentarius standards.

A Good (Scary) Read: Chicago Tribune Follow-up Article

As a follow-up to their previous investigation into mislabeled Gluten Free foods, the Chicago Tribune is at it again. If you feel like being sick to your stomach, read on.

Click here for the latest article from the Chicago Tribune where they reviewed thousands of items at more than 60 locations and found over 100 products with labels that violate federal food labeling laws. The newspaper also conducted 50 lab tests which is more than the FDA and USDA (our supposed regulators) have done over the last few years combined!

A Good Read: Making Sure Your Food is GF

Check out the following article from Tricia Thompson's Diet.com Blog about Celiac Disease and the GF Diet which has 6 questions to ask food manufacturers to ensure your food is Gluten Free.

The list includes...
1) Ask manufacturer if facility is dedicated to GF products. If not, ask if the production line is dedicated to GF products. If not, ask about their cleaning standards (I tend to shy away from eating things on shared lines no matter the cleaning standards). You can also check to see if they test their food regularly when it comes off the production line (using either R5 ELISA or the omega-gliadin ELISA). 20 PPM is the level of gluten you are looking for here.

2) Check the manufacturer's Certificate of Analysis which will show their ingredient suppliers also follow strict standards for identifying gluten. Same tests apply here (R5 ELISA and the omega-gliadin ELISA). Again, 20 PPM.

3) Check if the manufacturer has been certified by the GFCO.

It also has the link to the proposed FDA rule on Gluten Free food labeling which should be officially released in the next few months. It's an interesting read.

A Good Read: Celiac Vaccine?

Check out this article about a potential Celiac Vaccine being studied in the UK.

A quote from the article...

We have developed a peptide-based therapeutic vaccine based on the dominant problem T-cell epitopes of gluten. The "vaccine" has the potential to treat at about 80% of people with the disease and having the appropriate genetic background. In common with traditional desensitization therapy for allergy, peptide-based therapeutic vaccines administered in many small doses over a course of injections could induce immune tolerance not only to the selected gluten fragments but also suppress the toxicity of other toxic gluten components," explained Dr Anderson. Dr Anderson is joint founder and CEO of Nexpep Pty Ltd, the company developing the coeliac vaccine in Australia. Dr Anderson said, "Nexpep is currently raising capital for a clinical trial program for a peptide-based therapeutic vaccine and intends to commence a Phase 1 clinical trial in the first half of 2009.

Interesting...

A Good Read: Newsweek Article about GF Diet

Check out this Newsweek article about the Gluten Free Diet. Although only approximately 3 million Americans have Celiac Disease and are thus required to eat GF, 15 to 30 million Americans are buying Gluten Free products. The article states that $2 billion worth of GF products were purchased in the last year by people with Celiac, ADHD, Autism, pregnant women and other food allergies. Heck, even Oprah went on a 21-day GF cleansing this past summer. We've all heard about Jenny McCarthy and her autistic son going GF with good results.

Are these people good or bad for those of us who are medically required to eat GF? There is no medical proof to my knowledge about the benefits of eating GF for anything other than Celiac. On one hand, they are helping to drive the market for GF products with increased demand. This means there will be more available. On the other hand, with most diet fads in America, this too may fizzle out and once those extra GF folks leave so will the manufacturers, right? Only time will tell. For now, I will enjoy the new products coming to market and hope they stay around (the good ones at least)!

Hopefully all this attention (good or bad) will kick the FDA/USDA in the pants as well!

A Good Read: Gluten Intolerance Group 2008 Summary

I recently received the following from the Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG) which details what they accomplished in the year 2008 and what they look forward to in the future. Some interesting things in the message.

The GIG is a national support group (how many of these do we ha for those with Celiac Disease, Gluten Intolerance, dermatitis herpetiformis and other Gluten sensitivities.

Read below for the message...

Dear GIG Supporters,

In today's uncertain times, everyone has felt the crunch of rising costs and an unstable economy. Despite the state of the markets, national leaders in nonprofit management encourage donors to open their hearts and give more to serve a wider need. The need continues to grow in the gluten-free community. Over 25 million people are now purchasing gluten-free foods and are also searching for answers for better health. Hundreds of persons with Celiac disease and other forms of gluten intolerance seek help from the GIG office each month, not to mention the consumer emails and calls of those already living the gluten-free lifestyle.

We task ourselves to manage the resources entrusted to us, to use them effectively for the greatest good.

GIG is proud of our 2008 accomplishments:
The major accomplishments in our social programs include:
•100% support of kids requesting scholarships for GIG Kids Camp
•100% support of those requesting scholarships for the Annual Education conference
•All day leadership training event attended by 75% of our Branch leaders
•Working cooperatively with companies to provide education support and resources to consumers
•On-going support through individual consultations to gluten-free consumers, health care professionals and food companies.

The major accomplishments in our industry programs include:
•Increased company participation in the Gluten Free Certification (GFCO) program by 93% during 2008
•Increased restaurant participation in the Gluten Free Restaurant Awareness Program (GFRAP) by 65 new locations
•Launched the market trial of the Gluten Free Food Service Training and Management Accreditation program with food services of various sizes, including a major food service provider in health care, schools and universities. This program provides Best Practices for gluten-free food service production, training and management.

Our pledge for 2009 is to:
1.Enhance consumer support through additional education information and enhanced awareness
2.Meet the growing consumer needs with little or no increase in program costs
3.Support our employees and volunteers in a manner that is reasonable and in keeping with best practices for nonprofits
4.Continue to work closely with more manufacturers to provide resources, information and support to their consumers about products
5.Provide speakers nationally and locally to consumer groups, the public, health care providers and the food industry
6.Increase awareness of gluten sensitivity through direct marketing opportunities with retailers, manufacturers, schools, and in the health industry through increased publications, lectures and exhibits at consumer and professional conferences, such as THRIVE, Digestive Disease Week, Natural Market Expo and the American Dietetic Association Conference
7.Expand GIG Industry Programs nationally and internationally

We can do so much more, with your help, to support all persons with Celiac disease and other forms of gluten intolerances; the health care professionals needing patient handouts; food companies and retailers who want to support persons living a gluten-free diet. Your help through cash contributions, in-kind donations, and the gifts of your time and skills can make it easier for these persons to live daily, a healthy gluten-free life.

Remember the appreciation you have felt when someone is there for you to talk to giving needed guidance. Help GIG to be the helping hands that brings support to a child, teen, adult and the elderly.

Every dollar makes a difference.

You may make donations via our website www.gluten.net
or mail to GIG, 31214 124th Ave SE, Auburn, WA 98092-3667
or fax with Visa or MasterCard credit card number to: 253-833-6675

Thank you for being a GIG supporter.

May you and your family be blessed with love, good health, and happiness during the holidays and the coming year.

A Good Read: Xanthan Gum Issues?

Here's a good read from the folks at Celiac.com about potential issues with Xanthan Gum which is a very common ingredient in Gluten Free foods. The author recommends Guar Gum instead.

A quote from the article...

Some people develop an allergy to xanthan, with gastrointestinal symptoms such as bloating, gas, and diarrhea. Even consumption of a very minor amount can lead to days and days of recovery and many trips to the bathroom. Hmm. Sound like anything we've heard before? And that's the problem. Experiencing a xanthan reaction can make you question your gluten-free diet, make you think you were accidentally exposed to gluten, or mystify you completely.

Anybody had issues with Xanthan Gum?

A Good (Scary) Read

See below for the Chicago Tribune's investigation into Allergy Threat: Mislabeling, lax oversight threaten people with allergies. This makes me feel pretty sick. This should be a call to action for those of us unlucky enough to suffer from a food allergy. Why do the food companies and not the FDA decide when to do a recall? Why does the food company get to write the recall information press release which often times looks more like an advertisement than a safety recall? Sometimes the food companies never even issue a recall (about 50% of the time) even though the FDA knows about the issue and considers the products as "likely to cause serious harm or death". Why is there no standard for labeling your product "Gluten Free"?

What is going on with the FDA and USDA (click the links to contact them)?

Part one - "Children at risk in food roulette"

Part two - "A recipe for disaster: Whole Foods' handling of chocolate bar shows how warnings fail" (A warning about Whole Foods' "good manufacturing practices [were] used to segregate ingredients in a facility that also processes milk, wheat and soy ingredients." Label).

The Chicago Tribune has also created an Allergy Recall tracking database where you can search all allergy-related food recalls from the last 10 years by product, allergen, recalling firm, kind of food or by using multiple fields. The Tribune found that nearly 2,800 recalls have occurred in the last ten years (an average of 5 per week) due to hidden allergens.

ALSO - Wellshire Farms is a company featured in the first article. Here is their official response statement. It includes the words"Our Wellshire products are tested at a level of 200 ppm or less, which is equivalent to 99.98% gluten free." Most Gluten Free people I have spoken with aim for zero ppm while Europe and the new proposed FDA regulations suggest 20 ppm. Feel free in joining me in writing a letter to Louis B. Colameco, III President of Wellshire to share your concern.

Anybody else have an uneasy feeling in their stomachs?
What are you going to do about it?

UPDATE- See the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network Web site for information about Allergy recalls. You can also sign up for email alerts.

UPDATE - See Enjoy Life's CEO response to the Tribune investigation - "Long Overdue"

A Good Read

Check out the following article for a good read on Red Robin and Biaggi's and how they cater to allergy diners. I have not been to either restaurant but plan to in the future. Both have a Raleigh presence. Please comment if you have had good/bad experiences with either of these places.