<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Hi there everybody

Firstly, thank you everybody who has responded to my questionnaire on
allergies.  I have been overwhelmed by the response. I am going to be
sorting them all out in the next two days and I will post a summary up
here.  It seems as if there are a lot of people who respond immediately to
gluten and have allergies in their family so the possibility of an
allergy/CD connections seems quite high.  The implications of my study
would be to reduced the gluten content in so called "gluten free" foods to
a level which can be tolerated by people with severe food allergies.  At
the moment the amount of gluten allowed in these foods is too high for some
people. This is especially more true here in the UK.  This will be better
for all celiacs in the long run because there is still no proof that
residual gluten does not have a long term effect on CD.

I will repeat my questionnaire here for everybody, please only fill it in
if you haven't done so already.  Please fill it in, even if you do not get
immediate symptoms to gluten, this will help balance my study.

Again, thank you so much, after I have handed my proposal in, I will make
it available to all those who submitted me a questionnaire.

Sarah Bauermeister (UK)

...........................................................................

Hello Everyone

I am studying an MSc in Allergy at the University of Southampton Medical
School, here in England, UK.

My thesis is "The presence of IgE to wheat and gluten in patients with
celiac disease".

Celiac Disease involves the IgA antibody, IgE is the antibody that causes
allergic reactions to say, peanuts, bee stings, certain foods; the
significant difference being an immediate response.

Some celiacs respond to gluten in this way, including myself.  My study is
going to involve testing celiacs for IgE to gluten and wheat to find out
how many celiacs are having immediate responses to gluten because of the
addition of the allergy as well.  It has often been a confused topic
because of the "untypical" response and these celiacs, myself included,
have just been termed "super sensitive".

This study could mean manufacturers  aiming for a 0% rate of gluten and
wheat in gluten free products or to reduce the level of 20ppm to 10ppm or
below.

If anyone would like to help me in my research, would you mind please
answering the following questions and mailing them back to me.  These
questions would be relevant to all celiacs, not just those with immediate
symptoms.

Thank you so much for any help, I will keep you up to date with my study.

- Do you have immediate symptoms to gluten or wheat? (Within 30-60 minutes)

- If yes, what are these symptoms?

- Do you have other allergies? (Food, hay fever, animals, dust etc.)

- Have you been tested for these allergies, please detail.

- Do you have allergies in your family/close relatives? (Food allergies,
  Hay fever, eczema, asthma etc.)

- Any other comments or questions are most welcome.

- Do you mind being contacted again with regards to my study?


Kind regards
Sarah Bauermeister (UK)

* Please carefully compose your subject lines in all posts *