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Thanks to Diana Day for posting on Monday about the New Yorker article by Michael Specter. The article is here, for those who haven't read it: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/03/grain?utm_source=tny

I am interested in the feedback of our list mates. If you send me your thoughts, I'll post them to the list all together.

I posted my response to the article here: https://www.facebook.com/CeliacCommunityFoundation/posts/866977940014105


On Twitter, the response to the article has been overwhelmingly positive, with praise for his writing, and readers calling it "a gem," "terrific," "perspicacious," "excellent," "epic," "fascinating" and "definitive." Referencing the article, readers are calling non-celiac gluten sensitivity a "myth," a "fallacy," "nuttiness," "hysteria" and, my personal favorite, a "bourgeois affectation."


It's gluten-free-bashing for the intelligentsia, and adds gravitas to the general backlash against everyone on a gluten-free diet. Few people will perceive the token efforts at balance in this article. 


It's particularly unfortunate that the article uses extensive quotes from the same celiac experts who contributed to the international consensus definition of non-celiac gluten sensitivity in Oslo in 2011 (http://gut.bmj.com/content/62/1/43.full.pdf+html). Their legitimate concerns and frustrations about the fad component of the gluten-free diet are being used to bolster Michael Specter's skepticism that the gluten-free diet could help anyone who doesn't have celiac disease. As the author says on Twitter: "You gave up gluten and it’s changed your life. Really?"


Thoughtful readers will be more drawn to the recent series of New York Times articles on gluten-related disorders.

The bottom line is that articles like the one in the New Yorker make it harder on a daily basis to be on a medically-prescribed gluten-free diet. Until the general anti-gluten-free hysteria dies down and scientific facts about the rise in celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity emerge, it's good to have the virtual company of our national community on this list.

Again, if you send me your thoughts about the New Yorker article, I'll post them to the list all together.

Thanks!

Jennifer

Jennifer Iscol
President
Celiac Community Foundation of Northern California
P.O. Box 1506
Healdsburg, CA 95448
www.celiaccommunity.org
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