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Hello,

I am sorry it has taken me so long to get my summary posted.  My questions
were:

1)  I have always read that a small amount of gluten ...trace amounts..will
damage the intestines the same as large amounts..I am wondering if anyone
knows what research has been conducted to substantiate that statement..
and

2)  It is also understood that damaging the intestine over and over (even
with trace amounts of gluten) increases our chance for intestinal lymphoma.
Does anyone know what the average persons chance of getting intestinal
lymphoma are..and what our odds are if we do continually damage our
intestines with trace amounts and what research has been done to
substantiate this statement..

Thanks to all who responded...some of the responses are listed
below...please note that everyone has heard the same stories, but no one
provided me with actual research that has been done to substantiate the
stories... I am not looking for a reason to cheat...I am very strict with my
gf diet.  However, It would be nice to actually have substantiated research
that tells us we need to panic with every crumb intake...  here are the
responses...thanks again.

1.  I was told by the doc in Tex it's like taking a little bit of poison
everyday and then you die.  Sometime or other it can build up enough to make
you kidneys quit and there is no return.  The risk of lymphoma is real
strong till about the eighth year of being gf.  Why play around and tempt
fate?

2.  Sorry I don't have specifics, but here's what I can tell you:  a couple
of years ago there was a presentation at Montreal Children's Hospital
organized by the English chapter of the local Canadian Celiac Group.  The
doctor - not sure if a PhD. or an MD presented the result of her study in
layman's terms for the group.  The study compared a gluten free celiac
control group with a group of celiac volunteers who added purified wheat
starch to their otherwise gluten free diets.  Biopsies confirmed that
intestinal damage was occurring even in the absence of symptoms.

3.  I have been celiac since I was 6 months old.  I am approaching my 40th
birthday.  When I was 18 I was part of a research study in England.  I had
the full range of tests and they confirmed that I had not out grown celiac.
I was then told that a tablespoon of gluten took six months to repair.  I
believe the statistics I quoted said that you increase your risk by 75%.
Staying gluten free presents no grater risk than anyone else.

4.  Probably the best answer to your question is the skin test for
tuberculosis, which you have probably had.  The test involves putting a
small amount of tuberculosis protein into your skin with a needle.  If you
are sensitive to TB any of your tissues will react to the TB protein.  Since
the test only exposes the place on your skin to the TB protein, only that
place reacts to the injection.  But what a reaction!  Red swollen and
painful.  And it lasts for about three weeks.  That reaction is permanent
even 70 years later whenever one is exposed.  The same mechanism is what
causes the damage to the intestines of people who have become sensitized to
gluten and it takes a very little bit.    As for your second question, the
number is seven times more frequent sticks in my mind, but I am not sure of
that.

5.  I did read a study once that mentioned that most celiacs would tolerate
any amounts of gluten under 10mg.  That is not a lot if you consider the
size of a 1,000 mg. vit c pill.  Ten mg. would be 1/l00 of that size.  I
have also read only that the odds are small for developing intestinal
lymphoma even if you quadruple the odds.

6.  10 people asked that I post any actual studies that substantiate, what
one person called "our possible unsubstantiated paranoia"

7.  A study was done and people were fed 1/48th of a slice of bread per day
and they had measurable intestinal damage.

8.  I heard we are safe if our consumption is less than a crouton size of
gluten at any one given time.


Thanks again for all your responses.  I must say, for a list this informed
we celiacs are not very informed.  Considering our complete lifestyle
changes and the difficulties involved with this diet, I FOR ONE WOULD LIKE
TO KNOW WHAT AMOUNT OF GLUTEN WILL DAMAGE MY INTESTINES TO THE POINT OF
CREATING A REAL RISK OF LYMPHOMA... if slight or no reactions are the only
consequence to ingesting trace amounts of gluten ..I would like to know
that.  I understand why people who get immediate or violent reactions to
slight amounts of gluten would avoid it like the plague, but if there isn't
any medical risk, shy of a minimal reaction (or sometimes no reaction) to
trace or small amounts.. our lifestyles could improve..don't you think?