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

                      Relatively Speaking...<7>
                      -------------------------
                            by Ann Whelan
              editor/publisher of _Gluten-Free Living_

Family members who would rather wrestle alligators than take a puff
from a cigarette are often the same members who are not receptive to
being tested for gluten intolerance.  In my experience and that of
many of the celiacs with whom I'm in contact, the vast majority of
celiac relatives are steadfast in their desire not to be tested for
Celiac Disease (CD), or even to know much more about it than they
already do.

Granted, they may love us and not really want to dwell on our illness.
Granted, not everyone is able to deal reasonably well with illness of
any kind.  Granted, our diet can be a pain in the collective family
neck, especially since most family encounters occur around a meal
where we might need a little extra attention--a family burden if I
ever heard of one, especially in competitive families!

And yes, granted, far too many relatives disbelieve the extent of our
involvement with the disease, our protestations of the span of
involvement of the disease itself, or perhaps even that we actually
have it.

Which means I'll bet you have a relative who has said:  "You think
everyone has Celiac Disease."..."I don't want to follow your
diet!"..."I'm not sick.  In fact, I'm healthy as a horse."..."Even if
I have it, I don't want to know."..."Give up beer when I'm not even
sick?  Forget it."..."I've had it.  I don't want to hear another word
about gluten."  No one in the world can cut you off faster than a
near-and-dear relative.

You may even have a niece or nephew whose CD symptoms are practically
written on his or her forehead?  An aunt or uncle whose
gastrointestinal upsets are part of family lore?  A grandparent who
died of gastrointestinal or other cancer?

And practically no one, at least no one interested in preventive
health, smokes any more, although those same non-smoking CD relatives
might well down pizza and beer with a Twinkie chaser, right in front
of your gluten-free eyes.

The reports from Drs. Ciclitira and Marsh [described elsewhere in
this newsletter] should make all our preventive-health-conscious-non-
smoking relatives sit up and pay attention, however reluctantly, to
the potential effects of gluten on their bodies.  It has long been
known that from 10 to 15 percent of first-degree relatives of gluten
intolerant individuals are gluten intolerant themselves.

Dr. Marsh enhances this figure in astonishing fashion:  Fully 50
percent of these 10 to 15 percent do not have symptoms of gluten
intolerance but do have a flat mucosa, the gold standard for
identifying Celiac Disease!  As we celiacs know, gluten neurotic
though we may be, a flat intestinal mucosa may do you as much good as
nicotine- and tar-blackened lungs.  With renowned British
understatement, Dr. Marsh has said, "There is a great predisposition
to malignancy in untreated gluten sensitivity."  He also says,
"There's no doubt that an adult, particularly with latent CD, may be
very predisposed to bone disease."

Far be it from me to get involved in any family dramas.  Trust me,
I've got plenty of my own--and yes, some of them involve suspected
gluten intolerance.  But I do have the additional information your
health-conscious relatives will need when they eventually decide to
find out whether or not they, too, are gluten sensitive.

The labs that do the serologic testing that helps identify gluten
sensitive individuals are:  IMMCO Diagnostics Inc. (800/537-TEST),
Immunopathology Lab, University of Iowa Hospitals (319/356-2688),
Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition Lab at the University of
Maryland (410/706-1997) and Specialty Laboratories (800/421-7110).  If
you'd like a copy of the brief article on serologic testing that
appeared on page 11 of the [May/June 1996] issue of _Gluten-Free
Living_, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to the address below.
Finally, I give blanket permission to reprint the "Report from
Digestive Disease Week, 1996" [which follows this article] as well
as this editorial to help educate relatives, physicians and others
about the dangers of gluten sensitivity.

Good luck in the family alligator pit.  Let me know how you do.  The
address is:  Gluten-Free Living, P.O. Box 105, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
10706.