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

              Anita Diaz <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>This new GI ... guys feelings about a gf diet, he seems to think it
>would be almost impossible to be 100% gf so he doesn't push his patients
>towards that end.  He says if I'm 80% gf,maintaining my weight & feeling
>ok-that's satisfactory.  He doesn't feel the increased cancer risk is a
>big threat and kind of said the only problem with not being gf is the
>diarrhea, he gave me a prescription for immodium and said to take 2-8
>daily even on days I don't have diarrhea to control it.

Anita, I am not a doctor, but like many of our listmates, I have read many
articles about Celiac and I think it is not an exaggeration to say that
your new GI is asking you to take some dangerous risks with your body.  If
a typical gluten diet is about 60 grams per day, and considering the prior
discussions on this list showing intestinal damage with as little as 100
milligrams of gluten per day, even 99% gluten free is not good enough for a
biopsy-confirmed celiac (that would be 600 mg per day). The list of
secondary disorders from the consumption of gluten by celiacs is
unfortunately quite extensive, and includes far more than diarrhea and
cancer.

For the sake of his other patients, you might wish to print out the
MXGLUTEN file at our websites (
http://rdz.stjohns.edu/lists/celiac/index.html   or

http://www.fastlane.net/homepages/thodge/archive.htm ) and give it to your
      doctor.  This is a lengthy discussion by the cel-pro experts on the
      topic of the maximum amount of gluten which a Celiac can safely
      tolerate in an average daily diet.

Bill Elkus

Los Angeles