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Hi All--
My apologies for being so slow to get this summary
out...still learning how to get around in Huntsville
and interviewing for jobs.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond to my
question. I've just moved to Huntsville, Alabama, and
have had difficulty finding gf food, in addition to
not really having much of a sense that there are other
celiacs here. This prompted me to query the "experts"
about whether celiac disease could be less prevalent
here, or was it simply a case of underdiagnosis? A
whopping 52 people replied! This is how most of the
responses broke down: (don't shoot the messenger, I'm
just reporting!)
Probably underdiagnosed - 6
Those diagnosed don't patronize this list.
Prevalence no different than elsewhere.
Northern areas of U.S. seem more proactive.
Most docs in Huntsville don't have a clue (thanks for
the warning, Bill!)
There's a huge population of celiacs in Atlanta.
Southern cooking is different - biscuits & gravy are
sacred!
Use of internet is limited to recreation (jokes, porn,
music, video, etc.)
Docs are ignorant to celiac - 3
Nice people, but hard to get docs to listen or read
latest research.
Memphis and Nashville have large and active support
groups.
Celiacs are being diagnosed at the rate of several per
week in New Orleans.
See Dr. Rudert in Atlanta - 5
The following quotes are from a few replies I received
that I thought were representative of what people
wrote in general...very interesting theories and lots
of good information from everyone.
_______
I can't say for sure but I can speculate ... my Mom is
from the South, and she was very into cornbread and
rice and beans for starches, and lots of fat in
cooking. And grits. Maybe there is less dependence,
historically, on wheat -- and all that fat might
protect the intestine some. Anyway, I started having a
lot more problems after I left home: my roomate's
diets had more bread and pasta in them.
______
I certainly sympathize with your "Southern cooking"
dilemma. I deal with that with all my relatives.
They think I'm some sort of kook when it comes to
cooking because I steam almost all my vegetables.
They like boiling it until it's mushy in greasy water.
______
You should pose your question to Dr. Cynthia Rudert
who
practices in Atlanta and specializes in celiac
disease:
There's an "Ask the Doctor" collection at this
website:
http://www.clanthompson.com/day2day/d2dpg11.htm. I
don't know how you actually pose a question to Dr.
Rudert, but I'm sure you could inquire of the
listowners!
______
my theory is that the ethnicity of the people is at
the bottom of that. the Northern Italians show their
descent from the European Celts that settled in the Po
River valley (fair skin, blue or green eyes, blond or
brown hair), while the Southern Italians show a strong
influence from dark skinned, dark eyed, black haired,
and ultimately Middle Eastern peoples.
grain was domesticated in the Middle East, it was
probably not tolerated by the Celts.
my guess is that your observation is a combination of
ethnic mix and failure to diagnose.
______
This is an interesting premise...I saw an Larry King
Live program on MS w/Montel Williams, one of the
Osmond brothers & others. The words that were
being tossed around--envirtonmental trigger,
autoimmune response, etc. sound like they could have
beeen talking about celiac. One of the things
they mentioned was that rates of MS were less closer
to the equator, higher in colder areas of the
world....
I've heard a couple of things lately that suggest that
the target of a gluten reaction may be something other
than the GI tract (which is what the diagnosic tests
are looking for). Wouldn't it be wild if MS turned
out to be a gluten-mediated attack on the nervous
system...
______
Thanks, again, everyone!
Cheers,
Ayn/Alabama
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