This is a very good point. My ex-husband and his twin have celiac
disease to a lifethreatening degree.  Their two sisters don't APPEAR
to have problems with gluten unless they eat too much. Their older
sister once moved near a really good bakery (in NYC) and discovered
that she did have a problem after ending up in the hospital.  There
was some speculation about 20 years ago (from cluster studies of
birth locations) that people genetically predisposed to celiac could
be affected (ie, have a worsening of the genetic predisposition) by
industrial pollutants during gestation, primarily heavy metals. The
boys were born in NYC, and the girls both in Detroit.  I don't know
what ever became of this line of research, but I'm happy to just
stay away from cereal grains and feel the better for it.  Often
people have no idea what wellness feels like, and will just go one
eating what everyone else is eating until they're really ill.

Molly

> Real-To:  Lisa Sporleder <[log in to unmask]>
>
> I bet you know people who are gluten intolerant, but they just don't know it!
> I started the Atkins diet in January 1996, and last September I discovered
> that I was allergic to wheat flour by eating a piece of birthday cake I'd
> made for a friend.  Flour was the only ingredient in that cake that I'd not
> eaten in the previous 4 months.  The cake precipitated an immediate asthma
> attack, and I remembered that I used to feel that way all the time before
> going lowcarb, and just dealt with it.  I'm hopeful that going to a full
> paleo diet will allow me to shed the remaining seasonal allergies and asthma.
> Next spring will tell.  (By the way, I'm northern European descent, too:
> German, Swedish, English, Irish.)
>
> Lisa Sporleder
> Ester, Alaska  (75 degrees, sunny, 20h 18min possible sunshine today!)
>
> >I've never heard that Celiac Disease is in any way prominent among Jews;
> >and have never known a Jew with Celiac Disease; in fact, in the flesh
> >I've only known one person who was gluten intolerant, and he was Gentile
>
>