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On page 5 of "Good Food, Gluten Free" is this paragraph:
 
                On 21st November 1971, the OBSERVER published
        the report of a journalist that a medical student at
        Bristol University (now a qualified doctor) had made
        a special study of the finger prints of celiacs and
        found them missing.  This had aroused the interest of
        the police, who were concerned that there should exist
        in Great Briatain 25,000 people without fingerprints...
 
My best friend, who is also(by great coincidence!!) newly on the
gluten-free, milk-free diet showed me her fingers, and sure enough--no
fingerprints.  I remember back in my old eczema days, from age 4 to middle
thirties, I had NO FINGERPRINTS then either.  Have others noticed this lack
of fingerprints also?  Could this be an aid in diagnosing gluten
intolerance?  Are there any other known disease conditions that have no
fingerprints as a feature?
 
I am not able to afford expensive diagnostic tests and biopsies, and deeply
suspect I am a victim of gluten intolerance.  I have been on the
gluten-free/milk-free diet three weeks and have been feeling much worse
instead of better.  I had severe eczema as a child, teenager, and adult
until my middle thirties.  Then when the eczema left, manic-depression and
arthritis took it's place.  My family has a history of auto-immune
disorders, so I do hope that even though it looks bleak right now, soon I
will be feeling better.
 
BTW:  I had SEVERE colic as a child.  When my children were born they were
100% breast fed the first 8 months.  They had SEVERE colic whenever I ate
anything I was allergic to, including any gluten or milk; there were other
foods in addition to those that I was allergic to, however.  When I ate the
offending food, something must have turned up in my breastmilk within 2-3
hours that caused those babies to scream for the next 24 hours; in addition
to that, they would spit up or even vomit.  I was lucky to have a friend who
told me that the colic was caused by my own eating habits.  When the second
child was born, she was covered with a red rash.  Since I had eaten a lot of
milk products the week before she arrived, I suspected that.  She cried all
night her first night after birth.  But after that I was strict about what I
ate, and she rarely ever cried from colic again, and never spit up.  Yet she
is the child afflicted with eczema now.
 
Lynn in Ellensburg, Washington
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