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

Many dermatologist who know about Dermatitis Herpetiformis(DH) are telling
patients with DH that iodine should be avoided in the diet.
An iodine patch was used early on to determine DH. If the skin blistered
the individual was considered to have DH. Some doctors are still using the
method. The newer method is to perform a simple biopsy of the skin and
using an immunofluorescence examination by a pathologist to identify the
antibodies. This method is said to be 100% accurate if done correctly.

The following was taken from the Sprue-Nik PRESS Eighteenth Edition, March
1995 "Celiac in the 90s," summarized by Jim Lyles:
Dr. Joseph Murray, of the University of Iowa, is a gastroenterologist that
specializes in treating Celiac disease. He gave a talk entitled "Celiacs in
the 90s" at a conference hosted by the American Celiac Society on June
10-11, 1994. According to Dr. Murray about 5% of celiac patients also have DH.

Not much has been said about iodine for celiacs without DH. Maybe that
question should be asked of the group on this list.

If anyone would like, I will send you a summary of the responses to the
subject "IODINE" posted on March 19, l997 to this list. (If there is a great
request, I will post the summary to the list.)
Bill Vellios, Ballwin, MO, USA