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Dear All,

Some months ago I received the following e-mail.  I have
followed up a lot of the claims made in it since I am
peculiarly well placed to do so.  Not only am I married to
a Dane but my brother-in-law's wife (in Aalborg, Denmark)
is a consultant psychologist.  I have many contacts in the
Danish press, as I occasionally write articles and letters.

I can also readily read classical Norwegian (I have a
contact on "Aftonsbladet" in Oslo) and can get the gist of
most articles written in Swedish.

----------------------------------the e-mail----------------

I know Denmark has a lot of mental disease and I read
sometime ago they did experiments with the gluten free diet
and found those in lock up did so well that they were taken
out and when they were put back on gluten had to go back
into lockup those that stayed gf went home.  People go to
live all over the world that's how celiac disease is no
longer rare people marry or not and have children and
that's how the disease spreads.Many doctors don't look for
or diagnose celiac correctly. One side of my family came
from the sweedish descent and moved to Ger. and the other
from Germ. and then both came to this country, as did many
.Ireland is also full of people with Celiac and have come
here, you get the message? If you think beings I disagree
with you is being rude then I feel sorry for you, maybe
it's your male ego. Science has made many mistakes and I
believe this is one. If you think you have gotten so
exhausted on this then stop, we will just agree to
disagree. I've done a lot of study on this too , many
people have had to diagnose themselves to stop there
suffering, ( not my family ) a person can be exceedingly
more healthy to be completely gf . The Greeks found this
disease and gave it its name smarter than we are, I'd say.

People with allergys and intollerances are diagnosed with
celiac that's usually how they are diagnosed and most were
sick as children with constant flu and earaches.and then as
an adult they get sick and finally diagnosed eventually.

Vegetarians are healthy , I also think people shouldn't
drink milk , as veggies have more than enough calcium . I
do think the receipes have too much fat, sugar, and protein
too hard on the kidneys and liver  in even the general
population .and people drink too much soft drinks ,the
phosphorous ruins the bones . The Native Americans were a
healthy and strongpeople . One can get a juicer that
separates just the juice and be more healthy ,People today
are using Vitamins and herbs so there isn't any reason to
suffer from vitamin defeciency but eating gluten can and
does cause death I know my family has been through it .

Please understand just because you believe that something
is does not make it so,I also resent that you think my
opinion is rude I also care very greatly , you see it works
two ways .

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Now this is a very curious e-mail.  Vibeke, my
brother-in-law's wife does not know that there is a lot of
mental disease in Denmark, nor do any of my contacts there

- indeed they were extremely rude about the very idea.
They accept that Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is more
prevalent in far Northern and far Southern countries with
short days in winter but Denmark is no worse for this than
Scotland.  There are many sufferers in Alaska and northern
Canada too.  Why pick out Denmark.

The next claim is truly remarkable.  I have tried to find
any evidence in the literature, in popular literature by
asking journalists in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Holland
(because people always confuse Holland with the
Scandinavian states for some reason).  I've even been in
discussion with a US editor.  No-one has ever heard of this
and I have also searched back to the 60's in the scientific
literature, and read the contents list of every popular
health journal in Denmark for years back.  I have poked
around in the Swedish language version of the coeliac pages
in Finland (a large minority of Finn speak Swedish at
home).  The total result is exactly nothing.  I am forced
to the conclusion that this "study" is a figment of
someone's imagination.  No true study would have failed to
be found during the months I searched for it.

How intriguing to find that "the Greeks found this disease
and gave it its name."  I always thought an English doctor
did that in 1887 and another demonstrated the cause in the
1950's!

Sadly not only do we have to put up with unnecessary
rudeness from people but over and over, many things are
claimed which just "ain't so".  From reading this woman's
mail, you'd think I was an utter male chauvinist pig, when
in reality, I do my damndest to be a feminist (despite all
the male dominant behaviour I was taught by society in the
50's).

It really is vital to ensure that we don't allow our wishes
to dominate our honesty when writing to each other on this
list.  I started to search for safe levels of gluten
because I know well that the 39,000 members of the UK
Coeliac Soc almost without exception eat foods containing
(guestimate about 5 - 50 milligrams per day gluten/gliadin
equivalent) purified wheat starch, purified to Codex
Alimentarius standards.  Despite the claims of high cancer
levels in British coeliacs and continual sickness in
British coeliacs, the reality is that neither of these
claims are true either.

Why don't we do a study of matched UK and US coeliacs (same
age and as near identical life styles as possible) and then
look for any differences in their health that might be
related to the UK use of CA wheat starch?  There are
several researchers in the US who keep an eye on this list
and hopefully some in the UK and Eire also look from time
to time.  Nothing will help those for whom a particular
behaviour pattern has become a "religious" thing but most
people on this list want to KNOW if it makes a difference
(it must be extremely small if it does - that we can say
for certain already).

Sorry to have been a bit silent over the last few months.

Not only was I trying trace the claims in this e-mail but
this is my BUSY time and I too suffer slightly from SAD.

Regards

David

David J Walland
University of Bristol Radiation Protection Adviser
[log in to unmask]
Tel +44 (0)117 928 8323
Fax +44 (0)117 929 1209

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