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

<[log in to unmask]> said:

>>The following statement was taken from the Sprue-Nik PRESS Eighteenth
>>Edition, March 1995 "Celiac in the 90s," summarized by Jim Lyles. The
>>complete article can be found in the archives. If you wish I can e-mail
>>a copy to you....
>>
>> In the article Dr. Murray states that a celiac should treat gluten the
>>
>>same as one would treat rat poison. He states that even though you don't
>>have a reaction you are causing damage.

Because I'm providing evidence published since Dr. Murray's talk in 1995,
I unsuccessfully tried to reach him first at the Mayo Clinic for comments
on the following.

Nearly all posters to this list seem to think there's only one true celiac
diet for all who are gluten sensitive and ignore the fact that a variety
of other diets, varying by amounts of gluten allowed,  are used outside
the US. One memorable exception was a comment from Canada that surely
intestines being switched to a "GF" diet were the same in Canada as the
US;  so why were the diets  different?

Here's some recent  evidence from Finland comparing a diet with wheat
starch to one without, a eight year study that included very careful
intestinal comparisons. I don't have a copy of the article yet so I don't
know the average rate of gluten consumption, but can post later. Bear in
mind that the wheat starch involved was likely certified as washed enough
by the Finnish celiac society.

>> Scand J Gastroenterol 1999 Feb;34(2):163-9

Wheat starch-containing gluten-free flour products in the treatment of
coeliac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis. A long-term follow-up study.

Kaukinen K, Collin P, Holm K, Rantala I, Vuolteenaho N, Reunala T, Maki M

Dept. of Medicine, Tampere University Hospital, Finland.

BACKGROUND: We investigated whether wheat starch-based gluten-free
products are safe in the treatment of gluten intolerance. METHODS: The
study involved 41 children and adults with coeliac disease and 11 adults
with dermatitis herpetiformis adhering to a gluten-free diet for 8 years
on average. Thirty-five newly diagnosed coeliac patients at diagnosis and
6 to 24 months after the start of a gluten-free diet and 27 non-coeliac
patients with dyspepsia were investigated for comparison. Daily dietary
gluten and wheat starch intake were calculated. Small-bowel mucosal
villous architecture, CD3+, alphabeta+, and gammadelta+ intraepithelial
lymphocytes, mucosal HLA-DR expression, and serum endomysial, reticulin,
and gliadin antibodies were investigated. RESULTS: Forty of 52
long-term-treated patients adhered to a strict wheat starch-based diet and
6 to a strict naturally gluten-free diet; 6 patients had dietary lapses.

In the 46 patients on a strict diet the villous architecture, enterocyte
height, and density of alphabeta+ intraepithelial lymphocytes were similar
to those in non-coeliac subjects and better than in short-term-treated
coeliac patients. The density of gammadelta(+)cells was higher, but they
seemed to decrease over time with the gluten-free diet. Wheat starch-based
gluten-free flour products did not cause aberrant upregulation of mucosal
HLA-DR. The mucosal integrity was not dependent on the daily intake of
wheat starch in all patients on a strict diet, whereas two of the six
patients with dietary lapses had villous atrophy and positive serology.

CONCLUSION: Wheat starch-based gluten-free flour products were not harmful
in the treatment of coeliac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis.

PMID: 10192194, UI: 99206412 <<

Obviously, if you accept this evidence, you should first consult with your
doctor about your gluten condition and evidence before deciding whether
to try such a diet. To me, it doesn't seem suitable for those with short
term symptoms to single ingestion of gluten while otherwise on the diet or
to those with intestines not fully healed.

For those in the US, getting clean enough wheat starch or wheat starch
products may be an extra problem. The mail order Tritamyl bread mix
mentioned here recently may be clean enough but certainly needs follow-up
first.

                        Kemp Randolph
                        Long Island


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