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

Sorry this summary took so long.  I had the flu and just couldn't get rid of
it.

I got a lot of good response to this.

Bev in Milwaukee wrote as to why Iodine can be a problem.
<I heard a specialist speak on DH at the CSA conference last fall.  A
reaction to gluten causes the body to lay down IgA deposit in the skin.
Gluten must be avoided if the body is to absorb these deposits....While
ingesting more gluten can cause an outbreak, iodine (and sometimes the
related chemical family of bromines) has been found to cause inflammation of
these deposits in some with DH. Iodine does not cause more IgA to be
deposited, just irritates what is already there. >

She also gave a short summary on foods to avoid
<Iodine is necessary for thyroid funtion in health individuals, so it is
added to salt & vitamins since some do not get enough from the food they eat.
 Those who get reactions from it, need to avoid these.

The oceans-salt water as opposed to fresh, have high levels of iodine, so it
is also found in high levels in products which come from it--shellfish,
saltwater fish, sea salt, and seaweed products--emulisifers like carageenan,
irish moss, agar-agar and a group called alginates, AND the food coloring Red
#3, which is made from red seaweed.

Other foods have smaller amounts of iodine, but those above usually have the
highest concentrations and cause the most problems.>

Many many people expressed the idea that my son's reaction (throat closing
etc.) was more than the normal celiac/dh reaction to shell fish but a true
allergic reaction.  I've gotten zero, zilch, no help from allergist on this
one. She says there are few real food reactions, and that there is no real
good test for them. (This is merely the opinion of the allergist, not my
opinion.  Please do not write me about the expressed opinion.  Yes, we are
looking for a new allergist. Sigh! )

Some people told me that they have a skin reaction to dairy.

       Vance wrote<My understanding is that DH "typically" presents on
surfaces that bear some
weight or pressure such as knees, feet, buttocks, elbows, etc. And if true
DH is diagnosed it is full proof of celiac. No jejunal biopsies are needed.
But of course nothing in celaic is always typical.

A partial list of  iodine containing foods would be: table salt, sea salt,
all sea weed including kelp, shell fish.>

Tillerwalk wrote<Do not eliminate iodine from your child's diet. The injury
to the thyroid is more serious than the skin reaction.. I have DH and pay no
attention to the iodine in my diet after this cautionary advice from the
registered dietician at St. Joseph's Hospital here in Atlanta>

Jim D of CO wrote <The things that were mentioned most were shellfish, ocean
fish, egg yokes,  kelp, and iodized salt.
    Iodine will tend to bring on a DH reaction if you are susceptible. At one
time it was used as a method to diagnose DH. The DH reactions are not well
understood, and it is believed that iodine will work against medication that
DH patients take to control the reactions.>

Jerry recommended this web site
http://www.cc.nih.gov/ccc/patient_education/pepubs/lowio.pdf  He also wrote <
.  I found
the following site which is for a clinical study and would be too low in
iodine for anyone else.  It does identify sources of iodine very
thouroughly and should have a good scientific basis.

Two disclaimers -

1.  The Recommended Daily Allowance of Iodine is 150 micrograms per day.
Following this diet strictly would put you below the RDA at from 50 to 100
micrograms per day.

2.  This is not a gf diet and has lots of gluten-containing foods.  The diet
obviously needs to be adapted to a gf standard.  It only helps identify
iodine for people suffering from DH that need a low iodine diet.

I am going to try it since I am allergic to all of the DH medications.  Use
your own judgement about applicabilty to your situation.

Hope this helps all of you who wanted to hear about this too.

 Christine

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