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At 08:09 AM 11/24/99 -0800, Cheryl Bice wrote:

>Thanks for all the responses - they were so overwhelming I couldn't
>begin to list every one.  In general I would say 75% said they are not
>lactose intolerant and the rest are.  Alot of people educated me in the
>fact that once you have ingested gluten (accidentally of course) that
>the villi cannot digest milk products for a few days.

Cheryl, that's an interesting survey. Thanks for doing it. I have one
question and one comment:

Did many of them say they had been lactose intolerant when they were first
diagnosed and went on the diet? Many celiacs start out lactose intolerant
due to the damage to the villi, but after a year or more of eatin GF,
successfully, they may find they are no longer lactose intolerant.

Comment: it may well be that many are lactose intolerant and do not know
it, as I was. I drank a lot of milk all my life, and when my doc told me
after testing that I was lactose intolerant, I said that couldn't be. But
after being off milk for a month, then accidentally ingesting a spoonful, I
no longer had any doubts. In fact my reactions to milk were then worse than
that to gluten. But when you ingest a food all the time it's very difficult
to ever suspect it as a culprit. I think it's likely that many who think
they are still having problems with gluten and can't discover the sources,
my well be lactose intolerant and not know it. Or not :)

-vance