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

http://snipurl.com/2sx62 
   [westernfarmerstockman_com] 

June 24, 2008   
  
 
  Washington State University researcher Diter von Wettstein has been 
awarded a four-year, $837,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to 
further work on development of wheat varieties safe to eat for those suffering 
from Celiac disease. 

Celiac disease is a disorder of the digestive system that damages the intestine 
and interferes with nutrient absorption from food. Symptoms range from 
cramping to malnutrition. The malady can be triggered by eating gluten, a 
protein found in wheat, barley and rye. 

Currently, only a gluten-free diet is prescribed for treatment, but since gluten 
is also a filler for many other foods, life for patients is difficult. 

"Medical experts at the NIH have declared urgency in dealing with the most 
food-sensitive intestinal condition in humans," notes von Wettstein. He has 
discovered a fully-viable, lysine-rich mutant which lacks gliadin-type proteins 
in barley, showing the way to make Celiac-safe wheat. 

Lysine is an amino acid essential for optimum diet, but typically is deficient in 
wheat. 

His team has partnered with Arcadia Biosciences, a Seattle, Wash., biotech 
firm, to identify specific mutations in genes affecting gliadin-type prolamids in 
gluten protein. Specifically, it is the gliadins that cannot be ingested and 
eventually cross the intestinal wall, causing damage to T-cells in the lining. 

"Creating new cultivars of wheat, arguable the most important crop grown, 
having increased lysine and lacking gliadins will be of tremendous benefit not 
only to suffers of Celiac disease, but for all consumers of wheat and wheat 
products," says von Wettstein. 


 

*Please provide references to back up claims of a product being GF or not GF*
*******
To unsubscribe, email: mailto:[log in to unmask]
*******