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Elizabeth,
 
You asked:
 
>Does anyone have any experience dealing with Hashimoto's disease, aka
>(I think) lymphocytic thyroiditis?  Is there any potential remedial
>connection with a gf diet, or documented connection with celiac disease?
 
I've met lots of people with Hashimotos, and have been puzzling over the
same issue.  I just have the sneaky suspicion that the connection might lie
hidden in the reasons why it is more likely for a person who has one
autoimmune disease to get another than for an ordinary person.  It is
possible this may involve some factors that cause a problem with the normal
process of eliminating self-reactive T cells in the thymus, or (more likely
in my thinking) it could relate to a breakdown in the usual sequestration
from the immune system of the tissues that become autoreactive.  How gluten
might play a role in this process might be anyone's guess at this point.
 
Many things about wheat are intriguing. I don't know if you've heard of the
study from Cornell by Dr. Gates et al. which found that the women in China
who lived in rice eating areas had very different levels of sex hormone
binding globulin than the women who ate wheat and millet.  The levels of
this hormone are known to influence factors that lead to heart disease and
estrogen-related cancers.  Other studies have indicated that wheat yielded
some surprises compared to other grains when they studied ratios of
different starches and their effects on insulin metabolism.  Then there is
also the opiatelike effects that researchers of the opiate excess theory are
associating with peptides derived from wheat (and milk, too).
 
So I guess I'm saying that wheat probably holds a lot of secrets it hasn't
yet been willing to tell!
 
Intrigued by wheat,
 
Susan
 
>Does anyone have any experience dealing with Hashimoto's disease, aka
>(I think) lymphocytic thyroiditis?  Is there any potential remedial
>connection with a gf diet, or documented connection with celiac disease?
>
>Elizabeth
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                            (Walter & Susan Owens)
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                            Dallas, Texas  USA