The following is an excerpt of a guest post shared by Dr. Jill Tieman of Real Food Forager on Food Renegade. This is without question, the most important issue facing people with celiac disease in the U.S. today. It’s an issue that needs to be resolved in order to protect the gluten-free consumer. Thank you to both Dr. Jill Tieman and Kristen Michaelis for this wonderfully insightful article. (Full post available on Food Renegade)
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“Recently, The Washington Post reported about the FDA’s reluctance to make a decision about gluten-free labeling. Under a 2004 law Congress gave the FDA until 2008 to establish a standard for food manufacturers who want to use the term “gluten-free” in their food label.
Alessio Fasano, medical director of the Center for Celiac Research and one of the authors of new research proving the existence of gluten sensitivity at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, feels it is a “no-brainer.” Fasano believes that the incidence of Celiac disease is skyrocketing in this country because changes in agricultural practices have increased gluten levels in crops. “We are in the midst of an epidemic,” he said.
Food manufacturers are jumping on this market potential with sales of gluten-free cereals, snacks and other foods projected to reach $2.6 billion next year. This is up from $100 million in 2003.
In typical fashion and because the labeling terms are unregulated at this point, many foods labeled by the manufacturers as gluten-free, in fact, have small amounts of gluten that could trigger an attack in a susceptible person.
Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition in which the body may have an immune response to even a molecule of the protein gluten. This immune response causes inflammation which can cause damage to the lining of the small intestine. People who have this condition may experience gastrointestinal symptoms like abdominal pain, bloating, and gas but they may also have symptoms that are seemingly unrelated, such as fatigue, headaches, acne, muscle pain, growth failure in children, etc. due to the malnutrition that results from damaged intestines…”
1 comment
ktb says:
May 17, 2011
I think this article is 2 years too late!!! My family has suffered with being sickened by these labeled Gluten free foods that still contain gluten for about 2 years now. But I do appreciate this VERY important topic being raised, nonetheless, because ANY gluten ingested by a Celiac can make us very ill. The FDA needs to grow a pair and proclaim that NO gluten is what constitutes Gluten Free on a label—as in NOTHING derived from a gluten grain to begin with, NO cross contamination with gluten in a factory and NO gluten AT ALL in the final product.