An increasing number of individuals are being diagnosis with Celiac.  Lately, I have been receiving questions from relatives concerning their risk of developing Celiac.  Before answering the question individuals need to understand the genetic and environmental elements involved.

Firstly, Celiac disease is a heritable autoimmune condition.  It occurs mostly in whites but has been found in individuals from South America, Eastern Europe, the Near East, Pakistan, Cuba, and North Africa.  It is most commonly found in ancestry from Scandinavia, Italy, Ireland, England, Scotland, Spain, Israel, and Palestine.  Individuals from these countries may have a HLA (human leukocyte antigen) phenotype of B8, DR3,and DQW2.  These specific human leukocyte antigens (HLA) have evidently evolved rejecting the wheat protein (gluten).  All these HLAs have a high incidence of Celiac.  Testing for these HLAs may give some predictability but does not automatically insure celiac occurrence.  Statistics however, have shown some interesting numbers among family members.  Siblings of Celiac individuals have the highest percentage risk of developing Celiac.  Siblings have 40 to 50 percent risk, identical twins 70 to 100 percent, and relatives have a 20 to 50 percent risk.  Certain autoimmune diseases are common with the incidence of Celiac.  They are: type 1 diabetes, thyroid disease, Addison’s disease, Sjorgen’s disease, and Immunoglobulin A deficiency.  If any of your relatives have these diseases, your risk is increased.

Lastly, environmental factors can also increase the risk of Celiac.  The factors are: gastrointestinal surgery, digesting high doses of gluten (i.e. pizza, pasta, fast foods), pregnancy, and viral infection.  These conditions may heighten the immunologic response to gluten foods, increasing the risk.  Because of the increased use of wheat in convenience foods, members of this society are experiencing more environmental risks than ever before.  Is it any wonder that the celiac numbers have increased?

Eating PH balance meals is vital to our health.  Our body needs to maintain an 80% alkaline to 20% acid in the foods we eat.  Unfortunately due to societal changes, we are doing just the opposite.  The American public is consuming increased amounts of sugar, fats, and white bread.  All these foods are acid.  Meats, convenience foods, fats and oils, dairy foods, sweets, alcohol, and tobacco are all acid foods.  Alkaline foods are fruits, vegetables, certain seeds, nuts, herbal drinks, and other foods (see note*).  Ingesting too much acid foods can cause a plethora of diseases.  As a society, we are getting fatter, acquiring early diabetes type II, and experiencing gastric reflux more frequently.  This then results in more medications needed (medications are acid).  Can we reverse this trend?  Hopefully, but the public is not educated in cause and effect.  They cannot see that what they are eating is causing their diseases.  They do not know how to cook.  We can tell the public until we are blue in the face to eat more raw vegetables and less meat or pasta.  Will it do any good?  The easiest way to cook and prepare meals with convenience foods seems to be the norm.  Preparing meals together as a family and sitting down together to eat without the television and computer seems to be a thing of the past.  We are wrecking our stomachs and digestive systems with our poor eating behaviors.  How do we awake and educate the society to change this behavior?   The individual needs to want to improve their health, immune system, and sense of well being.  The question is how to promote this.  Wellness is important to our society.  Start by promoting it in your life.

*Note: Food charts or lists of alkaline and acid foods are easily found at many websites.

There are many theories on the causes of Autism.  The most popular one was the vaccine with the additive: thimerosal.  It was thought that once this additive as removed from vaccines in 1999 that a drop in Autism diagnoses would occur.  They were wrong.  Instead the number of Autism diagnoses has continued to rise.  According to the CDC, Autism has increased to 1 out of 70 in boys, and 1 out of 315 in girls.  This is a great concern.  Most specialists agree that ASDs (Autism Spectrum disorder) is multifactoral.  Besides the risk related to genetic factors, there is a debate concerning “environmental triggers”.  As a grandparent I am not concerned about the debate, I am however concerned about the risks.

The most vulnerable years for Autism are birth to 2 years.  During that time, while the brain is developing any trauma, toxins,pathogens and other environmental risks may cause irreparable permanent damage.  So what is an environmental risk?  Everyone is coming up with theories.  I am adding my theory to the mix.

The Traub Theory: Overstimulation from Television and like devices plus eating undigestible proteins.

1. Autism Clustering: A study that linked the high rate of Autism in households with cable television is being looked at by experts.  It is known that babies cannot assimilate too much stimulation at one time.  So households with the television constantly on plus loud music may be a “risk factor”.  Your baby needs quiet time.  Please give it to him/her.

2. Baby Food has changed: The baby food that your mother gave you is not what your baby is getting.  What you think is safe is Not!  I recently found gluten in Gerber’s Little Graduates and whey protein (milk) in their meat rolls.  Most babies cannot digest the proteins gluten and casein at an early age.  Putting protein in baby food for 8 month olds maybe ill-advised and dangerous.  If the baby has not developed (or lost due to antibiotics) the endopetidase enzymes necessary to digest gluten and casein then opium-like substances will be produced.  These products called gluteomorphin and casomorphin, will render the child in an opium-like stupor.  These proteins also cause other symptoms such as: vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, gaseousness, abdominal discomfort, colitis, rashes, dermatitis, eczema, and itching.

Now add the television effect to a baby under the influence of an opium-like substance (gluteomorphin and casomorphin).  The rate of information transferring from television into a brain that cannot defend itself may cause dangerous consequences.  Will it cause brain damage? I don’t know.  I am just putting out the theory.  But if I had a baby between the ages of birth and 2 years, I would not give my child any wheat (gluten) or milk.  I would read every label.  I would not give my child any food that has more than 6 ingredients.  I would not overexpose my baby to television (already associated with ADHD).  Once brain damage has occurred it cannot be reversed.  As a child, you the parent were not exposed to these risks.  Why should your child? Can you take the chance?

For more information see these websites: www.Autism.com , www.NationalAutismAssociation.org, and others

Today I made some gluten-free snowball cookies for the first time.  They came out great.  It’s too late to give this recipe out for the holidays. Instead, I will do it in the coming months.

This holiday season, I made my gluten-free stuffing and gravy (recipes in my book) on three occasions.  One was last Sunday at our Church’s Children Christmas pageant. Gluten-free stuffing and gravy was provided at the turkey dinner after the program.  The gluten intolerant individuals were thrilled that someone thought to provide gluten-free food at this event.

Remember during this holiday season to provide safe food for those relatives with health issues.  A little extra care preparing the food you serve may make the difference between a pleasurable evening or one with discomfort and food reactions.  Happy Holidays.

Babies are developing their body systems for the first year.  Some areas of the body, such as the ears take up to 8 years to finish developing.  Babies’ digestive systems are very important to their health.  We must protect the digestive system of our babies and children.  Exposing your baby to harsh proteins (i.e., wheat, milk products) in foods that they cannot digest causes diarrhea, vomiting, and damage to the lining of the intestine (leaky gut).  Please do not give foods with a multitudes of proteins to your baby before he/she is able to digest these foods.  Do not give a cookie or ice cream to keep them quiet.  The epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes suggests a need of new diet restrictions.  Recent research is showing that choosing vegetables over grains shifts the source of fuel for the body from glucose and fatty acids to fatty acids and ketones.  This carbohydrate restriction leads to healthy children with correct weights.  Restricting the over-use of crackers and bread early in a child’s life may help prevent obesity and type 2 diabetes.  Try to restrict these foods: pizza, french fries, crackers, milk, ice cream, and sandwiches.  Try to change the food ratio on the dinner plate for the whole family to: a small meat portion, small or no carbohydrate portion, two large portions of vegetables.  Parents please rethink how you feed your babies and children.  Do not think of the cracker or cookie as a treat, but rather a procurer to obesity and diabetes.  New statistics are predicting that one out of three babies born this year will develop type 2 diabetes at an early age.  Will it be your baby?

To be continued…

Those who read my last blog, know that I expressed concerns about Gerber’s Graduates Baby Food.  Why, because of the covert way they (Gerber’s)added gluten to baby food for 7 month old babies.  Most parents would not know by the labeling, that they are giving their child a recognized food allergen.  Most instructions from physicians suggest that any food allergens be tested for when the child is older and under supervision.  What happens when you unknowingly give your child something that he/she is allergic or intolerant to?  The answer is very apparent for an allergy; there is an immediate reaction: hives, wheezing, anaphylactic shock, etc.  The intolerance is more difficult to discover.  First with intolerance the child must eat the substance.  Then the child needs to eat it again until an intolerance is reached.  It is very difficult to read reactions with intolerance, especially if it is wheat/gluten, which has up to a 72 hours (three days) reaction time.  The reactions might happen in steps.  First you might notice that your baby has dark circles under his/her eyes.  Then the stomach might start to swell with gas.  Respiratory symptoms may begin to exhibit.  Your baby will become fussy and start showing negative behavior.  Your baby’s health starts to change, but nothing you can put your finger on.  Your baby may has some diarrhea every once in a while or very itchy hands and feet.

 You decide to take the baby to the physician.  If the doctor is savvy about gluten (only 1% are) he will ask you what you are feeding the baby.  Your answer would be, only baby food.  The doctor would then decide that it could not be the baby food, since in his experience all commercial baby food is safe, but rather something systemic.  Now you have your first incorrect diagnosis because you, the parent, unknowingly gave your physician incorrect information.  If the intolerance is gluten, it may possibly also be Celiac Disease, which is an autoimmune disease.  More health problems will follow.

To be continued …

Never in a million years did I think I would be warning the public about Gerber’s Baby Food.  Yet today, I am doing just that.  I happen to be visiting my baby granddaughter a couple of weeks ago.  My daughter-in-law has been doing a great job of nursing (while working) her for the past 6 months.  She just added solids to my granddaughter’s diet.  Rice cereal and some vegetables were selected to supplement.  Most of the veggies had citric acid added to keep the product from oxidizing and turning dark.  These foods fit my perimeters for children; less than 6 ingredients.  Then my daughter-in-law showed me the Graduates line from Gerber’s.  The product that caught my eye was Graduates Puffs for “crawlers” (about 7-9 months).  I turned the container around and looked at the ingredients.  The first ingredient was Rice Flour (good); but the next three ingredients upset me.  They were: Whole Wheat Flour, Wheat Starch, and Sugar.  Whole Wheat Flour contains 4 proteins, they are: albumin, globulin, gliadin and gluten.  Wheat Starch contains gluten which is used to make breads rise.  Gluten is the most discussed protein associated with Celiac Disease.  Sugar should never be in any baby food.  Whole Wheat Flour and Wheat Starch are Allergens as defined by the FDA.  Most manufacturers are noting these Allergens in Bold print at the end of the list of ingredients or putting the Allergen ingredients in parentesis so the consumer can easily see them.  This is required by the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004.  Gerber has done neither.  The print of the ingredients is supposedly to be such that it is easy to read.  The print on some of the the Graduates food is so small and pushed together that it is VERY difficult to read.  The amount of ingredients are 15 and over.  Finally, why would a manufacturer of this duration and reputation offer a product: Graduates, and put a known Allergen in the baby food without proper labeling?  Let us hope that this omission will be rectified.  The FDA has been notified. (Next Blog: What happens when your baby eats gluten(wheat) and is intolerant.)

The other morning, I was eating some gluten-free yogurt with my toast.  I happened to check the amount of sugar in the yogurt.  It contained 24 grams of sugar.  So I picked up some candy to compare sugar content.  It also was 24 grams.  Now my interest was peaked.  Which contained more sugar, candy bars or yogurt?  I bought the yogurts from 2 supermarkets in my area.  The following yogurts had 23-25 grams of sugar: Yoplait, Bayview, Sunnyside, and Brown Cow “Natural”.  Chobani Greek yogurt contained 20 grams of sugar and Greek Gods Greek yogurt contained 12 grams of sugar.  With the yogurts high in sugar, I looked at other components of my breakfast.  My orange juice contained another 24 grams of sugar (this is processed orange juice not fresh squeezed).  If you drink coffee like I do the coffee creamers contain about 5 grams of sugar per tablespoon.  The whole grain toast was another 4 grams of sugar (without jam or margarine).  So by the time I was ready to leave for work I had consumed 58 grams of sugar.  This is equal to two candy bars.  Is it any wonder that the estimated amount of sugar comsumed per year is 200 pounds.

Study after study is showing the harmful affects of the “Western Diet”.  Is the public at large taking heed of these studies?  A big “NO” would be the answer to that question.  The major cancers associated with dietary habits of the United States are: breast, distal colon, prostate, pancreas, ovary and endometrium.  Evidence suggests that frying and broiled meats cause all but the 2 last cancers.  Other countries with fish-eating populations have lower heart disease and cancers due to the n-3 polyunsaturated oils found in fish.  Other practices that reduce the risk of cancer are the intake of 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables daily, which contains antioxidants, having a high fiber intake, and drinking at least 40 ounces of water or green tea daily.

So what does the population of the United States do?  They head daily to the fast food restaurants for their diabetes, cancer fix.   The hamburger and fries gives us the carcinogens necessary for our cancers and the sugars hidden in the buns and fries overwhelms our pancreas so diabetes is inevitable.  Are we as a nation doomed because of our eating habits?

Some of the newest research is focusing on individuals over the age of 50.  These individuals known as the “Baby Boomers” are starting to experience problems with their digestive tract and other diseases related to the GI (gastrointestinal) system.  The biggest problem is gastric reflux.  To pacify the Boomer, the medical profession gives the individual Proton Pump Inhibitors.  As a result the Boomers are one of the biggest consumers of PPI’s.  PPI’s are acid blockers such as: Prilosec, Aegerid, Prevacid, Protoniz, Aciphex, and Nexium.  These medications are taken for life.  The newest research is noting an increase of individuals with Osteoporosis that are on these medications.  Also an increase of hip fractures and hip operations have been noted.  Because PPI’s do not cure the cause of gastric reflux, rather mask the symptoms, the individual is not able to absorb the nutrients necessary for bone health.  With these pills, people will eat processed food that the stomach cannot possibly digest.  The pills hid the result, ending with the digestive system  deteriorating.  It is time for the ”Boomers” to take responsibility for their heath and find out what is causing their problem.  Otherwise “their” quality of life as they age is destined to be poor.