Celiac Disease Blog

The Celiac Disease Foundation has some interesting suggestions for ways to raise awareness of celiac disease. Among them:

• Contact the health editor of your local newspaper and ask if he or she knows about celiac disease. Write a letter and share your story.
• Find out if there is a health fair coming up in your town and offer to set up a table with information on celiac disease and how to get tested.
• Have a dinner party with your friends – celiacs and non-celiacs – and make a delicious gluten-free meal – complete with dessert! (Check out our gluten-free recipes.)

For more ideas, visit the Celiac Disease Foundation website.

The Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University in New York City has developed an extremely useful pocket-sized book called the Ultimate Guide to Gluten-Free Living. This handy little book contains helpful information for gluten-free grocery shopping, dining out, travel, meetings, parties and much more. There’s usually a charge to purchase this book, but Cynthia Beckman, the Center’s director of development, told me that a free copy of Ultimate Guide to Gluten-Free Living will be mailed to everyone who registers with her before Friday, July 25th. To receive a free copy, email your complete contact information (name, address, phone, fax, email) to cb2280@columbia.edu. The book will be mailed to you sometime after July 30, 2008.

You may have noticed that The Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University is on my list of U.S. hospitals with doctors who specialize in celiac disease. In fact, The Celiac Disease Center was one of the first medical-school based centers in the United States dedicated to the treatment and study of celiac disease. Under the guidance of Peter Green, MD, one of the world’s foremost experts on celiac disease, The Celiac Disease Center diagnoses and treats more than 2600 patients annually from around the world.

Don't forget to send your contact information to Cynthia before this coming Friday.

While I can’t do anything about this summer's gas prices, I can help you with another important aspect of car trips: staying gluten-free. I’ve just posted an article called 7 Tips for Gluten-Free Road Trips. Take a look, and if you have advice to add, let me know.

If you haven’t taken your summer vacation yet (and even if you have), along with these road trip tips you might also find some useful information in Gluten-Free Airplane Travel and Staying Gluten-Free in Hotels.

According to the American Red Cross, every year millions of people need blood transfusions, either because they’ve been in an accident, or they have cancer, blood disorders, anemia, or some other illness. That's a phenomenal amount of blood, and remarkably, in this day and age of synthetic products, we humans are still the only source of blood. Shortages of banked blood become particularly acute in the summer and around holiday times.

When is the last time you gave blood? Did you know that it’s OK for people with celiac disease to donate blood, as long as they’re otherwise healthy?

How often do you get a chance to save someone’s life? Giving blood is simple and doesn’t take long. Why not make a habit out of it? Visit one of these web sites to find a blood drive near you.

• American Red Cross
• UK National Blood Service
• Australian Red Cross Blood Service

You may have noticed that celiac disease and gluten-free foods are being featured more often in news articles. Are you seeing anything in the news that might interest the rest of us? Let me know, either by adding a comment or by posting a note in the forum.

Here, a few items that have appeared recently:

Los Angeles Times: Going gluten-free -- for many reasons “The gluten-free diet trend is getting a warm embrace.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Student Spotlight Celiac research by high school student wins top prize in international contest

Toronto Globe and Mail: Celiac Disease: An Elusive Iceberg “Although as many as 300,000 Canadians suffer from celiac disease, many of them don't know it.”

The Washington Post: Oh, Brother: What a Gluten-Free Baker Can Do Young brother of celiac sister writes a gluten-free cookbook.

U.S. News & World Report: Advances Aid Treatment, Diagnosis of Celiac Disease Highlights of research presented at the Digestive Disease Week meeting in San Diego.

Food Navigator: Gluten-free bakery gets boost from enzyme: study Food researchers are developing a new way to make gluten-free breads taste better.

Prepared Foods: Gluten-free to Nutrient-rich -- Trendspotting at ExpoWest -- June 2008

I recently received a note from Sarah Badger, a representative of Stonyfield Farm. She wrote:"...many of Stonyfield Farm organic yogurts are now officially certified gluten-free by the Gluten Free Certification Organization. While the majority of our yogurts have always been gluten-free, now people with gluten-intolerance can enjoy these products without worry."

The GFCO certification includes the following Stonyfield Farm products:

• 6 oz. Fat Free, Low Fat, and Whole Milk Organic Yogurt cups (all flavors)
• 32 oz. Fat Free, Low Fat, and Whole Milk Organic Yogurt quarts (all flavors)
• 4 oz. Fat Free Organic Yogurt cups (all flavors)
• 4 oz. YoBaby Organic Yogurt cups (except for YoBaby Plus Fruit & Cereal)
• 6 oz. YoBaby Organic Drinkable Yogurts (all flavors)
• 10 oz. & 6 oz. Low Fat Organic Yogurt Smoothies (all flavors)
• 4 oz. & 6 oz. O’Soy Soy-Yogurt cups (all flavors)
• 4 oz. YoMommy Low Fat Organic Yogurt cups (all flavors)
• 4 oz. YoKids Low Fat Organic Yogurt cups (all flavors)

But don't forget: Even when you've heard that a product is gluten-free, you should always double-check the labels.

Reuters is reporting that at a meeting this week in Geneva of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, officials set new benchmarks for producing gluten-free foods. The new benchmark dictates that food labeled gluten-free may not contain wheat, rye, barley or oats, and its gluten level may not exceed 20 parts per million (ppm). Until now, the Codex limit was 200 ppm. The upper limit for gluten is already lower in some countries (in Canada, for example, the limit is less than 20 ppm), but in Europe and elsewhere, manufacturers have been adhering to the higher Codex limit.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission was created in 1963 by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), to develop food standards and guidelines that would serve as global references for consumers, food producers, food processors, national food control agencies and international food traders. As of 2006, 174 countries were represented on the Commission. Member countries will be expected to work the new gluten limits into their national legislation (unless they already set lower limits, as some do). The limit will also be enforced in food exports under World Trade Organization rules.

For more information on gluten-free limits and food labeling, read The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 (FALCPA).

Thanks to About.com’s new Guide to Herb Gardens, I learned that today is National Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day. Far be it from me to let a holiday devoted to ice cream pass unmarked! Below, my nominations.

Most Creative Gluten-Free Flavor: Cookie Dough! Did you think you’d ever have cookie dough ice cream again? Turtle Mountain Gluten-Free Cookie Dough Frozen Dessert is technically not ice cream, because it’s dairy-free, but according to the manufacturer it’s “packed with scrumptious cookie dough chunks and crispy chocolate flakes.”

Most Allergen-Friendly Ice Cream Parlor Chain: Did you know that Baskin Robbins, with more than 5,800 ice cream parlors in 34 countries, lists allergens for every flavor on its display cases? You never have to wonder what’s hidden in the ice cream, sherbet or ices.

Gelato Parlor I’d Most Like To Visit: In the heart of London’s Covent Garden is Scoop, which offers pure Italian gelato made of natural ingredients. Not only does Scoop offer gluten-free flavors, but they even have gluten-free ice cream cones! (And if you’re in central London, they deliver.)

Do you have a favorite gluten-free ice cream flavor or ice cream parlor, or a favorite recipe? Share your suggestions with us in the celiac disease forum.

From around the internet, assorted articles of interest to people with celiac disease:

• Advances Aid Treatment, Diagnosis of Celiac Disease
• Oh, Brother: What a Gluten-Free Baker Can Do
• Gluten-free bakery gets boost from enzyme: study
• Gluten-free to Nutrient-rich -- Trendspotting at ExpoWest -- June 2008

A few weeks ago, I posted an article about where to find gluten-free wedding cakes. For the sake of those who'd like to prepare wedding cakes themselves for friends or relatives, I asked readers for suggestions for gluten-free wedding cake recipes. To our great good fortune, Kari Diehl, About.com's Guide to Scandinavian Food, rose magnificently to the challenge and published her recipe for Norway's traditional Kransekake, or "Ring Cake." According to Kari, "The Ring Cake is the signature cake of Norway, earning pride of place on wedding, birthday, graduation, and holiday banquet tables. Traditionally made from almonds, confectioner's sugar, and egg whites, it is a splendid flourless, gluten-free alternative to standard celebratory cakes."

Kari describes the cake as a treasure for almond-lovers, with a soft-yet-chewy texture. She says it's also a great make-ahead cake, as it improves by resting for a day or two. and it's easily frozen. After Norwegian weddings, brides save and freeze the top few layers of the cake to enjoy in celebration of their first wedding anniversary.

This cake would be spectacular not just for weddings, but also for anniversaries, graduations, or any other special milestones. In addition to the actual recipe, Kari also posted a blog entry about this naturally gluten-free cake. Thanks, Kari!

_{Norwegian Kransekake photo ©Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com}