I am a ZERO gluten man

Yes! I am a ZERO gluten man. This is based on the concern that tiny amounts of gluten in your food are enough to stimulate your immune system – even if you are not feeling directly unwell from the trivial exposure. What is trivial to you is not trivial to your highly tuned & sensitive immune system.

By definition, Zero gluten means ZERO! In other words – it is undetectable gluten (say less than 1ppm – gluten detection is now getting down to these very low levels). Consequently, ANY FOOD that has gluten detected between 5-20ppm should NOT be labeled GF. It is NOT gluten-free, even if it contains an apparently trivial amount. It needs to be labeled 5-20ppm!!! We need to know what is in our food! We need this information to make healthy food choices.

Although the manufacturers say this is not practical to make ZERO gluten products, it is if enough effort is put into cleaning up the contaminated food chain. The ZERO gluten market is growing. The GF community does not want gluten traces in their food. If we people do not buy their products - then they will have to change - or decide that they will not chase the GF market.

Yes, sensible labeling needed.

I propose a 3-tier system: zero gluten, less that 20ppm gluten, and glutened. It is that simple. Then we know what we are getting. How hard is this! Everyone satisfied. Why does the FDA just want one definition? It cannot be done – that is why they have had this “problem “ on their too-hard pile for the last 7 years!

Another piece of sound advise from Gluten Free Planet

Cheers, Dr Rodney Ford

Gluten-free: is it only way to manage celiac disease?

Well, the simplistic answer to this question is “yes”. However this is a complex question. To narrow the question, I will first assume that coeliac disease means that ‘a diagnosis has been made by endoscopy showing the characteristic flatness/atrophy of the small bowel mucosa’ (I will address the question of how early you can diagnose coeliac disease in a later blog).

Yes, a gluten-free diet is the central management strategy for coeliac disease. But what does gluten-free mean? A gluten free diet means zero gluten for life. No exemptions. Certainly there are many people who suggest that people can eat gluten to tolerance. I disagree. Any gluten has the potential to cause you harm.

But does zero gluten literally mean non-at-all? The most complex part of answering this question is “what does a zero-gluten-diet mean in terms of every-day practicality?” Recently, there has been a lot of debate about how many parts per million (ppm) of gluten is acceptable in food. Pragmatically, because it is so difficult to get rid of cross-contamination in food production and processing, the number of 20 ppm is now surfacing as a reasonable level of gluten to be consumed (some countries have 200ppm, and the FDA likely to agree to 20ppm). This seems to be a negligible amount. However, there are still concerns for some people who seem to be exquisitely sensitive to gluten.

For me zero-gluten means no gluten. This can be achieved if you eat fresh fruits and vegetables, unprocessed meat and fish, uncontaminated rice, corn and other alternate grains, and unprocessed dairy foods and eggs, nuts also. This means no packet or processed foods.

But it is a lot more that ‘just’ going gluten-free. Yes, there are a lot more things to do for healing someone with coeliac disease. The longer that you have had coeliac disease, the worse your body will be. More healing will be required. You may need additional minerals, vitamins and probiotics. There are a number of routine health checks to take. You should also ensure that your gut has healed (via blood test and maybe repeat endoscopy).

There is talk about vaccines for coeliac disease. I think these are a long way off. On top of this gluten is a trigger for many autoimmune diseases and neurologic conditions. So giving pharmaceutical treatment for coeliac disease will still not remove the threat of gluten to your body.

Zero gluten is the main stay of treatment for coeliac disease. I do not see this changing much in the future. I do see the gluten-free lifestyle being very widely adopted over the next decade. I do see better non-gluten grains. I do see a generation in much better nutritional health.

http://www.DrRodneyFord.com

Dr Rodney Ford, Author of The Gluten Syndrome

For clinical guidance, check out the eClinic

Gluten free means ZERO gluten

Often I am asked: "How strict do I have to be?"

"Does a little bit of gluten-food now and then really matter?"

YES IT DOES!

The word that I use for gluten is "ZERO". I have come to this conclusion because it is important for your antibodies against gluten to slowly disappear. Every time that you have gluten (by error or as a deliberate choice) you stimulate your immune system to continue to produce these potentially harmful antibodies again. This undoes a lot of the work that you have been doing to dampen down the gluten reactions.

So I say Gluten free means ZERO gluten - not negotiable.

To achieve this, you will need to be absolutely convinced about your "gluten-induced-disease" (get a confirmed diagnosis and get the correct set of blood tests). Also develop a group of people around you (who understand the gluten thing) who can help and nourish your diet path. AND, you can help them. Join our facebook page - that will help too.

The simple answer is "ZERO gluten"

Cheers Rodney

Visit the eClinic for a second opinion: http://www.DrRodneyFord.com