02Mar
23Jan
This is how children with celiac disease presented prior to the discovery of gluten as the culprit
To all companies and advertisement agencies planning to poke fun at people on a gluten-free diet during your Super Bowl ads: Take a very hard look at this photograph*. It is of a 2 year old child with celiac disease diagnosed BEFORE the discovery that gluten was the causative agent in this disease. Do you know what happened to these children? Many of them died. A gluten-free diet is a medical necessity for children and adults with celiac disease. It...
07May
Controversial Aspects of the Gluten-Free Diet Dating Back Decades
In Honor of Celiac Disease Awareness Month, Gluten Free Watchdog is writing a series of articles (the goal is one per day during the month of May) related to the gluten-free diet--currently the ONLY treatment for celiac disease. Post (#7)... The gluten-free diet, as we know it today is based in large part on the findings of Willem-Karel Dicke's classic feeding trials. Dr. Dicke found that wheat flour, rye flour, and oats were problematic while wheat starch, corn flour, maize starch, rice flour,...
06May
Banana Baby Follow-Up: Making Connections
In Honor of Celiac Disease Awareness Month, Gluten Free Watchdog is writing a series of articles (the goal is one per day during the month of May) related to the gluten-free diet–currently the ONLY treatment for celiac disease. Post #6… This is not the article that was supposed to post today. But I have been very privileged to help connect two “banana babies” (for information on the banana diet see https://www.glutenfreewatchdog.org/news/early-dietary-treatment-for-celiac-disease-the-banana-diet/). This makes me incredibly happy. There are others of you out there—babies...
05May
Additional Reading for Celiac Disease History Buffs
In Honor of Celiac Disease Awareness Month, Gluten Free Watchdog is writing a series of articles (the goal is one per day during the month of May) related to the gluten-free diet--currently the ONLY treatment for celiac disease. Post #5... Posts one through four have been about the early history of the dietary treatment for celiac disease. Some of you may be interested in learning more history while others of you would like to move on already! Before moving on to the next...
04May
Remembering the children, especially “Mechie” who helped doctors identify gluten as the factor in wheat responsible for the deleterious effects of celiac disease
In Honor of Celiac Disease Awareness Month, Gluten Free Watchdog is writing a series of articles (the goal is one per day during the month of May) related to the gluten-free diet--currently the ONLY treatment for celiac disease. Post #4... “Based on the results of an investigation of a number of patients with coeliac disease, the harmful action of wheat flour was shown to be chiefly inherent to the gliadin fraction. ---van de Kamer, Weijers, and Dicke. Acta Paediatrica. 1953;42:223-231 Dr. Dicke and colleagues...
03May
The Gluten-Free Diet is Born: Thank You Dr. Dicke!
In Honor of Celiac Disease Awareness Month, Gluten Free Watchdog is writing a series of articles (the goal is one per day during the month of May) related to the gluten-free diet--currently the ONLY treatment for celiac disease. Post #3... “We have learnt in the course of many years' experience in the treatment of celiac disease that it makes a great difference to the patient what kind of starch-containing foodstuffs are included in the diet; in particular whether or not wheat is used.”--Willem-Karel...
02May
Banana Baby: A former patient of Dr. Sidney Haas tells her story
In Honor of Celiac Disease Awareness Month, Gluten Free Watchdog is writing a series of articles (the goal is one per day during the month of May) related to the gluten-free diet--currently the ONLY treatment for celiac disease. Post #2... Long before gluten was identified as the culprit in celiac disease, a doctor by the name of Sidney Haas in New York City was treating pediatric patients using what came to be known as the “banana diet.” A former patient of Dr. Haas...
01May