it is all in your head

A few people have been asking me my thoughts on the new search study out of Australia. (And subsequent articles with inflammatory titles.) All of my responses have started with an audible sigh.

Bacteria existed before we had microscopes to see them. Just because we don't have a western medical test to "prove" someone has a disease/intolerance doesn't negate the illness, nor should it prevent her from trying an elimination diet. The media has offered a bizarre double-edge sword where people are simultaneously painted as irresponsible for not taking charge of their own health and belittled for trying alternative, non-western pharmaceutical options.

I am fine with a million more news stories clearly explaining that a gluten-free diet is not an effective tool for weight-loss. It is great if we continue to highlight that a gluten-free diet can cause nutritional deficiencies. But let's also include the fact that most of the processed gluten-containing foods are fortified with additional vitamins and minerals because they too are highly-processed and if you ate them all the ding-dang time you would have nutritional deficiencies. The difference is, instead of promoting the eating of more vegetables, food companies have added these essential vitamins and minerals into foods that normally don't contain them (or contain very little, or did contain them but where processed out).

I am also a big fan of more research; a lone study of 37 people in Australia does not conclusive make. So let's keep funding research, let's keep talking about alternatives to non-celiac gluten sensitivity/intolerance, but let's also keep these conversations grounded in the fact that there is a lot more we don't know.

When I joined celiac.com's message boards back in ye ole 2007, shampoo and face wash was a hot topic. Some people were noticing skin and digestive reactions when using products containing gluten. Others chimed in that there was no research proving one could react to gluten if it isn't ingested through the mouth and that clearly these people were: hypochondriacs, liars, attention seekers, aka "it was all in their head". This cutting hatred and dismissal of people who were in pain, or just seeking information, was part of the reason I departed. I don't see the point in negating people's experience, especially if we don't understand it. And now there are a bunch of gluten-free body-care products and growing awareness that if you slather things on your face it is pretty likely you are going to get some on your lips and in your mouth.

I think what is the most interesting out of this week of everyone-becoming-an-internet-expert-on-who-should-and-shouldn't-eat-gluten is the fact that people are breezing by the fact that the Australian study posited that people were having reactions/issue to other things: FODMAPS. So if by eliminating gluten are eliminating what is causing you discomfort/symptoms/reactions... isn't that a good thing? If a gluten-free or better yet an elimination diet is the key or gateway to figuring out what is wrong and feeling better, isn't that the goal?

So yes, more research, but until then let's be more support of those who are trying to get well and stay well rather than drawing more lines in the sand.

who gets to go out to eat (safely)

Yesterday's food section included "With more patrons with food allergies, restaurants cater to every need". I was excited to hear about chefs taking food allergies and sensitivities seriously. I was grateful for the inclusion of a famous chef being denied service because of his son's food allergies. This is stuff we deal with all the time.

But I was still left with a bad taste in my mouth. It is clear that even with the 2009 passing of Bill S.2701, there aren't universal standards for how to "handle" food allergies in restaurant kitchens. Don't get me wrong, things are a lot better. Awareness has significantly increased. But this article points to the fact that not all of these chefs, and their kitchen and front-of-house staffs, are doing the same thing. Some are using separate preparation surfaces, some aren't.

The other elephant in this article is that only high-end restaurants were profiled. This begs the question of who can afford a safe meal? I understand the allure of profiling high-end chefs and famous restaurants. It makes sense; it drives readership; I get it. I am really excited that a chef at Clio has Celiac Disease. I wish I could check out what she is offering, but it is just not financially feasible. And I am ok with that. I am not saying the because I have Celiac Disease I should be able to eat at Clio. What I think we need to talk more about it what does it really cost to prepare a meal safely for those with food allergies/sensitivities?

Those of us saddled with the task of trying to find safe food know that you don't go out to eat to a new place for the first time on a weekend. You don't go the night of a menu change. You don't go on a Monday when most chefs have their day off. You don't go to a new place during a lunch or dinner rush. You do ask a lot of questions. You do leave if you don't feel comfortable. And you do tip very well if the staff works as a team to get it right.

These are not "tips" they are essentials for not being poisoned.

I don't think you can talk about allergy awareness without highlighting all of the invisible work* that goes into getting it right. This article talks about some of this work from the chef's side, but ignores the diners experience, except for the person who asked for a gluten-free meal and then eats a conventional dinner roll.

For a second can we please just imagine that I am going out for dinner and my friend orders a gluten-free meal with me, so we can share (because I have the most awesome friends) and she still eats from the glutenrific bread basket. There are lots of different types of food negotiations happening. Granted, there are those who are selectively choosing when and when not to eat gluten, but that doesn't mean it is ok to be dismissive. How we eat, who we eat with, and sharing food is really complicated.

It is really complicated. And it is more complicated than the Globe piece points out. Nonetheless I am grateful to hear about more places taking things more seriously and offering more options. I am still hoping for more.

*I am invoking/borrowing Marjorie Devault's ideas here because food allergies make visible so much surrounding food safety, preparation, and knowledge acquisition required to get it right. 

gluten free alcohol - new rules

I tried Omission beer and really fell in love with it. Heck it is a gluten-removed beer, so real beer. The problem was, shortly after I was polishing a post about it, I read that the ELISA tests that Omission uses is not sensitive to be less than 20ppm accurate. I decided hold off on blogging and to email Omission directly about their testing policies. One of their reps said they would look into it and get back to me. Well that was in March of 2013... I am still waiting.

So I have chosen not to drink Omission, or Dura, or any of the other gluten-removed beers. It doesn't seem worth the risk, especially with all of the confusion. (Most of the confusion is because in the U.S. alcohol does not have to be labeled the way food does; it is actually a separate governmental agency Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, that deals with labeling, not the FDA.)

Today ATT released a revised policy on gluten in alcoholic beverages and spirits. This is huge because there are now rules about what alcoholic beverages can (and can't) be labeled gluten-free. The gluten-removed beers, they cannot use the term. I hope this helps everyone, but especially the newly diagnosed, better navigate the world of beverages.

Thanks to Gluten Free Fun for sharing the news.

how difficult is it to be gluten free

Jennifer Esposito's recent interview got a few wheels turning. Is it actually harder now than it was 4 years ago to be gluten free? Are there really no resources "out there" for Jennifer (and the millions of other humans who need to live gluten free)? 

When people are first diagnosed I cut them a lot of slack. I offer them advice. I tell others to be care, generous, and above all forgiving. When you are first figuring out the gluten-free landscape it can feel overwhelming and one can be prone to hyperbole. But after 4 years, perspective should have set in. There are now more gluten-free cookbooks, online resources, guides, friends, and medical professions who know what gluten is. It is far from perfect, but it is leaps and bounds better. It is also millions of times easier to find information than if you were diagnosed before the mid-90s... you know before the internet. 

I think we need a time out to talk about privilege. Gluten-free privilege looks like this:

If you had the ability to google anything about celiac disease or gluten

If you have the free time do research about gluten

You have a computer

People listen to you when you say your are ill

You found a doctor who would work with you and doesn't say its all in your head

You have a doctor

You have health insurance

You have the time and money to go to multiple doctors visits

You have paid sick time to have medical tests done like an endoscopy and colonoscopy

If you made it this far down the list, there is a high probability that you are white and not suffering from other healthcare disparities 

You have choices in what you get to eat and when

You have access to gluten free replacement foods (like gf bread)

You can afford gluten free replacement foods

You can afford the time and money to research gluten-free options

You have a platform where people listen to you (cough blogging cough)

You have access to gluten free recipes, cookbooks, guides

So why does this matter?

In the US, right now, 15% of people live at or below the poverty line ($23,050 or less a  year for a family of four). That is over 45 million people. It is actually a lot more complicate. Let's put this in perspective. The average actual cost of living for a family of 5 in the US is $58,627 a year. 

There are millions of Americans who don't have access to time, information, or money to buy gluten-free replacement foods. Millions of Americans don't have the privilege that Jennifer does, or that I do. There are people who won't get a chance this year to find out that by not eating gluten, she could feel a whole lot better. 

The second big problem I have with Esposito's comment is the fact that it has the effect of erasing people. By saying that there aren't any resources out there, she is blanketing decades of research, books, advocacy, and lives of people who helped make it possible for her to be diagnosed as having celiac disease and have something to eat before she opened her bakery. 

Jennifer, as does everyone, has the right to feel alone and frustrated with the current gluten-free marketplace in the US. It can be incredibly difficult to navigate through misinformation, cross-contamination, and feel like you are constantly having to educate others. It can be exhausting. But we need to acknowledge that we aren't the first human beings dealing with this and that things would be a lot more difficult with the incredible work of other people who shared recipes, engaged in scientific research without the funding of drug companies, provided support networks in-person and online, and made safe gf food options available before yesterday. Ignoring those people, erasing them from history, that doesn't help us at all. It hurts us. 

Boston Globe finally getting it right

I have complained about the Globe before, and even wrote a letter to the editor when they got it wrong.

I have to hand it to them, that years later, they finally got it right. Title aside, the April article finally highlighted the problem with contamination and need for dedicated equipment for gluten-free options. It feels like a giant relief to see Melinda's name in print next to accurate information. It is amazing the amount of work and time it takes to get a few hundred words to line up in a way that is truthful and engaging. Really excited to see more and more articles that I read with my head nodding in agreement... rather than shouting and ranting. (Though rants are still fun!)

understanding your intestines

"This is your gut on gluten" is one of my favorite articles I have read in a long time. It does a great job of explaining the autoimmune response to gluten exposure in those with gluten sensitives and celiac disease. It could only be better if it had some rad images to go with it.

Curing Celiac Disease

A few years ago, I was in my I-am-going-to-read-every-medical-article-on-celiac-disease phase. So many articles and definitions of celiac disease are wrong or incomplete. I was really frustrated. After getting through a few studies, I realized that there is so so so much that "we" don't know about celiac disease. It was really refreshing. It made me a lot less angry at lot of people. There just isn't a ton of research on celiac disease (or wasn't 5 years ago, that is changing a bit now) and the gut is very complicated. Did you know the digestive system has its own nervous system?! Fascinating right?!

A very good friend, who is a scientist, fielded a lot of my questions. One night, in his kitchen, I was asking with all seriousness: well why can't people with autoimmune diseases just get bone marrow transplants?

This came about after a really lengthy discussion about T-cells, they are the pesky cells that make the antibodies that cause the problem for persons with celiac disease. (There are a lot of T-cells that do great things, like creating antibodies to fight infections, but the T-cells that create antibodies that "attack" gluten, cause significant damage to villi in the small intestines, plus a whole lot of other problems - over 300 symptoms have been acknowledged.)

T-cells are created in the bone marrow, and while they create the antibodies that cause damage in the small intestines, they travel throughout the body. So say you got rid of all the T-cells in your digestive tract, if there is still one in your blood stream, you still have the capability of making more T-cells, and more gluten-attacking antibodies, and continue the cycle of active celiac disease.

So this knowledge was probably the most liberating thing for me. It made me feel stronger. For me, understanding celiac disease, made me truly feel like I wasn't going nuts. It made me feel like I had a clue as to what is going on in my body. (I am going to acknowledge that this is only one way of knowing or understanding things, but it is the kind that helped me a lot.) I cannot tell you how grateful I am to have such awesome friends!

Back to the bone marrow...
After this pretty detailed explanation about how T-cells are made, how they chemically "communicate" and how they synthesize antibodies - I sort of blurted out "can I just get a bone marrow transplant?!"

I realize how ridiculous this might sound. Bone marrow transplants are very risky and only work if you basically kill all of the "bad" cells before you add in new bone marrow. That is why it is not done unless absolutely necessary as a treatment for certain cancers or blood disorders. You literally have to compromise your entire immune system, making you susceptible to a lot of things a lot worse than celiac disease - diseases and disorders that can be fatal.

My friend was very kind and let me go down this path of hypothetical bone marrow transplants and talked about how it may or may not work. It was really exciting. Not because I actually wanted the procedure, but because for the first time since being diagnosed in 2007 I felt like I had a true understanding of what was going on, and of the research that had been done so far. Super cool right?! And knowledge is a decent start towards finding a less risky option for treatment and a cure.

I bring this up because there is actual success story! Bone Marrow Transplants Appear to Cure Celiac in Two Patients. Again, these patients had a need, aside from celiac disease, for the transplant. The ability to consume gluten post-transplant, was a bonus. Hopefully this will inform more research. This is so exciting!

YOU SHOULD EAT GLUTEN

Look, a sensational title to draw you in. Ha! Gotcha!

So it took me a second to cool off from my knee-jerk reaction to Elissa Strauss's piece on Jezebel this morning. "Will Everyone Please Eat Gluten? Please? Because You Are Literally Killing Me, Kind Of" highlights a legitimate issue, but goes for it by poking a bear with a short stick.

If one more person writes one more article about how hard it is to have celiac disease without acknowledging the rare privilege it is to have the time, money, health insurance, and the unicorn of a medical doctor who gives a shit enough to figure out what is wrong with your shit, I am going to scream. 

Yes, there are people who are attempting to avoid gluten as a fad diet, but don't chastise people who are trying to improve their health by working towards figuring out if gluten is the culprit; there is a good chance they are doing it on their own and dealing with a lot of physical and emotional pain. Before you start clacking away on your keyboard take a moment and realize just how lucky you are. And if you want to keep on typing, do us all a favor and stop embarrassing yourself by acting like getting a diagnosis is something that everyone can do. 

So back to the legitimate issue the article does bring up...

People who don't "need" to avoid gluten are going gluten-free but aren't as adherent and causing confusion and dining out problems for those who must not eat gluten.

So this is something I personally care about, because I would like to be able to go out to a restaurant say "it needs to be gluten-free" and not get poisoned. But I also know it is a lot more complicated. In 2010 I gave a conference paper about this very issue. I am going to dork-out for a second, but hold on, I will get all rant-y again soon. 

My paper, "I Cannot Have It But I Want It: Food Analogs Mitigating Dietary Change" looked at just how people with dietary restrictions (medical, personal, religious, ethic, etc) use language and substitute foods. What was really fascinating was how and when people chose to use the word "allergic". In the US, the word "allergy" comes with very specific visuals - people going into aliphatic shock, people needing an EpiPen, a legitimate threat to life - allergy in the restaurant world also can be code for "potential law suit". The word allergy can be used to traverse language barriers when working with kitchen and wait staff - it is an instant conversation stopper. (Especially in Massachusetts were we have laws that require allergy awareness training for restaurant kitchen staff.)

And this is a good thing. It is good to have language - and one special word - that can explain a whole lot of words, quickly. It saves us time, aggravation, confusion; language is awesome!

So what happens when people use the word "allergy" but aren't allergic?

If I say I am allergic to avocados. I go out to eat and there are free chips and guacamole and only have a little bit of it, what does that do? 

1. Allergies are tricky - some people have a threshold, aka they can be exposed to a small amount of something and not have a big reaction. So I could eat maybe a tablespoon of avocado before I start getting itchy. This does not mean I am not allergic, it just means I have a higher threshold than someone who's throat would close up if they had a very small amount. 

2. Ok, allergies are not universally similar, but we are all using this same word. So what happens then socially when I don't want slices of avocado in my tacos, but I do want to have a little guacamole?

Here is the trouble. People who are very reactive, or have little to no threshold for avocados, may get really angry when I order food and use the term "allergic" because if a waiter hears me say allergic, but sees me then eat the food I said I can't eat - invoking images of ambulances and lawsuits - perhaps she is going to take the next person a lot less seriously. 

3. What happens when people need to avoid a food, but don't have a word like allergic? Ding, ding, ding - celiac disease! I am technically not allergic to gluten - I do not have a histamine reaction - I have an autoimmune response. They are different, but in the interest of not getting violently ill, not wanting to spend 10 minutes educating waitstaff making $2.63 an hour, I use a shortcut: gluten allergy. People do this all the time. Linguistic shortcuts are awesome! Getting your point across quickly and clearly is wonderful and really important. 

Back to the article...

Strauss highlights a current problem in the U.S. with gluten-free being a food trend. Popularizing gluten-free replacement foods (breads, pizza, cookies, etc.) is a double-edge sword. It is awesome to have more options. Truly it is way better than 5 years ago. But as she points out, with the increase in options, there is a quagmire of problems. Crumbs are a huge problem. Here is the thing - crumbs are only a huge problem for people who are allergic or who have celiac disease - they are not a huge problem for people who are trying to avoid gluten for other reasons. But we are all still using the same language. We are all still trying to quickly convey "hey I don't want/can't have gluten in my food, so don't put it there, ok, no really, no gluten" in a fast, efficient manor. So whether saying avocado allergy, or gluten allergy, people are using the word allergy as a short-hand for don't put _____ in my food. 

But what about those pesky crumbs?

If you are on the Gwenth fad-diet of avoid gluten, crumbs are not going to hurt you - and you likely will never know that your food was not prepared to your specifications. If you have an allergy, or celiac disease you will know. 

Gwenth orders gluten free, the cooks and staff can get it right or get it wrong and if you don't have a reaction - no one is going to know. 

Here is the problem. The next person who requests a gluten-free meal, and the cooks and staff do exactly what they did for Gwenth, but the customer is actually allergic and those few crumbs can be a big problem. 

I get it, I get frustrated too. I cannot stand when the gluten-free bakery option is on the bottom shelf, with crumbs falling on it from the gluten-filled options above it. As gluten-free has become trendy, it is harder to be able to clearly relay no, seriously do not feed be even a small amount of gluten, to servers. I feel Strauss's pain because I live with it. 

*For the record, I am not allergic to avocados. That would be a bummer because they are delicious. 

call for compassion and rhetoric change

I read, and normally like and agree with, the Triumph Dining blog. They provide clear, concise information about new products, research, etc. On the whole, they get it right.

Today they are guilty, at the very least, of the lack of compassion. We - those who must avoid gluten - are constantly undermined by those who belittle our perceived "choice". When you categorize intense label scrutiny as "neurosis" it is really difficult to not want to give you the middle finger.

For those who react when using skin products containing gluten - it is not "neurotic" to check labels - this is self preservation.

It is time for "us" to change the way we, and others, talk about maintaining our health and safety - because that is what it is. It is not neurotic to not want to be poisoned, it is common sense.

PS - If you are going to reference a study that "some dish soaps use hydrolyzed wheat proteins, and can even trigger reactions if a Celiac eats off that dish washed with “gluten-filled” soap!" cite it. Otherwise your $0.02 isn't really worth anything at all.

doctors that "get it"

I had to cover my face to hide my tears at work. I started reading the latest NYT piece on food allergies fully intending on ripping it to shreds. (A friend and I have a fun game of sharing food-related blogs and articles and then getting to talk about what is missing, what is assumed, food access and privilege  It is fun! It reminds me about my favorite parts of being in the Gastronomy masters program.)

So I opened up the link ready to bring the fierce. I was not going to get suckered in by beautiful writing (the clean, tight, yet descriptive prose that pulls you in and is so good you stop looking for flaws). I was not going to let the human stories blind me to the fact that so many people in this country still don't have access to affordable healthcare, that don't have the time or money to get a proper diagnosis. I tucked into this piece ready to hate it.
And then I started to weep.

Dr. Kari Nadeau's caring, compassion, and understanding overwhelmed me. The way she interacts with her patients, their families, and understands that her work does not end at 5pm is key. More than key, it is essential, but so rare. I understand completely the need for healthy boundaries - where care giving professionals need to draw lines between what is and isn't appropriate, but what is great is to see when care givers realize the need to traverse those lines. Accepting a phone call on her vacation to help patients and parents deal with life-threatening conditions is what that family needed at that exact moment. 

Tears streamed down my face for those families, for that doctor, for those times where I have held hands of those in pain, and for the times when I wanted - no needed - a doctor or nurse to feel for me and understand. I wept for the handful of times I have received that type of care. 

I cried for the fear that comes with not being able to eat food, and still not having adequate packaging information; for the sheer panic shared meals can cause. I cried for being told last night that my favorite local food spot no longer feels comfortable serving people with food allergies because they have changed up their menu. I bit the inside of my lip and forced a smile on my face telling the server I was grateful for her telling me, being honest, and it was so much better to know than to be sick. And I cried because I still have hope that someday, just maybe, I took might get to eat gluten again. 

But mostly, I am crying happy tears, because for the first time in 6 years I have a doctor who "get's it". I wish I didn't feel so lucky, that this feeling of compassion, understanding, listening, and engaging with patients was common. I know how rare it is, and how many disparities keep people from getting care and information. Tomorrow I can take others to task for missing out on important facts, talking about why certain disease get attention while others aren't funded, ignoring race, class, gender, age, and language that make access so unequal. Knowing these things is not enough, but for today I am going to acknowledge my privilege and love this article. 

The full article, worth a complete read, possibly with a side of tissues:The Allergy Buster: Can a Radical New Treatment Save Children With Severe Food Allergies?

Working towards a cure

Stuart's article in today's Boston Globe highlights a new "celiac vaccine" that is being developed at MGH. While there is a long road, lots of tests, red tape, and reasonable skepticism, my brain and intestines are in love with this quote:


"Having a treatment that would allow full recovery and return to normal diet would be life-changing for patients, and may motivate more patients to be checked for celiac disease,” he said.

Can you imagine?!

Beyond normalcy and health, can you contemplate a life without having to spend so much time thinking, worrying, reading, planning, back-up-planning your life?! It would be so cool!!!

The bare truth about beer, what a bear

So I have been sitting on a post about Omission beer. It is pretty much my new favorite (ok was my favorite till this morning) but I have been having trouble figuring out just how to write about it.

Omission is brewed with gluten-containing items, i.e. barley. But then the beer goes through a magical process that renders it gluten-free, or really very very low gluten. They post their ELISA tests for each batch online. This level of transparency, plus the taste of REAL BEER, made me feel like this was a slam dunk. (I have consumed it 7 times without a gluten-reaction; and my reactions tend to be pretty strong and violent.)

I was feeling pretty great about this brew until this research came out, and now I am looking long and hard about my beverage decision. The guts of the study show that basically the ELISA test (the one used by Omission) is coming up with false negatives. Yup, you read correctly, the test is not consistently detecting gluten.

This leaves me, and perhaps you dear reader, in the same leaking boat. Without legal standards (still waiting on the FDA), and with faulty testing, it is up to each person to determine what risks to take when eating and drinking. What really infuriates me is what about people who don't have access to the internet, or the time to do all of this research and then extra research about the research to ensure they have the facts about what they are about to ingest?!

Is it worth rolling the digestive and long-term-health dice for a delicious beverage? If you are up for the challenge I have 11 beers with your name on them.

Thanks to Gluten Dude for highlighting the research. 

nytimes

I really really love this image of intestines. (Yup, that phrase just happened) And the article in the NY Times that accompanies it is equally as rare and exciting.

Reading through the piece, I also got the feeling that perhaps I am a honey bee. Beyond being fond of flowers, I just kept thinking about the "mysterious" decline of honey bees in the past decade. That there is some environmental shift that is occurring, but humans are still struggling to figure it out. The timeline isn't the same, but that huge explosion in the number of persons with celiac disease, and who have the gene markers for the disease, has gone up exponentially in the past 50 years.

The article touches on environmental research as one of several different factors in "triggering" celiac disease, including changing gut flora. This is really cool from the dorky science perspective, but it has real implications in understanding celiac and other autoimmune diseases. Part of me thought that this type of research would never happen. I am really excited. Even if it doesn't mean a cure for me - perhaps we can work towards eradicating the triggers of the disease for future generations.

Above the fold

Gluten-free made it to the teaser at the top of last Wednesday's Boston Globe.

The two pieces, that also got the g-heath cover, tackle gluten in two different ways. The latest fad talks about the popularity of gluten-free "dieting", and Should you go gluten-free? basically shouts at people to not avoid gluten if they don't "medically" need to.

A friend sent me this, and it feels like the appropriate juxtaposition: Modern wheat a "perfect, chronic poison," doctors says

South Shore support

This might the most reasonable and accurate gluten-free Globe write-up yet!

Gluten Free and Loving It

(Ok, it omits issues of cross contamination, but on the whole at least it does describe the situation more accurately and it is great to see a support group getting recognition.)

NGR in Living Without

Hot off the presses, No Gluten Required is in this month's Living Without magazine. Ok, so it is just a small photo, but it is still very cool.

Let's chat about the NYT, again

Ok friends, here we go again. The NYT is at it, writing about dietary restrictions. At least this time they threw in a two line paragraph about those who NEED to restrict their diets, but "R.S.V.P. P. S. - No Gluten, fat or soy please: The picky eater who came to dinner" in this week's Times has got me again.

Can we talk about the intimacy and social space that eating is and provides? Can we talk about WHY this is a problem (multiple dietary restrictions) rather than pinning it on an us vs. them model? Can we talk about what a "good host" is? Also, why are you feeding people you don't like enough to make happy?!

Am I being too "picky"? What do you think?

Food studies in the news

The NYT ran a piece yesterday, Truly Food for Thought. It gives a pretty nice glimpse into what some people do and think about food studies, and how these are growing at universities.

Gluten-free a waste?

This morning's most emailed article on boston.com is "Are gluten-free products a waste for those without celiac disease?". The question is obviously leading, but there is a poll at the bottom of the piece, and I am looking forward to seeing more of the results. (Also some of the comments are pretty hilarious)

Gluten free craze

The Gluten-Free Craze on The Diane Rehm Show. Have you listened to it?