Gluten

08 Aug

Posted at 13:51h in Gluten
gluten-free-testing Navigating the world of gluten-free living can be challenging, especially when dining out or purchasing packaged foods. The emergence of gluten food tester devices has caused excitement. It revolutionizes how people with gluten sensitivities and celiac disease approach their diets. Such devices offer peace of mind and safety. These innovative tools are part of the broader category of food science supplies. They allow users to detect gluten in their products quickly and accurately. These tools use advanced technology to provide reliable results. Whether you're at a restaurant, grocery store, or in your home kitchen, these devices can help ensure your meals are truly gluten-free. It's crucial to understand the different types of gluten food testers available. Let’s explore the various food science equipment and their benefits.

17 Nov

Posted at 13:23h in Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, Gluten, Microbiome, Nature
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_46109" align="alignleft" width="153"]Professor Oluf Pedersen Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research University of Copenhagen Dr. Pedersen[/caption] Professor Oluf Pedersen Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research University of Copenhagen MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We focused our study on healthy people due to the world-wide bottom-up movement among healthy adults to live gluten-free or on a low-gluten diet. Therefore, we undertook a randomised, controlled, cross-over trial involving 60 middle-aged healthy Danish adults with two eight week interventions comparing a low-gluten diet (2 g gluten per day) and a high-gluten diet (18 g gluten per day), separated by a washout period of at least six weeks with habitual diet (12 g gluten per day). The two diets were balanced in number of calories and nutrients including the same total amount of dietary fibres. However, the composition of fibres differed markedly between the two diets. When the low-gluten trend started years back the trend was without any scientific evidence for health benefits. Now we bring pieces of evidence that a low-gluten diet in healthy people may be related to improved intestinal wellbeing due to changes in the intestinal microbiota which to our surprise is NOT induced by gluten itself but by the concomitant change in the type of dietary fibres linked to a low-gluten intake.

21 Sep

Posted at 13:34h in Author Interviews, Diabetes, Gluten, Lancet, OBGYNE, Pediatrics
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Knud Josefsen, senior researcher Bartholin Institute, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen K, Denmark MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: In a large population of pregnant women, we found that the risk of the offspring being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes before the age of 15.6 years (the follow up period) was doubled in the group of women ingesting the highest amounts of gluten (20-66 g/day) versus the group of women ingesting the lowest amounts of gluten (0-7 g/day). For every additional 10 grams of gluten ingested, the risk for type 1 diabetes in the child increased by a factor of 1.31. It the sense that it was a hypothesis that we specifically tested, we were not surprised. We had seen in animal experiments that a gluten-free diet during pregnancy protected the offspring from diabetes, and we wanted to see if we could prove the same pattern in humans. There could be many reasons why we would not be able to show the association, even if it was there (sample size, low quality data, covariates we could not correct for and so on), but we were off course pleasantly surprised that we found the association that we were looking for, in particular because it is quite robust

07 Jun

Posted at 12:00h in Amgen, Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, Gluten
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42052" align="alignleft" width="135"]Markku Mäki, MD, PhD Professor (emeritus) at the University of Tampere and Presently research director at the Tampere University Hospital Tampere, Finland Prof. Mäki[/caption] Markku Mäki, MD, PhD Professor (emeritus) at the University of Tampere and Presently research director at the Tampere University Hospital Tampere, Finland MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The only treatment for this life-long gluten-induced autoimmune systemic disease is a strict avoidance of wheat, rye and barley, the food cereals which contain gluten, the environmental trigger and driving force in celiac disease.  Gluten causes intestinal inflammation, usually with (but sometimes without) gastrointestinal or nutritional symptoms or signs, and with frequent extra-intestinal diseases. However, it is impossible for celiac disease patients to avoid gluten entirely and indefinitely and a third of patients report symptoms on a strict gluten-free diet. Gut mucosal healing is not optimal in half of the patients, and inflammation and injury is detected for years after starting the diet, presumably due to contamination with gluten in the diet. This is why patients are requesting, and academia and industry are looking for novel adjunct therapies for celiac disease. Initially, these therapies are tested to prevent the consequences of hidden gluten; the ultimate goal being that also celiacs could one day eat safely wheat, barley and rye products. Some 20 novel experimental therapies are at present actively being investigated (modifying wheat or different drugs, devices and vaccines/immunotherapy). The present study investigated whether blocking interleukin 15, an important mediator of celiac disease, reduces or prevents gluten-driven ill health, both the inflammation and injury at the small intestinal mucosal level and gluten-induced symptoms. The experimental drug used was Amgen’s AMG 714, a human monoclonal antibody, used at a low and high dose, in the presence or absence of a high-dose gluten challenge.

06 Sep

Posted at 18:02h in Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, Gluten, JAMA
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27623" align="alignleft" width="125"]Brandon Hyunseok Kim, M.D., MPH Internal Medicine Resident Rutgers New Jersey Medical School Dr. Brandon Hyunseok Kim[/caption] Brandon Hyunseok Kim, M.D., MPH Internal Medicine Resident Rutgers New Jersey Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The background of this study was to investigate the time trends in the prevalence of celiac disease and gluten-free diet in the United States using most recent 6-year National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey. Previous studies using narrow populations or old study period mainly before mid 2000s suggested increasing prevalence of celiac disease. At the same time, there is a current popular trend of people following gluten-free diets beyond what would be expected if it were solely due to the increasing prevalence of celiac disease.

27 Jul

Posted at 23:34h in Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, Gluten, Immunotherapy
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_26555" align="alignleft" width="173"]Armin Alaedini, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Medicine & Institute of Human Nutrition Columbia University Medical Center New York, NY 10032 Dr. Armin Alaedini[/caption] Armin Alaedini, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Medicine & Institute of Human Nutrition Columbia University Medical Center New York, NY 10032 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: It has been a mystery why some people experience a range of symptoms in response to the ingestion of wheat and related cereals, even though they do not have celiac disease (an autoimmune disorder) or wheat allergy. Both gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, most commonly abdominal pain, diarrhea, and bloating, as well as extra-intestinal symptoms, such as fatigue, anxiety, depressed mood, and cognitive difficulties are reported by patients. The identity of the component(s) of wheat responsible for triggering the symptoms remains uncertain and it is not clear if gluten or non-gluten molecules are involved. There is evidence to indicate that wheat sensitivity also affects a subset of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a common disorder. Despite the interest from the medical community and the general public, the causes and mechanism of the associated symptoms have remained unknown and no biomarkers are available to aid in the diagnosis of patients.

02 Jun

Posted at 01:50h in Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, Gluten, Microbiome
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_24849" align="alignleft" width="180"]Ettje Tigchelaar MSc PhD student from department of Genetics University of Groningen, Groningen Ettje Tigchelaar[/caption] Ettje Tigchelaar MSc PhD student from department of Genetics University of Groningen, Groningen MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: A gluten-free diet is used by celiac disease patients to alleviate their symptoms. Previous research in these patients has shown differences in gut microbiota composition when on habitual gluten containing diet (HD) compared to a gluten-free diet (GFD). Recently more and more individuals without celiac disease also started to adopt a gluten-free diet to improve their health and/or control weight. We studied changes in gut microbiota composition in these healthy individuals on a gluten-free diet. We observed changes in the abundance of specific bacteria, for example the abundance of the bacterium family Veillonellaceae was much lower on a gluten-free diet versus HD, whereas it was higher for the family Clostridiaceae. We also looked at the function of the bacteria in the gut and found that many of those bacteria that changed because of the gluten-free diet played a role in metabolism of starch. This makes sense since starch is like gluten highly present in wheat containing products, thus when eliminating gluten from the diet, the intake of starch also changes and the gut bacteria processing this dietary starch change accordingly.

26 Oct

Posted at 01:09h in Author Interviews, Gluten, Pediatrics
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Maria Ines Pinto Sanchez, MD MSc​ Post-doctoral Clinical ​ Research Fellow and Dr Elena Verdu, MD, PhD Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute McMaster University Health Sciences Centre Hamilton, ON Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Celiac disease is a condition caused by ingestion of gluten in people with genetic predisposition, in which the finger like projections of the intestinal lining are damaged by inflammation. The “celiac” genes are necessary, but not sufficient, to develop celiac disease. For this reason, it is believed that additional factors could influence the risk of a predisposed child to develop celiac disease. Some studies have indeed suggested that the ideal time for the introduction of gluten to the diet would fall between the 4th and 6th month of life, when gluten should be introduced in “small quantities” and progressively, while maintaining breastfeeding whenever possible. The Nutrition Committee of the European Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition recommended avoiding the introduction of gluten before 4 months and after 7 months of age in an attempt to prevent celiac disease. However, not all clinical studies reached this conclusion and we therefore conducted an updated analysis of the literature published on this subject to evaluate the relationship between time and amount of gluten introduction, breastfeeding and the risk of developing celiac disease. Our systematic analysis revealed that based on the studies published to date there is no strong support that early gluten introduction to an infant’s diet increases the chances to develop celiac disease or that breastfeeding specifically protects from it.

08 Oct

Posted at 10:23h in Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, Gluten, Nutrition, Pediatrics
Ketil Stordal Researcher/consultant paediatrician National Institute of Public Health NorwayMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ketil Stordal Researcher/consultant paediatrician National Institute of Public Health Norway MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: The study identified 324 children with celiac disease from a cohort of 82 000. Start of gluten in the diet later than 6 months was associated with a 27% increased risk of celiac disease compared to those starting during the 5th or 6th month of life. Breastfeeding was not protective; the duration of breastfeeding was slightly longer among children with celiac disease (10.4 vs 9.9 months) and breastfeeding at the time of gluten introduction was not associated with the later risk of celiac disease. The participating mothers had submitted detailed data since pregnancy including infant feeding practices, and these were collected before onset of the disease.