Celiac, was triticum vulgare

[Dr. Joe Rozencwajg, NMD]

If we look at it from a biological/evolutionary point of vue, it takes a totally different colouration.

I hear celiac "disease"....how about looking at it as the norm for the animal Homo Sapiens, with different forms of expressions, form total intolerance to apparent innocuity?
Look at it this way: as primates we are hunters-gatherers-scavengers.
In terms of survival, when you look at wild grains, the time taken to collect enough for a meal is a total disproportionate effort; munching on them while looking for another source of food is OK, but spending time harvesting it is valueless.
This changed with villages and the creation of agriculture, but not our physiology. Grains were selected over generations for higher yield, bigger crops, but the increase was mainly in gliadin. This helped the human race to survive and grow, but at the cost of chronic disease (add milk as another factor here).
We see a similar situation with herds fed exclusively on grains or worse industrial food: they develop diseases and have to be culled after a few years of "service".
No matter what else I use for treating my patients, I systematically remove all grains (and dairy) from their diet. I have still to see ONE patient not improving if they follow strictly this diet. If they break it too early, a sudden return of symptoms with a vengeance is common. At the end of the treatment, after 6-12 months they can tolerate small amounts infrequently.
I have had patients who have gone through homeopathic cure, then binged for a few weeks on cereals, showing a return of symptoms no homeopathic remedy could clear; return to the previous abstention solved the problem.

So my take is that gliadin, and all cereals containing it, is a human poison, a toxin, a maintaining cause of disease, an obstacle to cure.
Our excessive use of it is purely a socio-economic habit, powered by advertisement and practicality: easier to make a sandwich or have a cereal bar than to cook a meal. I have confirmed that clinically for the last 10 years of practice.

Food for thought, isn't it?

Dr. J. Rozencwajg, MD, PhD, NMD.
"The greatest enemy of any science is a closed mind"

[Simon King LCPH MARH]

Amen to that!
Simon
All things are possible, some are just more probable than others.

[Rosemary C Hyde]

Dear Dr R,

Yes indeed -- fascinating food for thought ) -- and of course in line with our species' evolutionary history. So I wonder why, apparently, some ethnic groups have a stronger expression of this toxicity than others?

I had, in fact, before I read your fascinating note, been thinking that wheat was not, in fact, a very common food in Ireland until comparatively recently (very recently, if one looks at the picture from the perspective of our whole history from hunter- gatherer to super market shopper. )

I used the term "celiac disease" because that's the usual medical term in the US. The medical diagnosis is "confirmed" when a biopsy of the small intestine shows characteristically damaged vili.

Interesting that you should have noted the addition of milk -- usually people who have symptoms from gluten intolerance are intolerant of milk as well -- not necessarily of lactose per se, but of some other component or components in milk.

I too often suggest that people eliminate gluten-containing grains from their diet near the beginning of treatment, just to test the possibility that some of their symptoms could be due to gluten sensitivities. I then ask them to do the same test, separately, with other foods that they consume daily. How long do you find it generally takes for them to notice the return of symptoms if they start consuming the grains again?

Thanks very much for sharing your valuable insights. Rosemary

[Dr. Joe Rozencwajg, NMD]

Some ethnicities develop a tolerance through natural selection: if it is the only food you have, you either tolerate it and transfer the tolerance to the next generation or die and loose the gene(s).
Look at the Masai who survive on milk and blood or at the Inuit who thrive on blubber; give them what we would call a healthy diet, they die....

How long before symptoms return after a challenge depends on the level of intolerance, how long you have been without the aggravating food and how heatlhy you have become while having abstained from that food. One lady managed 2 weeks without the offending food, then succumbed to her craving; within a few hours she called me; her complaint was that of rheumatism, on diet + remedies she was pain free, after her binge she could not move for 24 hours.....that was a real Pavlovian conditioning, she never touched the stuff again.

Dr. J. Rozencwajg, MD, PhD, NMD.
"The greatest enemy of any science is a closed mind"

[Shannon Nelson]

Hm, definitely thought provoking... But what about e.g. Asians and
rice? Do you see the same problem there (does rice also have
gliadin?)? And are e.g. potatoes better tolerated? Personally, I see
to tolerate brown rice alright, but potatoes only infrequently. But
you definitely see it as a problem if "grains", not particularly wheat
and gluten grains? (Is that related to gliagen?)
Shannon

[Dr. Joe Rozencwajg, NMD]

Rice has no gliadin, but is almost pure carbs, especially the white one....other problems.

Potatoes are from the solanacea family, another type of sensitivity; white potatoes are again the results of centuries of selection to lower their toxicity. Still in traditional herbalism, the water in which potatoes are boiled is used for the treatment of colics, especially renal colics, due to its content of the alkaloid solanin, a powerful antispasmodic....no gliadin there as far as I remember, but loads of carbs with a high glycemic index.

Dr. J. Rozencwajg, MD, PhD, NMD.
"The greatest enemy of any science is a closed mind"

[Shannon Nelson]

Also, FWIW--at least for some people sprouting and fermenting seems to
make a huge difference. For myself, both wheat and soy cause HUGE
problems, except that after sprouting or fermenting they seem to be
completely fine. I wonder how many of your patients would also find
this, or whether results would not be as good as from abstaining?
Shannon

[Shannon Nelson]

Well, white rice is just another "refined" food, aka "empty calorie",
plus as you mention high carb, high glycemic index, robs the body of
nutrients, all that... Brown rice is different (especially sprouted or
soaked before cooking, yum).
So what do you have people eat--just meat and veggies (fruit?)? I've
done that, but find it really hard and don't *think* it's worked as
well for me as just avoiding wheat (except sprouted).
Shannon

[Dr. Joe Rozencwajg, NMD]

Anything that has not been handled, except to put it in boxes like sardines and tuna......

Fruit, veggies, nuts, seeds, eggs, meat, fish, with a dose of creativity. It is difficult for a few weeks, then there is no looking back, the usual remark is "How could I have eaten all that stuff before?"

After a few months and when better, social pigging out is allowed but is really something very moderately done.

Dr. J. Rozencwajg, MD, PhD, NMD.
"The greatest enemy of any science is a closed mind"

[Rosemary C Hyde]

I don't know about fermenting, but I agree that sprouting the grains seems to lower dramatically the gluten level, which makes sense, because the gluten is there to nourish the sprouting grain, which is, after all, a seed. ) Rosemary