Gluten Free Beer – Raving Success or Costly Failure?

Personally I was never a beer lover. I remember beginning college and having many older students assure me that by my sophomore year I’d become a fan. They were wrong. I’d like to think that I didn’t like it because I intuitively knew that I was gluten intolerant, but that doesn’t quite add up when I look at my love for pasta, brownies and croissants!

While beer isn’t for everyone, I definitely have witnessed a lot of sad faces when I diagnosed patients as gluten intolerant and they realized that beer was no longer allowed. When gluten-free beers first hit the market several years ago, they were met with initial excitement but disappointment quickly followed when it became clear that the taste didn’t quite live up to expectations. The sorghum base (a grain in the corn family) vs. traditional barley, didn’t meet the taste standards of true beer lovers.

Enter a newly released product from Widmer Brothers Brewing out of Oregon – ‘Omission Gluten Free Lager’ and ‘Omission Gluten Free Pale Ale’. Widmer has managed to produce an authentic tasting beer while still maintaining well under the 20 parts per million (ppm) standard set by the World Health Organization for a product to be considered gluten-free.

It sounds perfect. Beer lovers should be happy. Not so fast… A government agency, the Treasury Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is causing a bit of an uproar about the gluten-free beer, citing that it violates the standards of a gluten-free product and therefore should not be allowed to be sold with a gluten-free label.

Why? Widmer uses barley, a gluten-containing grain, to manufacture their beer. This is the reason it taste authentic, they utilize the same major grain as all beer. How does it ‘magically’ become gluten-free? They use enzymes to digest the gluten and this process results in the finished product meeting gluten-free standards. In fact, the beer has a mere 5-6 ppm of gluten, satisfying even those who believe that 5 or 10 ppm would be a safer level than 20 ppm.

The TTB is stating that since the product is ‘made’ from a gluten containing ingredient, Widmer cannot use the term gluten-free on their label.

What do you think? Is it about the amount of gluten in the finished product or the ingredients that are used? Is there a difference between a product that is contaminated with gluten, causing it to exceed the 20 ppm law, and a product that actually contains gluten containing ingredients and therefore exceeds 20 ppm?

Is the bottom line that a product is legitimately gluten-free based on gluten ppm or should the ingredients play a major role as well?

Would you drink a beer made from barley that was certified gluten-free based on a standardized measurement?

I’d like to hear from you on this…

The battle is still ensuing so we’ll have to wait to find out who prevails.

For you clever readers that have read between the lines and started to wonder about using enzymes personally to ‘pre-digest’ gluten for you, there is no such enzyme present to be used successfully at this time. Remember that with gluten it is a qualitative factor vs. a quantitative one. Meaning that ‘any’ gluten is enough to cause an immune system reaction and therefore ill health. This beer product is technically gluten-free upon ingestion. That is very different from eating gluten and throwing an enzyme in at the same time. Good thinking though!

I hope you found this informative. If you are struggling with your health and would like to get to the root cause of why you have the symptoms you have, please consider calling us for a free health analysis. We are here to help!

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,

Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”

Seizures Caused by Gluten Intolerance? You Be the Doctor and Decide

The fact that gluten intolerance can create problems with the nervous system is not new news. The fact that gluten can create seizures is also not new. But it’s also a fact that it is new to most doctors, even those who are specialists of the nervous system.

Witness this true life story:

A mother contacted me who was herself a celiac. Prior to being diagnosed with celiac disease and eliminating gluten from her diet, she had seizures. Her seizures, along with a host of other problems, all disappeared on a gluten-free diet.

Fast forward to having children and she began to notice that her son would flutter his eyes oddly at times. As this worsened and she realized that it was not under his control, she moved forward to get a diagnosis. She took her son to many doctors and the agreed diagnosis was ‘absence seizures’. These used to be called petit mal seizures as opposed to grand mal seizures that are dramatic and more what most people think of when the word ‘seizure’ comes to mind.

Petit means small and grand means large in French, fyi…

Other than the diagnosis, no recommendation for cause nor cure was offered. A drug with dangerous side effects was the only ‘solution’ given to the mom and this was something she didn’t want to do. Citing her own health history as an example, the mother asked if celiac disease or gluten reactions could be causing the seizures in her child. Her question was met with degrees of distain or complete lack of interest by all the doctors she asked.

In frustration, the mother adopted a gluten-free diet for her son. Lo and behold, the seizures ceased, except when he ate gluten. Whether it was a mistake or outright cheating, the seizures did not return without gluten contamination occurring.

Armed with the data of her own ‘experiment’ in the matter, the mother again asked a neurologist about a link with gluten and her son’s seizures. Despite what seemed to be an obvious association, the neurologist categorically stated that there was no connection between gluten and her son’s seizures.

Does that make sense to you?

Even if you were unaware of research proving you wrong (which there is ample), wouldn’t you be curious enough about the association to look into whether any research existed? As a neurologist who frequently saw patients suffering with seizures, wouldn’t you be curious to see if there was any validity in this mother’s claim?

If it was your child what would you do?

Thankfully the mom found out about us on the internet and she and her son are coming to visit our destination clinic. Here we will confirm or deny gluten intolerance via a genetic test. This is the test of choice because it doesn't require a dangerous reintroduction of gluten in order to get an accurate result. We will also address the secondary effects association with gluten intolerance such as:

o   Infections

o   Cross reactive foods

o   Other food intolerances

o   Health of the probiotic organisms in the gut

o   Vitamin and enzyme deficiencies

o   and more…

While I was grateful that the mother discovered us, it made me think how many other individuals, adults and children alike, are suffering needlessly from a condition such as seizures when a dietary change could eradicate the problem.

Do you know anyone with seizures? Please alert them to this data.

If you or someone you care about needs to improve their health please tell them about our free health analysis. 

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,

Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”

Reference:

European Journal of Epilepsy, Vol 7, Issue 1. Pp 49-54. February 1998. ”Epilepsy, cerebral calcifications and clinical or subclinical coeliac disease. Course and follow up with gluten-free diet”

Gluten Intolerant? Can You Eat the Meat of an Animal that Ate Gluten?

I’m frequently asked the question: “If I can’t eat gluten, can I eat an animal who ate gluten?”

It’s a good question and it makes sense why someone who is gluten intolerant would ask.

The good news is that when an animal ingests gluten it is digested sufficiently enough that later eating the meat from that animal does not create any issue of gluten contamination.

That’s the good news.

Unfortunately there is bad news as well. While you might not have to worry about gluten contamination, animals that are fed high grain diets, be it corn or wheat, are not nearly as healthy as those who are grass-fed.

Have you ever wondered why heart disease and the concern of eating high fat red meat didn’t seem to be such an issue 50 years ago? The answer lies in what the animal is being fed. Grass fed beef is not the same quality as grain fed beef. There is actually no comparison. Grass fed beef is lower in fat, higher in CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) an amino acid believed to have anti-cancer properties, and higher in omega-3 fatty acids, critical for good health.

Grain fed beef is higher in omega-6 fatty acids, not the good kind and more likely to create inflammatory degenerative diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

Other factors affecting the meat we eat include hormones and antibiotics given to livestock, but even putting that aside the high grain diets are creating an unhealthier animal and that certainly does affect  the humans who eat the meat.

Therefore, while gluten contamination is not an issue, the quality of the meat is.

My recommendation is that you keep your consumption of animal meats to a minimum. It is better, and safer, to get your protein from non-animal sources such as dark green leafy veggies, beans, nuts and legumes. It turns out that our preoccupation with protein consumption has been a bit overblown. It turns out that we don’t need quite the quantity of protein as we used to think. In fact, we are likely healthier with more plants (fruits and veggies) in our diet than animal protein.

Occasional lean, clean protein sources are fine. When I say clean I am referring to grass fed, hormone and antibiotic-free animals. They are not easy to find and you won’t get them at most restaurants, but good grocery stores certainly offer them.

Have you wondered about how healthy it is to eat meat? Do you have any questions I haven’t answered?

Feel free to contact me. My team and myself are here to help. If you’d like to improve your health you can contact us for a free health analysis. Call 408-733-0400.

To your good health,

Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN

Founder of HealthNOW Medical Center

Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the e-Book: “Gluten Intolerance – What you don’t know may be killing you!”

Can a Gluten-free Diet Cure Type 1 Diabetes?

A new study revealed that a child with type 1 diabetes went into complete remission and remained that way for 20 months (perhaps more, but that was the duration of the study) on a gluten-free diet. No insulin was required and his blood values were normal.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. By that is meant that one’s immune system mistakenly attacks a body part instead of a disease causing organism such as a bacteria, virus or parasite. The immune system is designed to protect the body from foreign invaders, it is certainly not designed to attack the body itself.

Yet, in the case of over 100 different autoimmune diseases, that’s exactly what happens. In diabetes the pancreas is the target, in celiac disease the small intestine bears the brunt of destructive immune forces, in rheumatoid arthritis it is the joints that are under attack, etc, etc.

Research has known for some time that there is a strong correlation between type 1 diabetes (typically diagnosed in children) and celiac disease. In fact the genetic components of both diseases seem to share genes. The correlation is so strong that some researchers feel that it is prudent to rule out celiac disease in type 1 diabetics.

Unfortunately I have found that all too often it is the diabetes and its treatment with insulin that gets center stage and celiac or gluten intolerance is either not tested or, even when found, is not given the attention it deserves.

I still remember two cases where the parent of the child stated that a gluten free diet was just ‘too much’ to cope with considering all that diabetes involved, diet-wise. While I appreciate that it’s not an easy lifestyle, I think if these parents had the study that we’re about to discuss to hand they might have been more willing to adopt a gluten-free diet.

Here are the specifics of the study:

Published just days ago in the British Medical Journal (June 21, 2012) from authors Sildorf SM, Fredheim S, Svensson J, and Buschard K out of Copenhagen University Hospital , the article was titled “Remission without insulin therapy on gluten-free diet in a 6-year old boy with type 1 diabetes mellitus”.

The patient was a boy aged 5 years and 10 months who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes but was not diagnosed with celiac disease. Despite a negative celiac test he was started on a gluten-free diet and within 2 to 3 weeks had no need for insulin. This is rather astonishing and certainly the only ‘treatment’ he was receiving was a gluten-free diet.

A lab test called Hemoglobin A1c was very high upon initial diagnosis, consistent with diabetes. With the addition of a gluten-free diet that number dropped to within normal range and stabilized, once again without any insulin.

Evaluated at the 16 month mark after initiating the gluten free diet, and again at the 20 month mark, the young boy was still completely stable with no need for insulin. The authors note that a gluten-free diet is completely safe and without side effects – That’s for sure. Other than the great side effect of stabilizing (can we say reversing?) diabetes!

The researchers summation was that a gluten-free diet has prolonged remission of diabetes in this patient and they recommend further trials be initiated.

This research is just a dream come true for me. The problem is finding these newly diagnosed children and then educating their parents and doctors. And the child in this study didn’t even have a positive celiac test.

Do realize that celiac testing is not perfect and due to its lack of sensitivity it can often miss the disease. So too there is gluten intolerance, which despite what some may think, I find to be related to autoimmune disease.

So while we do have a bit of an uphill battle as far as education goes, if we could get some pediatricians and endocrinologists to look at this data we could really make an impact.

Have you had any experience with this personally? I’d love to hear from you.

Also I would like to ask you to spread this information far and wide if you will. Imagine how beautiful it would be to ‘catch’ a child newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and reverse/stabilize it with a simple dietary change?

I truly believe it is possible (certainly the above study shows that) and the more it occurs the more likely we are to have clinicians adopt a policy of trying a gluten-free diet in these at-risk children. A gluten-free diet certainly poses no harm and when compared to the devastating effects of diabetes, I think we can all agree that the gluten-free diet sounds like an ideal treatment.

I hope this information was helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions.

If your health is not at the level you desire, please consider our offer of a free health analysis. We are here to help.

Our destination clinic treats patients from across the country and internationally so you do not need to live locally to receive assistance.

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,

Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”

Is a Leaky Gut only Found in Those with Celiac Disease?

If you follow the literature at all on celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, then you have likely heard much about ‘leaky gut’.

What is it?

The small intestine, 23 feet in length and responsible for turning food into fuel, is a permeable organ. This means that it allows digested food to leave its confines in order to feed all the cells of the body but it also has an intelligent ‘gate keeper’ system that prevents toxins or dangerous organisms from escaping.

When it is functioning normally, the small intestine performs these two, but opposite, functions superbly.

A leaky gut it defined as a small intestine that no longer is guarding the gates well. As a result, partially digested food, toxins and disease-causing organisms gain access to the bloodstream where they can be responsible for a host of ills including many autoimmune diseases – the third leading cause of death in this country.

When testing for the presence of a leaky gut most research has employed the use of a test called the lactulose mannitol test. Lactulose and mannitol are both sugar molecules that are water soluble but not metabolized by the body. Mannitol is the smaller of the two and should be easily absorbed by cells, while lactulose has larger molecules and should be only partially absorbed.

When evaluating those with celiac disease vs. gluten sensitivity, many researchers have cited a positive lactulose mannitol test in those with celiac disease, while consistently showing a negative test in a gluten sensitive population. Their conclusions were, therefore, that only those suffering with celiac disease suffered from leaky gut and those with gluten sensitivity did not.

I have been perplexed by this for quite some time because I see many gluten sensitive patients that respond very favorably to a program that heals a leaky gut.

My clinical knowledge, meaning what I learn from working with my patients, rarely steers me wrong. It was due to my patients that I even discovered gluten sensitivity 20 years ago and I recently saw a quote from Alessio Fasano that cited very much the same thing. He commented that people who were ‘convinced’ that they were celiac and came to his center only to be tested and discover they were not, went home and tried a gluten-free diet anyway and reported miraculous improvement from having done so. Fortunately he listened and from these individuals he began to research what we now know is a very legitimate and common condition, gluten sensitivity.

A couple of years ago I heard research presented by a doctor who was discussing a new permeability test. This doctor contended that the lactulose mannitol test was too gross a test and by the time it showed positive there was extremely severe damage done to the lining of the gut. This makes sense because the test is typically found positive only in celiac and we know that disease causes catastrophic damage to the lining of the small intestine – it is in no way a subtle degree of destruction.

The new test claimed to be more sensitive to subtle changes in permeability of the small intestine, thus making early diagnosis available (always a good thing) plus it frequently proves to be positive in those with gluten sensitivity, not just celiac.

This got my attention because it aligned with what I saw with my patients.

Do understand that I have no personal vested interest in the laboratory offering this test, I’m simply trying to make the point that I believe two things to be true:

1.       The lactulose mannitol test is potentially outdated because it isn’t sensitive to early and subtle changes in gut permeability

2.       Gluten sensitive patients suffer from leaky gut in much the same way as do those with celiac disease. The damage is not as severe, but it doesn’t preclude the negative effects that a leaky gut will create.

Why is this important?

If you have a leaky gut and it isn’t treated properly and early on, you will not regain optimal health, despite a gluten-free diet) and you will be more likely to develop other diseases involving the immune system and nervous system, whether it’s a poor balance of good bacteria in the gut, chronic food reactions, depression, chronic fatigue or autoimmune disease.

The more sensitive test, a blood test, is offered by Cyrex Labs and it measures the body’s immune response to the passage of a lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a substance that is released once a bacterial cell has died. It is felt that the passage of LPS is a more sensitive marker than the previous lactulose mannitol that has been likened to a ‘Mack truck’ passing through the small intestine. And as we all know, a Mack truck is not subtle. The LPS molecule is more like tracking the passage of a ‘Mini cooper’ making its way through the intestinal barrier. Both are a problem and therefore both must be identified.

Much like our poor diagnosis rate – on 5% of all celiac ever get diagnosed in this country and that is typically after a decade of seeking out help – it seems that our ability to diagnose leaky gut is also in need of some assistance.

If you suspect leaky gut you should try to find a clinician to test you. If you need help in this department, always feel free to contact me. I can offer you a free health analysis if you call the clinic at 408-733-0400.

I feel that we will soon appreciate the fact that leaky gut is prevalent in those with gluten sensitivity as well as celiac. This knowledge plus the implementation of an effective treatment plan will go a long way towards dramatic health improvement.

My treatment for a leaky gut involves identifying any and all inhospitable organisms (this would include bacteria, parasites, amoeba, etc) and eradicating them. It further entails evaluating the balance of the good organisms or probiotics in the gut and balancing them as needed. Looking for any nutritional deficiencies, toxicities, hormonal imbalance and other food reactions is all part of this comprehensive program.

Do you know anyone who is wondering if leaky gut is a problem for them? If so, please send them this post.

I am here to help and my commitment is to dramatically increase the awareness of celiac disease and gluten sensitivity, while developing effective treatment strategies that work. We have a strong, effective program for normalizing gut permeability. It is tailored to each individual because we are not all the same, but the above description is the foundation upon which it is based.

I hope this was informative. Do you have any questions? Please send them to me.

We are happy to offer a free health analysis to you, your family and friends – we are here to help!

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,

Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”