Using a standard method of determining risk factors for these cancers, Dr. Jonas Ludvigsson and his research team compared data from more than 17,000 women with confirmed celiac disease to that from about 88,000 women without the condition.

They found women with celiac were 15 percent, 40 percent and 11 percent less likely to develop breast cancer, endometrial and ovarian cancer respectively. What’s more, the decreased risk was greater when they excluded patients who were within their first year of diagnosis.

Ludvigsson told Allergic Living that one possible link between celiac disease and a reduced incidence of female cancers is a tendency among celiac patients to have a lower body mass index (BMI). Breast cancer, in particular, has been associated with obesity and a high BMI.

The expert suspects the decreased risk of ovarian cancer may be linked to early menopause in many women with celiac disease. Fewer ovulations in their lifetimes may be the reason.

Interestingly, the risk of lung cancer did not vary between celiac and non-celiac patients in this research. This is likely “because the smoking pattern of Swedish women does not seem to differ between celiac women and non-celiac women,” says Ludvigsson. More studies of celiac and cancer are planned.

First published in Allergic Living magazine.
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Dr. Joseph Murray, lead author of the study published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, said the results clearly show that celiac patients are not being tested frequently enough to ensure that no complications have arisen due to the disease. For example, osteoporosis and anemia may develop if patients are continuously exposed to even small amounts of gluten. Since strict avoidance of the protein is difficult, testing is crucial.

In a news release, Dr. Murray said, “It should not be different from other chronic conditions for which medical follow up is a given such as liver disease, inflammatory bowel disease or even gastroesophageal reflux disease. Anecdotally, patients with celiac disease often feel they are on their own in the management of celiac disease.”

The study looked at data on 122 celiac patients who were diagnosed between 1996 and 2006 and the number of follow-up exams they received between six months and five years after their initial diagnosis.

Dr. Margot Herman, who also worked on the study, said in a video that the American Gastroenterological Association’s guidelines recommend that celiac patients to receive periodic visits with a clinician, dietitian, as well as blood and other testing. But in reality, she notes, in a five-year period, only about one-third of patients receive this kind of care.

As well, fewer than a quarter of the patients in the study had bone density scans  in the five years after diagnosis. “It was remarkable how little follow-up these people were getting,” Dr. Herman said.

“Our study points out an area for improvement in medicine, and particularly for these patients in terms of their long-term disease management,” she said.

Optimal bone health depends on getting sufficient levels of calcium and vitamins D and K. Calcium and vitamin K may be consumed through foods, but vitamin D is primarily produced when we are exposed to the sun.

In the University of Alberta study, the vitamin K levels of the 43 participating children were a bit low, but the children were able to improve those by eating foods such as leafy green vegetables. However, the children live in northern Alberta, where they get only a few months a year of adequate sun exposure, which explains the lack of sufficient vitamin D.

Diana Mager, one of the study’s main researchers, told Allergic Living that this deficiency would probably extend to other children with celiac disease who don’t have adequate sun exposure: “I would expect to see the same effects of reduced sunlight exposure and suboptimal vitamin D status in other parts of Canada and in the northern United States,” she said. “Suboptimal vitamin D status is highly prevalent in North America.”

Mager also says that since much of the human skeleton is formed during childhood, lack of essential nutrients could present problems down the line. She cautioned parents of children who may be at risk of celiac disease to pay attention to their kids’ bone health. “Children with celiac disease may appear to be growing well but they can still have very bad bone health,” she said.

Anyone shopping for gluten-free pasta will tell you that many rice, corn and other noodles fall apart or don’t have quite the right taste or texture when compared to wheat flour pasta. However, a majority of taste-testers – 25 with celiac disease and 50 without – liked the pasta made from ground bananas, egg whites and xanthan and guar gums.

Raquel Botelho, one of the dietititians from the University of Brasilia who worked on the formula, told Reuters that green banana flour may also present a great option for gluten-free breads, biscuits and pizza dough. For now, the team must try to get the pasta from the lab to the grocery store shelf.

The bonus? This celiac-friendly pasta has fewer calories and less fat than whole wheat pasta and would be much cheaper than other gluten-free pastas. Now that’s something any grandmother would be happy about!

If necessary, the counselors may put the auto-injector in the child’s hand and “guide” it.

Jean-Pierre Ménard, a Quebec lawyer who specializes in medical rights, told Le Journal de Québec newspaper that the rule – intended to protect the counselors against liability – contravenes Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, since the Charter says that every human being whose life is in danger has the right to be saved. In addition, he says this “incomprehensible” rule should instead have the City of Quebec worried about prosecution for instructing caregivers, in essence, not to save a child’s life.

Similar restrictive camp policies have arisen in some parts of the United States.

Gervais Bélanger, director-general of Asthme & Allergies Québec, says he finds the day camp rules for not administering auto-injectors “inexplicable”and “unjustified” – since this puts the onus on allergic campers between the ages of 4 and 12 to self-inject at a time when they are having an anaphylactic reaction. (Epinephrine is an emergency medication, and it would be rare for a young child to self-inject.)

Bélanger is one of the members of the Coalition for Megann’s Law, which is urging the Quebec government to pass a law on school food allergy accommodations that would include school staff auto-injector training and preparedness to act in an allergy emergency.

On behalf of the coalition, he has written letters to the Quebec camping association and to the president of the Office of Professions of Quebec, the provincial agency that reviews the regulations adopted by various organizations. Bélanger makes these groups aware of a regulation amendment that the Quebec College of Physicians proposed in June to allow non-medical persons to administer epinephrine auto-injectors.

The College of Physicians has a 45-day commenting period on changes, so while its proposed amendment will clarify the rules for non-medical people caring for allergic children and ultimately should have a positive impact on day camp rules, it won’t help parents and campers this summer.

After studies in Europe showed a link between celiac disease and a high prevalence of migraine headaches, Dr. Alexandra Dimitrova, a neurological resident at Columbia University Medical Center, under the supervision of Dr. Peter Green from the Celiac Disease Center at that university, decided to investigate whether the same held true in the U.S. The researchers found that 30 per cent of the patients they studied with celiac disease reported chronic migraines (14 or more per month).

For the study, the researchers analyzed the intensity and frequency of headaches of 502 people with celiac disease, gluten sensitivity, irritable bowel disease, as well as a control group. They also looked at daily habits, such as coffee and alcohol consumption. Those with celiac disease reported the most frequent and intense migraines.

Since it often takes many years before someone is diagnosed with celiac disease, the presence of migraines could be a clue: “I would test any patient not responsive to appropriate migraine medical therapy administered by a neurologist,” says Dimitrova.

The good news is that both the European and U.S. research suggests that a gluten-free diet can reduce the number and severity of migraines. More work needs to be done, says Dimitrova, including a study in which diet and eating habits are looked at in-depth to determine the impact on migraines.

After studies in Europe showed a link between celiac disease and a high prevalence of migraine headaches, Dr. Alexandra Dimitrova, a neurological resident at Columbia University Medical Center, under the supervision of Dr. Peter Green from the Celiac Disease Center at that university, decided to investigate whether the same held true in the U.S. The researchers found that 30 per cent of the patients they studied with celiac disease reported chronic migraines (14 or more per month).

Read entire article here.

HEADACHE

Allergies cause fluid to build up in the sinuses, putting pressure on the nerves in the area. This can lead to a headache directly above the eyes. The pain is different for each person, and can come on suddenly or gradually.

SLEEPINESS

Fluid in the sinuses puts pressure on the brain, sometimes resulting in fatigue, says Dr. Paul Ehrlich, a pediatric allergist based in New York. Other  reasons for daytime fatigue? A lack of nighttime sleep, caused either by your congested nose which makes it difficult to breathe or a decongestant medication containing pseudoephedrine, which is a stimulant and can keep you awake. Some antihistamines have a sedative effect and can make you feel tired during the day. Finally, hay fever sufferers can become overtired from constantly fighting the body-wide reaction.

IRRITABILITY

Usually caused by that lack of sleep, irritability is an under-recognized but very real
symptom of hay fever, says Vancouver allergist Dr. Donald Stark. Another cause: times of high stress often coincide with the different allergy seasons – and the convergence of the two would make anyone grouchy. For example, students’ final exams in June are at the height of grass pollen season, and back to school in September coincides with the start of ragweed season.

Next page: Aggravated eyes, nose, ears and cheeks

While the availability of safe breads has certainly risen, the loaves often are still lacking in nutritional value and come out too dense, or too crumbly, or too small, or too hard, or just not that appetizing. As well, shelf life tends to fall a little short.

The good news is that new research published in the online journal Microbial Cell Factories suggests that making gluten-free sourdough bread may solve all of these issues.

Sourdough is made from mixing flour and water and fermenting the mixture with specific bacteria strains and yeast. Researchers have been working on figuring out which strains of bacteria would match up best with different gluten-free flours such as rice, corn and amaranth.

Elke Arendt, co-author of the study and a researcher and professor at the School of Food and Nutritional Sciences at University College Cork in Ireland, told Allergic Living that she is encouraged by her team’s research.

She also noted that while another recent study suggested sourdough in breads made from wheat may help to “degrade” the gluten sufficiently for those with celiac disease to tolerate, she would not recommend this, advising instead sticking to a gluten-free diet when medically necessary.

Arendt says that consuming gluten-free sourdough is not about health benefits but “the reason you would add sourdough to [gluten-free] bread has mainly technological functions,” such as the structure and taste.

Hopper first experienced one of his “sessions,” when he was 64. For seven hours he was vomiting, had diarrhea and felt excruciating cramping in his legs and feet. At times during this and subsequent episodes, the pain in his legs was so bad, he had to hold onto a door just to stand up. The vomiting always ended after bringing up bile that had leaked into his stomach. Delirious, weak and dehydrated, he would head to the hospital.

It wasn’t until he was on his way from his hometown of Ellicott City, Maryland to Boston for business that Hopper finally found out what was causing these excruciating bouts of poor health. After enduring a plane ride of painful symptoms, Hopper spent an hour and a half in the airport bathroom waiting to feel well enough to buy a return ticket home. While in line, he doubled-over in pain. After checking his vital signs, airport medics called an ambulance and he was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital where he stayed for 11 days.

There he underwent a battery of tests – MRIs, CAT scans, blood work and more – just as he had during his other hospitalizations. Once stabilized, he began eating hospital food but his symptoms quickly returned. He was put on a liquid diet of Jell-O, juice and broth until the symptoms disappeared. After returning to regular hospital food and experiencing symptoms, which again went away on the liquid diet, something clicked with the doctor overseeing his stay.

A DNA test (Hopper is part of the 10 per cent of people who test negative to the blood test designed to detect celiac disease) and an endoscopy confirmed the doctor’s suspicions that this was celiac disease. After three days on a gluten-free diet, Hopper was much improved. He was released from the hospital and returned home to Maryland.

Growing Trend

According to groundbreaking research conducted by a team led by Dr. Alessio Fasano, the medical director of the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research, Hopper is part of a growing trend. More and more adults are developing celiac disease quite late in life, and then being diagnosed with it.

For years, experts on the disease believed that such people had simply gone undiagnosed for many years of life, as celiac symptoms can be vague and are similar to symptoms of many other diseases. Alternatively, the theory was that they may not have even had symptoms, even though gluten was damaging their small intestines.

However, the findings, published online in Annals of Medicine in October, 2010, suggest that adults who are genetically predisposed to developing celiac disease may actually tolerate gluten their whole lives without a problem. Then one day, something changes and the body can no longer tolerate the protein, found in wheat, barley and rye – celiac disease has developed. For people like Hopper, this means re-learning everything you knew about grocery shopping, cooking, eating at restaurants or at friends’ homes.

Next: Findings a Bolt from the Blue