Gluten-Free Tidbets

The Scoop on Ice Cream

I hear lots of you asking if ice cream is safe for a gluten-free diet. For the most part, it is. Just be sure to pick products with the recognizable ingredients (vanilla, milk, sugar, etc.) and avoid flavors like cookie dough or brownie crumbs. Several companies will list ingredients that contain gluten or even label the package as "gluten-free." Here are several: Edy's/Dryer's; Blue Bunny; Mayfield Dairy; and Turkey Hill.  

For those who are also dairy-free, there are frozen desserts for you, too. Sorbets are made from water and fruit. But some contain milk products, too, so check the labels. Here are a few that I like: Ciao Bella; So Delicious (even makes a g-f cookie dough flavor); and Rice Dream (check labels)

If you go out for ice cream, stop at Carvel (avoid chocolate crunchies); Cold Stone Creamery; Jeni's Ice Cream; and Dairy Queen. Most soft serve ice cream is gluten-free, but stick with simple flavors to be sure. Order your ice cream in a cup and make sure to ask the server to use a clean scoop.  

Another good source: Celiac-Disease.com

Alvine Pharmaceuticals Completes Phase 2A

At 2012 Digestive Diseases Week in San Diego, California, Alvine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced the publication of data from Phase 2A trial of its main celiac disease compound, ALV003.

The results show that ALV003, orally administered to celiac disease patients on a gluten free diet, significantly reduces gluten-triggered intestinalmucosal damage.

For the trial, 41 adults with clinically proven celiac disease who had followed a gluten-free diet for at least one year were randomly given ALV003 or a placebo each day for six weeks. During that time, they also received 2g of gluten in the form of bread crumbs.

Participants received a small bowelbiopsy prior to randomization and again, at the end of the six week challenge.

When researchers compared biopsy results from 34 patients, they found significantly less small intestinal mucosal damage in patients treated with ALV003 than in placebo-treated patients.

Placebo-treated patients suffered worse damage and symptoms. Most often, these included abdominal distention, flatulence, eructation, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

Daniel Adelman, M.D., Alvine's Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, says that the trial results represent the first time that any such treatment for celiac disease has met its pre-specified primary endpoint of providing protection against damage from gluten-exposure in celiac disease patients, with data that is both clinically and statistically significant. The company plans to initiate a Phase 2B trial later this year.

Source: Celiac.com

An Update on Quinoa

From an article By Caroline Scott-Thomas in News on Food & Beverage Development - North America

A study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggests that more thorough testing of different varieties of quinoa is necessary to ensure their suitability for those with celiac disease, after researchers found two of 15 varieties contained levels of celiac-toxic elements sufficient to cause an allergic response in a minority of gluten-sensitive people.

The researchers tested 15 different quinoa varieties, and four samples triggered some antibody reaction, although all had levels of gluten epitopes that were below the 20mg per kg suggested for foods that can be labeled as gluten-free.

"Generally, quinoa is safe for patients with CD [celiac disease," they concluded. "However, we observed large variability in the immune effects of protein, depending on the cultivar tested, as occurs in oats."

The study recommends more work "to confirm the suitability of quinoa for patients with CD and to facilitate its full incorporation in the gluten-free market."

Source: FoodNavigator-usa.com

Mintel Picks Top Five New Product Claims From 2011

From date released in June, Mintel's Global New Products Database (GNPD) spotlights 2011 most frequent health focused claims on new product packaging. By a wide margin, "kosher" led the way, but "reduced allergen" and "gluten-free" rounded out the top listings.

From an article in Gourmet News www.gourmetnews.com

Gold Medal for Dana Vollmer

Last week we mentioned that swimmer Dana Vollmer was gluten-free and had become the spokesperson for Crunchmaster Crackers, her go-to snack when she works out.

This week, I am delighted to report that Dana Vollmer broke a world record and is bringing home the Gold in the 100-meter butterfly. Congratulations, Dana!

Here's more about athletes going gluten-free - -

Olympians Share a Carb-Eating Secret That's as Good as Gold

Posted by Adriana Velez TheStir.com

Carb loading is the athletic tradition we all love. Big plate of pasta right before the race? Don't mind if I do! Remember Michael Phelps' training diet: Pancakes, French toast, grits, a pound of pasta as a side dish, an entire pizza for dinner. I think my blood sugar just spiked writing that! Even if we're just vicariously living through another athlete's feat, it's still a thrill to see all those carbs fly.

But some Olympic competitors as saying athletes have been carb loading the wrong way all along. Forget the pasta, forget the pizza, and definitely ditch the pancakes. The most cutting-edge Olympic athletes are cutting one key ingredient out of their carb foods.

Yep, gluten. Going gluten-free: It's not just for all of your friends and relatives anymore!

Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic credits his incredible winning streak to his gluten-free diet. He says he's allergic to gluten. American runner Amy Yoder Begley and British runner Andrew Steele claim their gluten-free diet has improved their race times, given them more energy and fewer injuries, and even helped them recover faster. World champion swimmer Dana Vollmer is now spokesperson for Crunchmaster wheatless crackers.

Can a gluten-free diet really ramp up your athletic performance like that?

No, says celeb nutritionist Andrew Weil. "I know of no evidence confirming that this kind of diet leads to all the health benefits being claimed for it these days," he says on his website. No, says sports dietitian Marie Spano. "It will only help those who are truly sensitive to gluten, but it won't benefit those who aren't."

So the nutritionists say it's all bunk. How do you explain the athletes' performance, then? Maybe it's just the idea of eating differently that gives them an edge. I mean, part of the competition is a head game. Just like how a lot of us end up losing weight when we give up gluten, I guess athletes feel more powerful after they go gluten-free. I say, real or not, they might as well use every advantage they can.

-Beth Hillson Weekly Newsletter, July 31, 2012