The Huffington Post published an article by Dr. Mark Hyman on the long-term effect of gluten-intake entitled “Gluten: What You Don’t Know Might Kill You“. The article summarizes the findings of a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that looked at almost 30,000 patients between 1969 and 2008 and examined their deaths. Key findings are
- Those with celiac disease had a 39% increased risk of death
- Those with gluten-caused gut inflammation had a 72% increased risk of death
- Those with gluten sensitivity but not celiac disease had a 35% increased risk of death
This confirms a study by Dr. Joseph A. Murray that we wrote about on October 16, 2009. His research showed that over the past 50 years (a) the frequency of celiac disease increased significantly and that (b) those with celiac disease were almost four times(!) as likely to have died than those without it.
These are scary news that become even more scary when taking into consideration that the University of Chicago’s Celiac Disease Center estimates that 97% of celiacs are currently still undiagnosed.
Dr. Hyman’s recommendation (and Custom Choice Cereal agrees): eliminate 100% of all gluten for 2-4 weeks from your diet and see if you feel any better. Then reintroduce gluten into your diet, and if you feel bad at all you should permanently switch to a gluten-free diet.
