Here are some news from our dear neighbors to the North! After a decade of negotiations with allergy and celiac organizations including Anaphylaxis Canada and the Canadian Celiac Association, new Canadian food allergy labeling regulations were finally announced on February 14th.

The new regulations are specifically aimed at strengthening Canada’s labeling of food allergens and gluten sources to allow Canadians with food allergies, sensitivities and celiac disease to make more informed choices about the foods they buy.

The new regulations will require additional labelling and strengthen the labelling requirements to require clearer language and the declaration of otherwise “hidden” allergens, gluten sources, and sulphites. Because of the complexity of the changes and the shelf-life of foods, industry has been given 18 months to implement the new allergen labeling regulations. The new regulations will become effective on August 4, 2012.

While this is a great success for the food allergy and gluten-free community in Canada and shows that persistence pays off, the new law excludes beer companies from the new labeling restrictions. Even an open letter to the Prime Minister of Canada could not prevent this exemption. The Brewers Association of Canada successfully raised concerns about the cost of making labeling changes, especially those whose labels are painted directly on the bottles, as opposed to paper labels. They argued that the label changes will force them to state the obvious – beer contains wheat and barley.

We at Custom Choice Cereal congratulate our Canadian friends on their success (despite the exemption)! So what do you think? Can something similar be reached here in the US? Will it take us another 10 years to get this far? When will the FDA’s proposed voluntary use of the term “gluten-free” from January 2007 become a law?

We at Custom Choice Cereal are again amazed by how little is known about celiac disease and why exactly it is on the rise, as research by Dr. Alessio Fasano from the University of Maryland’s Center for Celiac Research indicates. We also like to stress that unlike many other conditions, a strict adherence to a gluten-free diet is an (the only!) effective treatment for the autoimmune disease. While that sounds stressful and can initially be overwhelming we like to look at the bright side of things: absolutely no medication is needed!

Researchers from the University of Chicago’s Celiac Disease Center used mice to identify a biochemical interaction that may trigger an autoimmune reaction in the intestines of genetically susceptible people. Specifically, they found that the compound retinoic acid in combination with high levels of the a pro-inflammatory substance known as interleukin-15 was able to break the body’s tolerance to gluten.

Study author Dr. Bana Jabri and her colleagues examined the records of patients at University of Chicago’s Celiac Disease Center, which showed that many of them had high levels of IL-15 in their intestines. Then they conducted experiments using a new mouse model of the disease developed in Jabri’s lab. When the researchers increased levels of IL-15 in mice, the animals developed all the early symptoms of celiac disease. Adding retinoic acid only worsened the disease. But when the researchers blocked IL-15 in the mice, their symptoms improved and they could tolerate gluten again.

Dr. Bana said that “This is the first time that we actually show how inducing a specific dysregulation in the intestines can lead to losing tolerance to a food antigen, and in particular to gluten.” She continued that this represents a key finding because they now know what to target for a re-introduction of tolerance to gluten.

Dr. Fasano added that he was really intrigued by the new discoveries about the role of retinoic acid, “which we’ve always thought helped to prevent the immune response rather than make it worse. It’s a most provocative finding.”

While these are promising and important research discoveries in the understanding of celiac disease, much more research is needed. It also needs to be noted that promising research done with animals often fails to produce beneficial results for humans.