It has been a busy week in the celiac world. Let’s discuss!
Oreos
Nabisco is coming out with a Gluten Free Oreo and Gluten Free Double Stuffed Oreo. I’m glad they are doing this. I am happy a large company is expanding their gluten free options. I worry about the product’s longevity. If they don’t sell well, the Gluten Free Oreos will disappear quickly from shelves.
There was a time when there were gluten free Rice Krispies but they are now gone. Gluten free product offerings by large companies have come and gone for a variety of reasons — poor performance or difficulty in production. I simply worry that these are not long for the shelves and so I’m not overly enthusiastic. I will buy a box and see what happens, though!
Canyon Bakehouse Recall
Canyon Bakehouse issued a recall of Mountain White and Everything Bagels due to gluten contamination. They operate dedicated gluten free facilities. How gluten get into their gluten free facilities? Then how did that product get out into the world?
Here is what Canyon Bakehouse says on their website about the issue.
As soon as they found the issue, they took responsibility and issued a recall. They honestly communicated with their customers and told their customers what they are doing to fix the issue.
New Study
I know this is really why you are here. 🙂
A new study is in pre-proof for the journal Gastroenterology titled “Evaluating Responses to Gluten Challenge”. Pre-proof article means it has not been peer-reviewed.
Researchers studied 14 patients with biopsy-confirmed celiac disease, positive genetic markers, clinical and histological (biopsy) remission, and on a gluten free diet for at least 12 months. They were going to study 20 patients but stopped because the interim results confirmed their study objectives. The study objective was confirmation of increased crypt to height ratio – or in other words, there was damage to the villi in the small intestine. Note this is a small study and the results are interesting. Larger studies to confirm these results are needed.
Anyway, the study involved a 21-day screening process and a 7-day run-in process. Endoscopy with biopsy, celiac blood tests, and urine gluten tests are performed during the 7-day run in the process. Next, the study participants were evenly divided into two groups – the 3g group and the 10g group. The groups were given the appropriate amount of gluten for 14 days and their urine was tested daily to confirm consumption of gluten.
In both groups, their villi to crypt ratio increased which is why they didn’t complete the study. The whole “Do no harm thing” comes into play there.
But what was interesting was that the serology or blood tests. The blood tests of those eating 3g of gluten per day every day for 14 days didn’t change much. At the screening the average TTG IGA was 3.0. At day 42 in the study, the TTG IGA was 3.9. The 10g group’s TTG IGA changed a lot. Their screening TTG IGA was 7.6 and at day 42 was 14.0. Now, I don’t know what the normal range is for this particular test, so I cannot tell if it is in normal ranges or outside. But what I can tell you is that this continues to prove that the TTG IGA test is not a a great test for monitoring compliance with the gluten free diet.
The other important thing the study validates is the cytokine IL-2 as a potential biomarker for celiac testing for those on a gluten free diet. This confirms other study results and could be a game changer in additional testing for celiac disease.
Conclusion
This study hasn’t gotten much attention. It simply builds on knowledge already obtained in other studies. I’m hoping that something soon leads to a big breakthrough!