2005

Menu

Deck the (wheat & gluten free) halls

Added on 20 Dec, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Ahhhhh Christmas. Holly, the tree, tinsel, decorations, roast turkey, Christmas pudding, Christmas cake, mince pies and mistletoe. Hang on, rewind that a bit, Christmas pudding, Christmas cake and mince pies, hmmmmmmm now here I see a problem.

Christmas is meant to be the time of goodwill to all men (and women), a time of giving, receiving, sharing and general merriment. A time of binge eating and drinking and so much wheat in evidence you'd think you were living in a grain silo.

Scarlett Johansson's allergy ridden love scenes

Added on 03 Dec, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Filming love scenes in a cornfield.

Research finds breast-feeding halves the risk of children developing coeliac disease

Added on 14 Nov, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Breast-fed babies had a 52% reduction to their risk of developing coeliac disease when they were first introduced to gluten containing foods.

The Food Allergy Buddy card aims to make restaurant eating safer

Added on 10 Nov, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Personalised food allergy ingredient card for people eating in restaurants to hand over to waiters and chefs.

Rapid test kit for Celiac Disease & gluten intolerance now available

Added on 02 Nov, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Finger-stick rapid test kit designed to detect the antibodies associated with celiac disease and gluten intolerance.

Are wheat allergies real or a myth?

Added on 20 Oct, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Review appears to confirm that the perceived high prevalence of wheat allergies is, to a large degree, a myth.

4 year research project launched to look at major questions on food allergy

Added on 12 Oct, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Research to investigate and characterise the patterns and prevalence of food allergies across Europe in infants, children and adults.

Airline gluten free food... sorry did I use the word food?

Added on 11 Oct, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

It's food in the loosest sense of the word. Having recently had to endure the culinary disasters foisted on me as gluten free meals on my flights to and from Canada, I can only think that the caterers preparing the gluten free meals have absolutely no idea of what they were doing, or don't care, or both.

For a start wheat free meals are not an option, you have to have gluten free or nothing. Which already puts my back up, and my suspicions, because some items that are gluten free have wheat in them that has had the gluten removed. So not safe for someone with a wheat allergy.

Teenagers often mistakenly believe they have a food allergy or intolerance

Added on 07 Oct, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

16% of 11 year olds and 19% of 15 year olds steer clear of certain food groups.

I can't eat wheat because metal rods told me so

Added on 09 Sep, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Last month The Guardian did an article on Paula Radcliffe, remarking on what a high maintenance woman she was, and suggesting that she was crossing the line between normal and nutty and on the slippery slope to 'celebrity-itis'.

And the #1 wheat free breakfast is...

Added on 08 Sep, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Porridge oats are now the hottest thing on the breakfast block.

Hey! keep your toast crumbs to yourself

Added on 23 Aug, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

I'm guessing that there's no one single family where every family member has a wheat allergy. I may of course now be proved wrong, but the chances of it happening must be greater than of me winning the lottery top prize.

But indulge me if you will, and work on the premise that virtually every household that contains someone with a wheat or gluten allergy, also contains someone without any problems with wheat or gluten (unless of course it's a single occupation household).

Bioinformatics could help pinpoint allergy causing proteins enabling breeding of allergen free wheat

Added on 09 Aug, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Examining ingredients protein structures may help to predict allergenics and their functionality.

Biodegradable packaging for food to be made from wheat straw

Added on 03 Aug, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Wheat straw derived packaging can be used in a wide range of food contact applications.

Manufacturers, give my dentist a break

Added on 21 Jul, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Have you looked at the sugar content of most wheat and gluten free products lately? Some of these products are so sweet that they make my teeth ache. What is it with manufacturers of minority group foods?

Why do they think that just because we have an allergy to wheat or gluten we'll be so desperate to eat cakes and cookies that we don't mind eating enough sugar to make Willy Wonka's chocolate factory look like a health spa.

Babies fed on grains too early in life could be more at risk of developing coeliac disease

Added on 19 Jul, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Research shows that delaying the introduction of cereal based foods into a child's diet could help avoid them developing coeliac disease later in life.

Irritable bowel syndrome may be linked to wheat allergy

Added on 14 Jul, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

IBS patients found to have raised levels of antibodies to foods such as wheat, soya, beef, pork, and lamb.

How far are we from allergen-free wheat?

Added on 05 Jul, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Allergen-free wheat is currently being researched and should become available within a few years.

R.I.P. Quorn

Added on 01 Jul, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

I'm sure that I'm not the only one out there that likes Quorn and finds it a really good alternative to use for meat free cooking. And that's what makes the recent changes to their nutrition information so irritating.

Quorn no longer safe to eat on wheat free diet

Added on 30 Jun, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Packaging change to state that these products now "may contain wheat..."

Gluten free diet may help relieve psoriasis symptoms

Added on 30 May, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Some psoriasis sufferers show improvement from following a gluten free diet.

Why hasn't anyone produced a wheat free version of Twix yet?

Added on 23 May, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

If there's one chocolate bar that I do miss it's Twix. Thick rippled chocolate coating a crunchy biscuit topped with thick caramel, ummmmmm lovely. I can remember back to those days when I used to be able to eat them, too many of course as my waistline would have attested at the time, but who's counting now.

Live web chats planned for Coeliac Awareness Week 16-21 May

Added on 16 May, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Health and nutrition experts to provide specialist advice.

Latest Para Red contaminated foods include wheat & gluten free products

Added on 10 May, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

19 more products added to the list of food products withdrawn from sale in the UK because of contamination with Para Red.

Food allergen 'plain language' food labelling to start in U.S.

Added on 09 May, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

New law requires manufacturers to use plain, common language for the presence of any of the eight major food allergens: egg, fish, milk, peanut, shellfish, soy, tree nuts, and wheat.

Food allergy expert tells people to get creative with substitute ingredients

Added on 03 May, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Avoiding wheat by using a whole different spectrum of flours such as soya, rice, bean, corn, potato, sorghum, tapioca etc.

Guilty on all counts of providing a wheat laden canteen

Added on 03 May, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Most of our dedicated readers of the wheat-free blog have probably thought that we've got bored with writing it and given up, well in actual fact our wheat-free blogger has been doing their public duty, and serving on Jury Service.

And this brings us nicely onto a bit of a rant. Our wheat-free blogger has dutifully attended court each day, and the jury room is quite luxurious, low soft chairs, vending machines, spotless 'facilities' and a canteen.

Dump the junk food snacks at kids sports events

Added on 22 Apr, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Too many parents still think it's okay if child has done a small amount of exercise that they can eat junk food during and afterwards.

Children with wheat allergies should avoid Play-Doh

Added on 20 Apr, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Play-Doh contains wheat and can cause allergic reactions after use.

What's in a kiss?

Added on 12 Apr, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Well often quite a lot actually. Do you ever think about kissing someone who might have just eaten a sandwich? or drunk beer? or been scoffing cookies?

Lupin flour risk to peanut allergy sufferers

Added on 08 Apr, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Lupin flour is often used in wheat & gluten free products such as pasta.

Coke - possible wheat allergy relief product?

Added on 05 Apr, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

It's not something that we'd really ever made a connection to but Rhys from Australia contacted us this week with this really interesting information.

Quote: "Here is something that I noticed and have found useful and was wondering if anyone else had found the same. If I find I have taken in wheat (occassionally happens when at friends places who make the mistake of assuming that all cornflour is made from corn) and haven't got access to antihistamines, I drink coke.

Wheat by any other name

Added on 08 Mar, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

It really isn't easy identifying wheat in a lot of the ingredients lists of foodstuffs, drinks, body products and medicines.

Why is this we asked? Well it seems that wheat by any other name often looks better on an ingredients list, for example doesn't 'triticale' look better than 'wheat' on a posh facial product? The trick is to make you think you're getting something special, rather than just a cheap, over produced, chemically polluted cereal.

Researchers create pill to 'cure' coeliac disease

Added on 07 Mar, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Researchers announce a pill that makes the gut more watertight, and therefore could allow coeliacs to eat whatever they want.

Link found between coeliac disease and osteoporosis

Added on 01 Mar, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

People with osteoporosis 17 times more likely to have coeliac disease.

It's not only Sudan 1 in your food

Added on 24 Feb, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

No-one can fail to be aware of the current food scare this week with hundreds of foods being recalled due to contamination with Sudan 1.

Sudan 1 is normally used as a colouring in solvents, oils, waxes, petrol, and shoe and floor polish, and experts have warned it could contribute to an increased risk of cancer. But it has emerged that the Worcester sauce containing it is used in a huge range of foods. My question is, why?

celebrity diets have ruined wheat allergy understanding

Added on 16 Feb, 2005 by Helen Fletton. There are .

Yes, it's true. I'm personally getting sick of reading that yet another celebrity has decided that they have a wheat allergy, just because it's fashionable.

This vanity allergy suffering is spoiling it for all genuine wheat intolerant or allergic sufferers.

I've been on the end of some malicious purposeful food contamination because the cook/chef didn't believe me when I told them I have a severe wheat allergy, and I put the blame firmly in the celebrity 'it's fashionable to have a food allergy' camp. For goodness sake, if you can eat normal food then get a life, don't hijack genuine sufferers allergies.