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Gluten Free

GLUTEN FREE?

We advise patients to avoid wheat, gluten and sugar – but the article below highlights how labels itself can be misleading to consumers. Just because it says so on the label does not mean that it is the best product for you. The best advice? Do your research on a product, but also, listen to your body.

“Last year, doctors at Columbia University found that people with celiac disease frequently use probiotic supplements, but that those who take these products tend to experience more symptoms of the disease than those who do not.

Now these experts say they may know why: More than half of the top-selling probiotic supplements they analyzed contained gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye that is harmful to people with celiac disease. The authors of the study found gluten in probiotic supplements that carried ?gluten-free? claims on their labels, and they discovered that the most expensive supplements were just as likely to contain gluten as the cheapest products.”

“Studies show that celiac patients who use probiotic supplements report that they have a higher quality of life but ? paradoxically ? more bloating, cramping, irregular bowel movements and other symptoms of celiac disease, said Dr. Benjamin Lebwohl, an assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology at Columbia?s Celiac Disease Center.”

“He also said that even among people with wheat allergies and celiac disease, the level of gluten that can be tolerated varies tremendously from one person to the next. Some people ?may be much more sensitive to even less than 20 parts per million,? he said. ?So the question that comes up is: Why do these products have gluten anyway??”

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/many-probiotics-taken-for-celiac-disease-contain-gluten/?src=me