Among the most ignorant about wheat? Celiac experts!

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Dr. Davis

 

The University of Chicago Celiac Center’s Facebook page contained this response to my CBS This Morning interview from a Dr. Stefano Guandalini:

I was quite surprised to see that CBS news would provide unquestioned credibility to Dr. Davis, the author of Wheat Belly, on CBS This Morning on September 3rd, with no knowledgeable physician on the program to present a more accurate, balanced viewpoint on such an important issue as the role of wheat in nutrition and disease.

The assertions made by Dr. Davis (a cardiologist, not a nutritionist nor a gastroenterologist) are not grounded in fact, let alone any evidence-based research. Gliadin a new protein? Gliadin proteins are major components of gluten and their existence has been known since Dicke and Van de Kamer studied wheat in the 1940s. It is not a new protein created by genetic modifications; and it is indeed a poison, but only for those with celiac disease. Gliadin an opioid that binds to the brain? Sure this is a stunning statement. What is the evidence? Aside from an obscure article that appeared almost 30 years ago reporting an opioid-like activity for some gliadin fractions, nothing else is available in the literature and certainly no data are there to show any binding to the brain.

There is enough confusion around celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity and the issue of who benefits from a gluten-free diet (only those with wheat allergy, celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity, I might add). Regrettably, CBS This Morning has added to the confusion and did a disservice to its viewership to allow such questionable information be portrayed as fact.

I have no ties at all to the wheat industry, nor do I have any interest in “protecting” it. My interest, as a physician and specialist in celiac disease lies only in protecting my patients and the public from those who would perpetuate unsubstantiated health claims as fact.

Stefano Guandalini, MD
Professor and Chief, Section of Pediatric Gastroenterology
University of Chicago
Founder and Medical Director, Celiac Disease Center”

This is the nonsense that comes from an “expert” in celiac disease, the very same people who advocate that people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity to consume gluten-free foods made with cornstarch, rice starch, tapioca starch, and potato starch.

Here’s the problem: It’s NOT about gluten, nor is my primary concern people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivty. I am primarily address the other 90% of people who have problems with:

1) The new forms of gliadin–Dr. Guandalini is correct on one account: Gliadin is not entirely new–it’s the forms of gliadin (the amino acid sequences) that are new. But we should not be surprised at his ignorance of this well-documented fact, as he would only know this if he were to read the agricultural genetics research and/or talk to agricultural geneticists. The gliadins of 2012 are NOT the gliadins of 1960, nor are they the gliadins of the 19th century, the Bible, or of pre-Biblical times.

2) Shall we ignore the opiate effects of the new gliadin proteins that stimulate appetite to consume 440 more calories per day? This has nothing to do with celiac disease nor gluten sensitivity. It just makes us eat and eat and eat, makes us hungry much of the day, and makes a major contribution to the diabetes and obesity epidemic. The very same new and unique gliadin proteins also cause behavioral outbursts in children with ADHD and autism, paranoia in schizophrenics, mania in bipolar illness, and food obsessions in people with susceptibilty to bulimia, anorexia, and binge eating. None of these people have celiac disease. Exposing his ignorance, Dr. Guandalini claims that only one study documented this effect 30 years ago. He must have missed the other several hundred studies, the very same studies that have explored the area of opiate/opioid brain receptors that has culminated in an FDA application for naltrexone, the opiate-blocking drug, for a weight loss and appetite-reducing indication.
 
3) How about the direct intestinal destruction wrought by the lectin protein in wheat, wheat germ agglutinin? Unlike the indirect immunologic activation triggered by gluten, wheat germ agglutinin directly damages the intestinal lining. That’s why experimental animals fed purified wheat germ agglutinin develop extensive destruction of the lining of the small intestine. And what about the Trojan horse effect of wheat germ agglutinin that allows foreign substances to gain entry to the bloodstream, likely underlying the activation of immunologic and inflammatory diseases like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, polymyositis, polymyalgia rheumatica, and Sjogren’s disease? None of these people have celiac disease.

4) And what about the high glycemic index of wheat products that explain why two slices of whole wheat bread raise blood sugar higher than 6 teaspoons of table sugar? High blood sugar is followed by high blood insulin, the cascade that leads to insulin resistance, visceral fat accumulation, inflammation, and diabetes–no celiac disease required!

5) Shall we ignore the explosion in wheat allergies in children, likely due to the unique alpha amylase inhibitors of modern semi-dwarf wheat? These kids get rashes, diarrhea, asthma and other allergic phenomena–none have celiac disease.

In other words, I’m sure Dr. Guandalini is a very nice guy and means well. (“Protecting his patients”? Don’t know what the heck he’s getting at there.) But I fear he has blinders on and has fallen for the nonsense that whole grains like wheat are good for you and only pose a problem to people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.

Nope, sorry. Get your nose out of the gastroenterology books and open your eyes to the changes introduced into the entire plant. You will find that celiac disease and gluten sensitivity are only a small part of the problem. I am sure he is doing a capable job in “protecting his patients” from gluten. But I am talking to the other 90% of the population that he chooses to ignore and consign to a lifetime of wheat consumption.

Want wisdom on wheat? Don’t ask a celiac expert, because he will likely tell you to eat it. Wheat elimination is not only for the gluten-sensitive. Wheat elimination is for EVERYONE.
=================================================================
Read the complete article here.

BMJ Admits Competing Commercial Interests in Wakefield Attacks Warranted Disclosure

This post is not about the primary focus normally evident here but rather the related mis-steps of  scientific journals in their presentation of believable science. Tainted is the word that comes to mind. Thank you Health Impact News Daily (http://healthimpactnews.com) for this news item.
=======================================================

BMJ Admits Competing Commercial Interests in Wakefield Attacks Warranted Disclosure

BMJ editor admits that they should have disclosed competing commercial interests in Wakefield attack

By John Stone Age of Autism

British Medical Journal’s editor has been forced into an embarrassing admission that the journal should have disclosed connections with MMR manufacturers Merck and GSK when publishing attacks on the integrity of Andrew Wakefield in January  (HERE). Godlee’s admission came eight days after my letter to the journal was submitted, and three days after the publication of my article on Age of Autism (HERE). My letter was occasioned by an article in Age of Autism by Martin J Walker (HERE ) subsequently also published in  Vera Sharav’s AHRP newsletter (HERE).  I had been responding to an article highlighting the issue of free access journals and advertising: BMJ apparently did not think this applied to them.

Godlee’s admission, “We did not declare these competing interests because it did not occur to us to do so”, underlines the complacence, and even arrogance, of large journals that think they are above having interests. Nor will her defence carry much water amid the hotly disputed claims of Brian Deer’s articles that the issue was fraud so who manufactured the products did not matter. BMJ in a breach of the basic traditions of peer review journals have been unwilling to allow their and  Deer’s  allegations to be discussed directly in its columns, many letters to the journal have been blocked, Deer has never been required to respond to criticisms, and the defence of their position has been crudely legalistic (HERE ).

Godlee was also reduced to make a technical defence of the journal decision to publish the Deer articles in Age of Autism (HERE) and BMJ Rapid Responses (HERE).

However, Godlee’s admission represents a major blow against scientific journals, however large, not declaring their commercial interests: the excuse “it did not occur to us” will scarcely wash again.

This is the latest episode in a long running series of battles between Age of Autism and the journal. In February 2010 BMJ were forced to admit that Prof Trisha Greenhalgh had not only contributed to Brian Deer’s website, but had also received £1.4m in Department of Health research grants since 2003 (HERE, HERE ). In March 2010 Age of Autism highlighted the removal by BMJ of a series of letters questioning how Brian Deer obtained confidential material about Royal Free patients and MMR litigants, while in May 2010 the journal refused to acknowledge that Brian Deer was the undisclosed complainant to the GMC against Wakefield and colleagues (HERE), which has been covered by tortuous language in the latest publications, though never acknowledged in the Sunday Times. Age of Autism has also focussed on the role of Harvey Marcovitch who doubles as a BMJ associate editor, co-authoring editorials against Wakefield, and chairman of panels at the GMC (HERE ).

Read the Full Article Here: http://www.ageofautism.com/2011/03/bmj-admits-competing-commercial-interests-in-wakefield-attacks-warranted-disclosure.html

==============================================================
http://healthimpactnews.com

MMR vaccines and symptoms of autism

Oh Horrors! The BMJ couldn't/wouldn't do a thing like that - would they?

Not my usual topic on this blog but my humble opinion deems it quite interesting in spite of the lack of mentioning the 'C' word or 'S' word.

===================================

Dr Wakefield demands retraction from BMJ after documents prove innocence from allegations of vaccine autism data fraud


by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

(NaturalNews) In light of new evidence that has emerged clearing Dr Wakefield of the allegations that he fabricated study data involving MMR vaccines and symptoms of autism, Dr Wakefield is now publicly demanding a retraction from the British Medical Journal and author Brian Deer. Documents just made public reveal that another medical research team which included a senior pathologist independently documented evidence of a possible MMR vaccine - autism link 14 months before Dr Wakefield's paper first appears in The Lancet -- based on several of the same children appearing in Dr Wakefield's study. (http://www.naturalnews.com/031116_D...)

These documents include detailed clinical notes describing the pathology in seven children following MMR vaccination. These notes include references to "autism" and chronic gastrointestinal inflammation, among others.

This evidence, which was just made public, refutes the accusations of fraud leveled against Dr Andrew Wakefield by the British Medical Journal and reporter Brian Deer. This evidence was made available to the BMJ before the publication of their accusations, but they chose to ignore it. Dr Wakefield, in essence, has been falsely accused by the BMJ in what is now being widely recognized as a political witch hunt against the most visible researcher questioning the safety of MMR vaccines.

BMJ caught in highly politicized scientific fraud

The BMJ, in essence, has been caught pulling off what may be the largest scientific fraud ever perpetrated by any medical journal in the history of the world. It grossly misrepresented the facts in falsely accusing Dr Wakefield of fabricating the clinical trial data that led to his landmark study being published in The Lancet in 1998. The innocence of Dr Wakefield has now been established by these newly-released documents.

The British Medical Journal also failed to disclose that its own finances are largely funded by vaccine manufacturers who fill the journal with paid advertising, and that such financial ties may have influenced the journal's decision to attempt to destroy the reputation of a researcher whose findings threatened the profits of its top sponsors. If you follow the money in this story, in other words, it leads right to the editors of BMJ, whose salaries are effectively financed by vaccine manufacturers. This all-important conflict of interest is almost never discussed in the mainstream media, by the way.

In light of the evidence that has now been made public, clearing Dr Andrew Wakefield of any wrongdoing, Dr Wakefield is publicly demanding that the BMJ issue a full retraction of its Brian Deer article accusing Dr Wakefield of fabricating the data. His statement is entitled, "Uncovered Documents Prove There Was No Fraud in Lancet Case Series" and is included here in its entirety:

STATEMENT BY DR. ANDREW WAKEFIELD

Uncovered Documents Prove There Was No Fraud in Lancet Case Series

British Medical Journal and Sunday Times author Brian Deer misrepresent facts in latest articles wrongly accusing Dr. Wakefield of altering clinical histories of autistic children

In a series of articles published in the UK Sunday Times and the British Medical Journal (BMJ), written by freelance journalist Brian Deer and BMJ editor Dr. Fiona Godlee (1), I am accused of altering the clinical histories and test results in autistic children in order to manufacture a novel disease – a disease described in The Lancet in 1998 that Brian Deer claims does not exist. I have documents that confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that I did not falsify this data; that the finding of bowel disease in these children is real; and that these findings were accurately reported in The Lancet in 1998.

The first document (2) describes 7 of The Lancet children and was written by Professor John Walker-Smith in December 1996, 14 months before The Lancet paper was published. Professor Walker-Smith prepared this document in an exercise that, in his words, “was totally unrelated to Andy Wakefield” (3). The document was a report prepared for a scientific meeting, and was based upon Professor Walker-Smith’s own independent assessment of the children’s condition.

He was assisted by a senior pathologist and an expert in bowel disease, Dr. Dhillon, who reported on the microscopic findings in the children’s intestinal tissues. This independent analysis was conducted to a high level of scientific rigor, and are the precise findings reported in The Lancet.

These documents, including Professor Walker-Smith’s report; the transcript of his sworn testimony before the UK medical regulator (2), the General Medical Council (GMC), and the relevant sections of the statement of Dr. Dhillon to the GMC3; were available to Deer and the editors of the BMJ well in advance of their recent publication. (4) They knew, or should have known, that their allegations against me were false. It is clear that the BMJ acted recklessly by failing to check these facts adequately before making their false allegations.

On the basis of this evidence, the British Medical Journal must retract these articles, or face the consequences.

(1) Author of BMJ articles only
(2) http://www.vaccinesafetyfirst.com/p...
(3) http://www.vaccinesafetyfirst.com/p...
(4) Callous Disregard: Autism and Vaccines - The Truth Behind a Tragedy, published by Skyhorse Publishing in May 2010 and Wakefield’s complaint about Brian Deer to the UK’s Press Complaints Commission at www.cryshame.org
Read Callous Disregard to learn more truth

Dr Andrew Wakefield is the author of Callous Disregard, the book that documents the truth behind conventional medicine's political witch hunt to destroy anyone who questions the safety of vaccines. The book is sold everywhere, including Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Callous-Disre...
Sources for this story include:

http://www.vaccinesafetyfirst.com/p...
http://www.vaccinesafetyfirst.com/p...
 
==================================================
Read the article here.