Gluten-Free Beer . . . (I'm so excited)

[macallan25]

Originally Posted by Tom Earp

Read in Kansas City Paper this AM.

Pabst Brewing will be making this type of bier soon or maybe now, called I think is "Tard".

No quotes please!

We won't. No one can uderstand anything you say anyways.

[Tom Earp]

Originally Posted by macallan25

We won't. No one can uderstand anything you say anyways.

What ever?

[blueangel]

I think what you heard, Tom.. is a business story about Bard's Tale Beer. The former management team at Pabst Blue Ribbon will be heading up Bard's Tale Gluten Free Brewery. I saw the story on the wires earlier today.

BTW... in case anybody reading this is interested to know about Celiac and wondering if they may have it... it's much, much more common than initially thought. An estimated 1 out of 300 Americans have it. It's mostly in people of European backgrounds (Scandinavians, British, Germans, etc.) There is a high prevalance of Celiac in Canada because of the European background of many living there.

Celiac is easily detected with a simple blood test... but you have to request it. Make sure you continue to eat wheat products as normal before being tested, or you could get a false negative.

If you have a close relative with Celiac, you really should be tested every year. The gold standard in diagnosing celiac sprue is with an endoscopy and colonoscopy.

It's now thought many people who had been diagnosed with IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) actually have celiac. So.. if you have any of the symptoms.. it might be worth going to the doctor and getting that blood test. But the symptoms are so widespread. Some people have bloating and chronic diarrhea, while others have fatigue, or depression.

Celiac can also be present with no symptoms. If you have celiac and continue to eat wheat gluten, it can result in anemia, osteoporosis, malnutrition, damage to the small intestine, and stomach cancer. But the good news is, it's easily treated-- no drugs or surgery... just a gluten free diet.

[AlexMack]

Originally Posted by blueangel

I think what you heard, Tom.. is a business story about Bard's Tale Beer. The former management team at Pabst Blue Ribbon will be heading up Bard's Tale Gluten Free Brewery. I saw the story on the wires earlier today.

BTW... in case anybody reading this is interested to know about Celiac and wondering if they may have it... it's much, much more common than initially thought. An estimated 1 out of 300 Americans have it. It's mostly in people of European backgrounds (Scandinavians, British, Germans, etc.) There is a high prevalance of Celiac in Canada because of the European background of many living there.

Celiac is easily detected with a simple blood test... but you have to request it. Make sure you continue to eat wheat products as normal before being tested, or you could get a false negative.

If you have a close relative with Celiac, you really should be tested every year. The gold standard in diagnosing celiac sprue is with an endoscopy and colonoscopy.

It's now thought many people who had been diagnosed with IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) actually have celiac. So.. if you have any of the symptoms.. it might be worth going to the doctor and getting that blood test. But the symptoms are so widespread. Some people have bloating and chronic diarrhea, while others have fatigue, or depression.

Celiac can also be present with no symptoms. If you have celiac and continue to eat wheat gluten, it can result in anemia, osteoporosis, malnutrition, damage to the small intestine, and stomach cancer. But the good news is, it's easily treated-- no drugs or surgery... just a gluten free diet.

Most of this is true...however, I need to correct one small fact. The blood test is the first step in a diagnosis. The only way to know for sure is getting an endoscopy or colonoscopy. This is the only way to receive an actual diagnosis of Celiac Disease.

[blueangel]

Originally Posted by centaur532

Most of this is true...however, I need to correct one small fact. The blood test is the first step in a diagnosis. The only way to know for sure is getting an endoscopy or colonoscopy. This is the only way to receive an actual diagnosis of Celiac Disease.

That's very true. Thanks for the clarification.

People with celiac have a higher than normal level of certain auto-antibodies in their blood. There are two types of tests done when celiac is suspected-- the gliadin and the reticulin. The two blood tests, if positive, are said to be 90-percent accurate in diagnosing celiac.

Once again, a false negative can occur if the person has gone on a gluten-free diet for three to six months prior to the tests... so in order to get an accurate diagnosis, you must remain on a normal diet containing gluten.

If both tests are positive and symptoms suggest celiac, then the next step, in diagnosis, as Centaur pointed out, is endoscopy and colonoscopy. What the doctor does is takes a small piece of tissue from the small intestine (a biopsy) to look for damage to the villi. That's considered the 100-percent sure diagnosis.