Gluten-Free Coverage at LoHud.com

Includes Input from Dr. Peter Green and Two Regional Bakers

LoHud.com (which covers the Lower Hudson Valley) recently ran two Linda Lombroso articles having to with celiac disease and the gluten-free diet.

The longer article, "Eating gluten-free" (May 11, 2009) features two area bakers: Three Dogs Gluten-Free Bakery founder Karen Miller (current head of GFRAP in the greater metroplitan area) and Good Day Sunshine founder Pam Goldberg as well as Dr. Peter Green—Elisabeth Hasselbeck's celiac specialist and mine, too. Lombroso mentions a study co-authored by Green that documented the greater cost of a gluten-free diet and writes

Outside the United States, some patients diagnosed with celiac disease get a prescription for gluten-free foods, says Green. "In areas of Europe, like in Italy, the government encourages diagnosis, and all around the world, there are many countries in which gluten-free food is part of the national health care and the food is provided free."

Keep that possibility in mind when you're thinking health care reform!

The other article, "Celiac disease: a hidden epidemic?" (May 8, 2009), revolves around Dr. Green's book of the same title (sans question mark). Green encourages people who suspect that they have celiac disease to consult with their physicians about getting tested regardless of their symptoms.

"I see patients who say they asked their doctor to have the blood test, and they say: 'He said I couldn't have it because I was too fat or too tall or I didn't have diarrhea or I wasn't Irish or I wasn't Italian or I was Jewish,' because there are a lot of misconceptions about what celiac disease is like. Most people don't have classic symptoms," he says.

"If a doctor says he won't test for it, you should find a new doctor, because that just means he doesn't know the tremendous variability in the ways it can present."

Here's information about diagnosing celiac disease.