Elisabeth Hasselbeck appeared on Good Morning America today to promote her new book The G Free Diet. At the GMA website you can see the segment, read an excerpt from her book, and find a link to the book's website, www.gfreediet.com.I'm glad that Elisabeth is raising awareness of celiac disease, which is still grossly underdiagnosed, and it's good to see that her story might alert people diagnosed with IBS that they might actually have celiac disease—but I hope that people do not go on a gluten-free diet before getting tested for the condition. I try to avoid shouting on this blog, but here goes: GET TESTED FIRST!
As I'm sure Dr. Peter Green (Elisabeth's doctor and mine) would be glad to tell you, getting screened for celiac disease is a simple and relatively inexpensive process that should be done in coordination with an informed physician. The first step is to get a series of blood tests while gluten is still in your diet. You can find the list of the blood tests at the website of the Celiac Disease Center of Columbia University (CDCCU), where Dr. Green is the director as well as the founder. Based on the results of the tests, the physician may suggest proceeding with an endoscopic biopsy to look for gluten-related intestinal damage, which is the gold standard for a diagnosis.
Speaking of gold, I want to emphasize that the time when you're considering trying out a gluten-free diet is the golden moment for being screened and tested for celiac disease (which is, strictly speaking, not an allergy). Instead of going on the diet right away, make that appointment with your physician and discuss taking the blood tests. After the results come in, you can talk about the next move. (The biopsy also yields the best results while you're still consuming gluten.) After you get the test results, you can still choose to eliminate gluten from your diet, but at least you'll have a baseline that doctors can refer to. If your tests turn out to be positive, they can be useful in monitoring the success of your diet, getting family members tested as well, and even getting federal tax breaks for your expensive gluten-free food!
Want more info? Try the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA), the Celiac Disease Foundation (CDF), the William K. Warren Medical Research Center for Celiac Disease (WCCD), the Celiac Disease Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (CDCBI), the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research (UMCCR), and Mayo Clinic.
Also, be aware that Dr. Green has co-written his own book, Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic. Don't expect to read about Elisabeth in that book, but do expect to spend some time in the company of one of the world's experts on the subject.
Here you can see Elisabeth and Dr. Green on The View, back in March 2007.
Source (7:12)
Thanks to Erin at the New York City Celiac Disease Meetup Group (NYCCDMG) for the lead.
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