Best Doctors in New York 2009

Better for GF Kids than for GF Grown-Ups

As far as celiac disease is concerned, there is not much change from last year in this year's Best Doctors issue of New York magazine: The same five pediatric doctors appear, but no adult specialist receives recognition. And that's a problem: What's a gluten-challenged grown-up to do?

So once again, especially for visitors who come here seeking an informed doctor, I note that Manhattan is home to the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University (CDCCU), where the adult celiac disease specialists include the founder and director, Dr. Peter Green, who remains a widely recognized authority on celiac disease. (Full disclosure: He is also one of my doctors.)

Regarding the general credibility of the listings, I wrote the following in 2006:

How reliable are the lists? At Slate, physician [Kent Sepkowitz] prescribes taking them with a grain of a salt. "To my expert eye," he writes, "every year the New York survey gets it about half right: Half of the selections are first-rate doctors, no doubt about it. Another 25 percent are people whom I don't know well (though I have my doubts), and 25 percent are certifiable duds--doctors who (hopefully) haven't seen a patient in years but have risen to the lofty realm of high society and semi-celebrityhood."

I haven't charted my own experience with the list, but that sounds about right. I think that, when searching for a physician in the medically populous metropolitan area, it's good to seek and consider the advice of doctors you already trust, support group members, and friends in addition to the Best Doctor/Top Doctor guides. It's not easy to sort through all of that, but the method might give you the best odds of getting optimal results.

So this year, when you search for the best doctors under the keyword celiac, you again get these five pediatric gastroenterologists:

Dr. Philip Kazlow
Pediatric Gastroenterologist
New York-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital (Manhattan), Valley Hospital (Ridgewood, NJ)
Website

Dr. Joseph Levy
Pediatric Gastroenterologist
NYU Medical Center (Manhattan)

Dr. Keith Benkov
Pediatric Gastroenterologist
Mount Sinai Medical Center (Manhattan), Englewood Hospital & Medical Center (Englewood, NJ)

Dr. Leonard Newman
Pediatric Gastroenterologist
Westchester Medical Center (Valhalla, NY), Montefiore Medical Center—North Division (Bronx)

Dr. Michael Pettei
Pediatric Gastroenterologist
Schneider Children's Hospital, North Shore University Hospital (Manhasset/New Hyde Park, NY)

Regrettably, for the second year in a row, the Best Doctors list continues to leave much to be desired for anyone seeking a non-pediatric celiac disease—or dermatitis herpetiformus (DH)—specialist in New York City.

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.

On Sale Now: The G Free Diet

Curious about Going Gluten-Free? Get Tested First!

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.

Cooking by the Book

Next Event on March 3, 2009

Last year I was fortunate to receive an invitation to one of the Cooking by the Book fundraisers for the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University (CDCCU). It ain't cheap, but it's definitely worth consideration if the $220 tab is within your budget. (A portion goes to the CDCCU.)

Cooking by the Book is a cooking event held at an unusual apartment downtown. I was especially impressed by the large professional kitchen and, uh, the shower, but here you'll have to settle for a picture of a bookshelf that includes Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic by Dr. Peter Green and Rory Jones.



















But we weren't at this event to read. Before the cooking began, we were able to get to know each other over drinks, which explains the presence of the bottle to the right of the bookcase. Then we split up into teams to prepare different parts of a meal.

The theme to our feast had to do with twos. I shared quinoa duty, which involved getting some scallion-cutting practice and learning different ways to pack two colors of quinoa into a "mold" so they could be presented as one. Here you can see the packed quinoa.



















And here, on a finished plate, you can see the quinoa arranged into a kind of Oreo—oh, I mean Mi-Del chocolate sandwich cookie—formation.



















And here's the yin-yangy soup! (There were no googly eyes, but it was still yummy.)



















This event isn't just about the food—it's also about the schmooze. I enjoyed meeting other gluten-free people and those who love and support them. Some of us even reunited for lunch at Lilli and Loo!

The next Cooking by the Book is scheduled for 6:30pm on Tuesday, March 3, 2009. To find out more about attending, contact Cynthia Beckman by Monday, February 23, 2009.

EXTRA Here is Sloane "Allergic Girl" Miller's description of a 2007 Cooking by the Book event.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

Celiac Disease in Men (and Women)

Did JFK have celiac disease? Adam Voiland of U.S. News and World Report uses that question as the hook in "Celiac Disease in Men Threatens Bone Health," a September 19, 2008 overview of celiac disease that emphasizes its effects on men and draws upon the research of Dr. Peter Green. "One of Green's articles, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology (SJG), shows that celiac disease appears to progress faster in men, deprive men's bodies of more needed nutrients, and cause particularly acute damage to bones," writes Voiland.

Regular readers of this blog should already know that adults diagnosed with celiac disease should be tested for osteoporosis, and that people with low bone density (especially when the cause is a "mystery") should seriously consider being tested for celiac disease. People diagnosed with coexisting celiac disease and osteoporosis have a good chance of improvement after going on a gluten-free diet that includes calcium. As Voiland puts it in his article, "For people who do have both diseases, research has shown that adopting a gluten-free diet halts the progression of osteoporosis and even improves bone density by 10 percent, Green says."

Vendors Announced for Westchester Support Group Meeting

Meeting Scheduled for Sunday, September 21, 2008

As mentioned previously, the scheduled speaker for next week's meeting of the Westchester Celiac Sprue Support Group (WCSSG) is Dr. Peter Green, who is to offer "an update on the diagnosis, treatment, ancillary conditions and research into a cure for celiac disease," as the group's newsletter puts it. "Come early if you want a seat—there is usually an overflow crowd for this important presentation of the most important information available," the newsletter advises.

The meeting takes place from 2-4pm at Phelps Hospital in Sleepy Hollow, NY. Discounted copies of the book Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic will be available. Also represented as vendors are Joan's GF Great Bakes (you might want to bring a cooler to keep the bagels and such frozen) and Everybody Eats, Kettle Cuisine, Gluten Free Gourmet Solutions, and Three Dogs Gluten-Free Bakery (formerly Baking with Brodie).

CeliaCalendar: Westchester Events

Walking, Talking, and Eating in September

As mentioned previously, the third annual Colin Leslie Walk for Celiac Disease takes place at Rye High School in Rye, New York, on September 14, 2008. This is the third edition of a fundraising event that has earned more than $113,000 over the past two years, with the money going to the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University (CDCCU).

Calling this event a "walk" doesn't quite capture its magnitude. There is indeed a walk—but there are also vendors and talks. The vendors currently include Everybody Eats, Gaga's Inc., Gluten-Free Living, and Joan's GF Great Bakes. The speakers include Suzanne Simpson, the new nutritionist at the CDCCU and Rory Jones, who co-authored Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic with CDCCU director Dr. Peter Green. Lunches and snacks will be available for purchase from the Poughkeepsie GFRAP restaurant Soul Dog.

Pre-registration, which earns you a free t-shirt and saves you $5, ends on September 2.

A week after this event, Dr. Green speaks at the September 21 meeting of the Westchester Celiac Sprue Support Group (WCSSG) at Phelps Memorial Hospital in Sleepy Hollow, New York from 2 to 4pm. This is an opportunity to learn about celiac disease from an expert; some vendors should also be present.

ARTICLE: NEW YORK TIMES

Today's New York Times includes substantial coverage of gluten-free dining in New York City—but if you're reading this, there's a good chance you already know that, because the main article mentions this very blog (among other blogs for the gluten-free in NYC).

The blog nods from the Times can be found in "For the Gluten-Averse, a Menu That Works" by Jennifer Romolini. Her article focuses largely on the Greenwich Village restaurant Risotteria but also offers an unusually nuanced overview of what it's like to dine gluten-free in the city: potential relationship issues, the communal feeling among patrons at Risotteria, the recent addition of Everybody Eats bread at Bistango, Catherine's "crouton surprise" found at the bottom of a salad, and the growing number of sympathetic restaurants in the Big Apple (although, as Dr. Peter Green notes, "In a city as big as New York, for there to be so few safe restaurants, that’s just really bad").

The coverage [noted this morning on NY1's "In the Papers" media roundup] extends to the gluten-free cooking experimentation of Risotteria's Joseph Pace, then takes a big, important step in sharing a version of Risotteria's breadstick recipe—that's what I call generous!

The Times package also includes "Especially for the Sensitive Diner", a list of city restaurants with gluten-free dishes; most of the eateries participate in the invaluable Gluten-Free Restaurant Awareness Program (GFRAP) and appear on the Gluten-Free NYC Dining Map.

After my first reading of the coverage, I do have one quibble: The main article states that gluten "lurks in soy sauce, brewer’s yeast, bourbon, vegetable starch, vinegars, salad dressings, processed cheeses and some spices." Bourbon and vinegars should not have been included on the list. [Clarification: Malt vinegar is widely recognized as being forbidden on a gluten-free diet. However, research so far (including reports from myth debunker Ann Whelan of Gluten-Free Living, which has advisory boards including Dr. Joseph Murray of the Mayo Clinic and Dr. Peter Green as well as dietitians Cynthia Kupper of the Gluten Intolerance Group and Anne Lee) supports the position that vinegars are basically suitable for people on gluten-free diets. I am not aware of any research findings that support the idea that bourbon is unsuitable for a gluten-free diet. There are certainly instances of individuals claiming to have "a reaction" to bourbon and non-malt vinegars as well as other foods...and I do think that individual reports should be taken seriously...but I also think that research findings must be recognized, especially when sharing information through mass media, including newspapers and the Internet. Considering individual reports and years of my own experiences with my understanding of the research, I don't think there is evidence of any gluten in bourbon or, say, white or rice or balsamic vinegar or even spices (as opposed to spice mixes), but I would certainly welcome more research on the subject.]

[And now, after reading the message board of the New York City Celiac Disease Meetup Group, I realize that the article doesn't clearly communicate that there is indeed an active Meetup group in the city. No biggee—I just thought I'd offer the link in case anyone might have an interest.]

DID YOU KNOW? I ate an entire Risotteria cupcake while writing this post!