Re: wheat in different countries

[Guest guest]

Hi there, aren't the modern US wheat varieties that have been

genetically modified to increase protein more prone to causing

intolerance? Maybe older/low protein varieties are more popular in

England.

maybe someone can expound on this.

-Joe

> A friend of mine has a daughter with Down Syndrome, who's wheat

intolerant.

> It's difficult to restrict grains in her diet, but at least at

home she

> gets almond flour breads and sometimes commercial gluten-free

breads. My

> friend says:

>

> " When I was really concentrating on the wheat/gluten issue, K was

getting

> boils and also constipated and my instinct connected that with the

wheat

> stuff. But when we went to England for three-week hitches we

couldn't get

> the rice breads and such so she had bread all the time and it

didn't seem

> to bother her at all.

> My instinct then suggested that there might be something different

about

> bread there than here - though I never figured out what. Maybe the

> fungicides they spray on the grains or whatever else gets done to

them? "

>

> Anyone have experiences along this line?

>

> -

[Guest guest]

> " When I was really concentrating on the wheat/gluten issue, K was getting

>boils and also constipated and my instinct connected that with the wheat

>stuff. But when we went to England for three-week hitches we couldn't get

>the rice breads and such so she had bread all the time and it didn't seem

>to bother her at all.

>My instinct then suggested that there might be something different about

>bread there than here - though I never figured out what. Maybe the

>fungicides they spray on the grains or whatever else gets done to them? "

>

>Anyone have experiences along this line?

>

>-

There are two possibilities I know of:

1. She has an IgE or IgG allergy. THOSE sometimes go away

if you avoid the food for awhile.

2. She has an IgA allergy, and was asymptomatic. It

is common for IgA gluten allergy to have zero

symptoms (2 out of 3 people have no

symptoms). Some people go GF and react horrible

to gluten ... others get no reaction at all. After

being GF for awhile, her gut is probably in better

shape so less stuff leaks out to cause boils.

However, the people who have IgA allergy get lots

of problems whether or not they get symptoms.

The problems sometimes take years to develop

though. The yearly death rate for people with IgA

gluten problems that are not diagnosed or who

don't follow the diet is thought to be TWICE

the norm.

That is one reason it would be good to have

better testing available for gluten problems!

I don't know of anything other than tests to tell

IgA from IgG from IgE.

As for the bread in England ... there are lots of

people in England who react to English bread. That

particular girl might be allergic to something

else besides gluten, but AFAIK English bread is

no safer than American bread for folks with gluten

problems.

-- Heidi

[Guest guest]

Hi Joe,

Hmm... I thought that modern US wheat was higher in starch, not protein...?

Well, except for the breads that are marketed as low-carb and have higher

gluten, but those are so rubbery in texture you can really tell the

difference. But it does seem feasible that there might be older varieties

of wheat in Europe...

-

>>Hi there, aren't the modern US wheat varieties that have been

genetically modified to increase protein more prone to causing

intolerance? Maybe older/low protein varieties are more popular in

England.

maybe someone can expound on this.

-Joe

[Guest guest]

I have a friend who's from France and we were discussing bread (and

food in general). She mentioned how differently food is handled and

prepared here in the US as opposed to in France. She claimed, for

instance, that French bread is very plain compared to US bread. The

French basically just use flour, water, yeast, and possibly a little

salt whereas bread in the US has lots of other ingredients like

sugars, bleaching agents, elasticizers, conditioning agents, etc. I

can imagine that a person can be sensitive to any number of

ingredients used in commercial bread preparation and storage and not

just the wheat itself.

Marla

--- In , <karenr@c...>

wrote:

> A friend of mine has a daughter with Down Syndrome, who's wheat

intolerant.

> It's difficult to restrict grains in her diet, but at least at home

she

> gets almond flour breads and sometimes commercial gluten-free

breads. My

> friend says:

>

> " When I was really concentrating on the wheat/gluten issue, K was

getting

> boils and also constipated and my instinct connected that with the

wheat

> stuff. But when we went to England for three-week hitches we

couldn't get

> the rice breads and such so she had bread all the time and it

didn't seem

> to bother her at all.

> My instinct then suggested that there might be something different

about

> bread there than here - though I never figured out what. Maybe the

> fungicides they spray on the grains or whatever else gets done to

them? "

>

> Anyone have experiences along this line?

>

> -

[Guest guest]

,

<<But when we went to England for three-week hitches we couldn't get the rice

breads and such so she had bread all the time and it didn't seem to bother her

at all.>>

this surprises me as there are plenty of gluten free breads and products

available in England.... where did your friend stay? what bread did her daughter

eat here?..... commercial or artisan? we have the whole range from 'awful

commercial' to 'sublime artisan' here :-)

Dedy

London, England

[Guest guest]

Hi Dedy,

Ah, you're in London! I think my friend's problem was not that she really

couldn't find gluten-free products in England, but with 4 kids and

travelling around (I don't know where exactly she was), it just wasn't

practical or possible to control everything they were eating. (It isn't

here either, what with all the social interactions she has her daughter

involved in).

Just to tempt me :-).. what kind of " sublime artisan " gluten-free bread do

you have?!

-

At 11:08 PM 10/01/2003 +0100, you wrote:

>,

><<But when we went to England for three-week hitches we couldn't get the

>rice breads and such so she had bread all the time and it didn't seem to

>bother her at all.>>

>

>this surprises me as there are plenty of gluten free breads and products

>available in England.... where did your friend stay? what bread did her

>daughter eat here?..... commercial or artisan? we have the whole range

>from 'awful commercial' to 'sublime artisan' here :-)

>

>Dedy

>London, England

[Guest guest]

,

sorry... the 'sublime artisan breads' [and the awful supermarket stuff] I was

referring to are NOT gluten free !!!... you mentioned that the daughter ate

bread here and was OK which made me wonder what was it she was eating...

we do however have some wonderful artisan bakeries here who do a very good range

of sourdough and ordinary breads which are VERY good...

I've been gluten free since 97 [and my DH since Jan. 2003] but I care about what

my kids eat and make a special order then trip to one of those bakeries [luckily

it's near by] they are still not too fond of most sourdough bread [except the

'potato & rosemary sourdough' bread from Baker & Spice] but at least they don't

eat bread with more than a few ingredients on the list, no soy flour and they're

all organic. [i DO taste a tiny morsel when we get a new bread :-)

'The Celtic Baker' [http://www.thecelticbakers.co.uk/] also make gluten free

bread for the 'Stamp Collection' a trade mark owned by the actor Terrence Stamp

[he's had gluten and caesin allergies for years and decided to do something for

people with similar problems some years ago]... I find them really tasteless...

I think bread is one of those things where substitutes just don't hit the same

spot in the taste buds spectrum... their other breads are wonderful though...

Dedy

[getting REALLY hungry writing all this :-)]

<< Just to tempt me :-).. what kind of " sublime artisan " gluten-free bread do

you have?!>>