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One Man’s Mission with to Take Control
GLUTEN? T
T
hat depends on who’s answering the question. For an ever increasing number of people, consuming gluten is perceived as about as healthful as eating cyanide or arsenic. The rest of the population munches on, oblivious to the deadly toxins they’re ingesting. So what’s the deal? Who’s right? Is concern over gluten just media hysteria, the latest version of much ado about nothing? Or is it a food component we should all be worried about? What is it? The root meaning of the word has nothing to do with its current usage. Gluten originally meant exactly what it sounds like: glue. As in glue derived from animal tissue (such as when an old horse was said to be “destined for the glue factory”). The gluten that has millions of people on red alert these days is plant-based, and is one of the most heavily consumed proteins on earth. It is found in such grains as barley, rye and most commonly, wheat, and is created
when two molecules — glutenin and gliadin — are chemically joined by force. That force is supplied by the baker as he or she kneads dough. The bond between the two proteins gives dough its elasticity and bread its chewiness. Without gluten, no pizza baker could offer handtossed crusts; dough would fly off in all directions without it. Gluten doesn’t sound particularly lethal. It’s perfectly natural and wholesome to 99 percent of us. The 1 percent Ah, but for the other 1 percent, the tiniest exposure to gluten can give rise to intense gastrointestinal reactions: bloating, gas, cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, even migraine headaches and joint pain. The 1 percent are people with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that can be notoriously difficult to diagnose. For these people, gluten causes a reaction which damages the lining of the small intestine, in the process interfering with the body’s ability to absorb
JANUARY 23, 2015
by guest columnist Jennifer Braidwood
The 99 percent For no medically discernible reason, some 20 million Americans say they experience gastric distress after eating products containing gluten, and fully one-third of American
he year was 1970. A gallon of gas cost 36 cents, the very first Earth Day was celebrated and the smooth iconic sound of the Beatles song, “Let it Be” lingered on the radio waves. It also happened to be the year that this story truly begins, that a life, a cause, and one man’s mission began to take shape. Steve Edelman was 15 years old and he felt sick. Really sick. He lost 20 pounds in just a few weeks, developed an unquenchable thirst and a desperate need to sleep. What he didn’t know was that he had a pancreas that stopped producing insulin. The weeks progressed, his symptoms did not relent, and he eventually went to the doctor just in time to sidestep a diabetic coma. He emerged from the ICU a few weeks later with the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. Edelman was given strict instructions from his doctor to take one shot of insulin per day in the morning, follow a strict diet, test his urine for glucose four times a day, and keep stringent records. As the years continued to pass, Edelman developed an intense passion for the sciences and decided to go to medical school. He completed his undergraduate premedical studies at the University of California, Los Angeles and during that time became increasingly interested in medicine and specifically endocrinology. He worked in a research laboratory at UCLA with Dr. Mayer Davidson and was able to observe Dr. Richard Berkson treat patients in the diabetes clinic. By watching and learning from his mentors, Edelman slowly started to get on track with his own diabetes complications. He began to realize that one shot of insulin a day was totally inadequate and subsequently he slowly started to improve his own regimen to allow for better control. Edelman entered his first year of medical school in 1978 at the University California, Davis. He distinctly remembers sitting in a
Please see CELIAC page 4
Please see CONTROL page 3
nutrients. There is a cure if you have celiac disease: avoid gluten for the rest of your life. That is one tremendously difficult challenge. Neither gluten nor anything remotely connected to wheat, rye, or barley may show up in the ingredients list of a product that happens to be crawling with gluten. For the unfortunate souls afflicted by celiac disease, the best defense is to buy only products that are labeled as “gluten-free,” a designation that, as of August 2014, means gluten is present in less than 20 parts per million. Happily, gluten-free products are sprouting up everywhere, a food trend driven by, well, let’s just call them “the non-1percenters.”
Who is this man, and why is he coming to Augusta?
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