A: People with chronic gastrointestinal sensitivity and reactivity to certain foods and stress are often diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. "IBS" is primarily a diagnosis of exclusion, used when there is no obvious explanation for the symptoms. However, I believe that food intolerances, especially to gluten and dairy, play a significant role in this "syndrome." This month, I will limit my discussion to gluten intolerance, which I consider among the most under-diagnosed common ailments today.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, and spelt. If you are gluten-intolerant, your body reacts to gluten by creating antibodies, triggering an inflammatory response in the gut, which leads to poor absorption of nutrients. Associated symptoms can include stomach pain, weight loss, skin complaints, joint and muscle complaints, headaches, chronic fatigue, asthma, depression, attention-deficit disorder, mental fogginess, and osteoporosis.

Gluten intolerance in its most serious form is known as celiac disease. Celiac is a genetic autoimmune disease in which the small intestine is damaged every time gluten is eaten. A permanent condition, it can reduce life expectancy and quality of life if left untreated. It may affect as many as one out of every 133 people in the U.S. (the highest prevalence is among those of western-European descent). Non-celiac gluten intolerance may affect many more people, but it is largely overlooked/dismissed since it is difficult
to diagnose with conventional allergy tests.

If you have already been diagnosed with IBS, or you have an autoimmune disorder, and/or you suffer from gastro-intestinal issues that have no obvious explanation (stress-induced/"somatic"), I recommend testing for celiac disease. If this comes back negative, then a specific food allergy panel test that looks for the antibodies present with gluten intolerance should be performed.

If the test results are positive, the treatment involves removing all gluten from your diet. This can be a daunting task, so I'm including a list of resources to help you in your journey to healthy eating.

Groups
Gluten Intolerance Group meets the third Saturday of every month at Kaiser Permanente South, 5125 Skyline Rd S (at Kuebler Blvd) from 10 a.m. to noon in conference room 3. Contact Becky Crooke: (503) 393-2043.

Raising Our Celiac Kids (ROCK) meets the second Sunday of every month from 2 top 4 p.m. Contact Kristen Klay: (503) 581-3884.

Food
Lifesource Natural Foods
Fred Meyer, natural food section
Salem Health Food Store at Salem Center Mall

Options Baking Company is a new, local, gluten-free provider of pizza crusts, quinoa bread, muffins, etc.  They deliver twice a week to Lifesource or you can order directly from Andrea Green-Venezio: (503) 540-5515.

Restaurants with Gluten-Free Menus
Marco Polo
Outback Steak House
Red Robin

Nutrition Counseling
Nancy Ludwig, MS, RD, LD, at Vida Family Medicine: (503) 399-1400
Denise Cedars, RD, at Salem Hospital: (503) 561-6987
Rebecca Tryon, CNC, at Wellspring Medical Center: (971) 983-5289

Naturopathic Physicians
Dawson Farr, ND (503) 363-0524
Samantha LeVine, ND; Karen Jones, ND (503) 399-7500
Timothy Murbach, ND (503) 383-1256

Upcoming Class
"Off-White Living" by Rebecca Tryon, CNC
June 11 at Vida Family Medicine, 374 Owens St SE
Preregistration required: call (503) 399-1400.