The plethora of misinformation about celiac disease and gluten-free life continues to spread daily through news segments, articles, and videos. Here are some facts and tips to facilitate the sharing of accurate information!
1. Provide facts from dietitians, doctors, and organizations, such as NFCA, not celebrities. Do not refer to a gluten-free diet as a fad, trend, or weight loss diet!
2. It is essential to be tested for celiac disease, an autoimmune disease with dangerous complications, before starting a gluten-free diet! If negative, a patient may be gluten sensitive.
3. There are no typical symptoms of celiac disease. There are 300 symptoms and some people have none!
4. People with celiac disease must eat 100% gluten-free and need to be very cautious about cross-contamination.
5. There are many great and safe gluten-free products. Good gluten-free baked goods taste the same as gluten!
4 comments:
Thank you for this brief, yet accurate list, especially #1. Just because someone on daytime TV has Celiac disease does NOT mean she is the Celiac expert! Doctors should always be consulted, not just the tv or internet!
I think it is also important to be very cautious with whom you give interviews to because sometimes information given in the interview is left out of the print article or is misconstrued. I recently gave an interview for a producer magazine on gluten-free product development etc... The reporter started to want detailed information on the pathogenesis (which is not what we originally agreed on) and even though I am familiar with it, it is not my scientific specialty and I referred her to several other researchers and dietitians who would be able to more appropriately answer her questions. During the remainder of the interview I mentioned the above points you made and when we received the article for fact checking over half of what I said was distorted or certain aspects were left out. We attempted to get corrections made, which the reporter fought and refused to make the appropriate changes. Now my name is attached to a semi-factual article and there is nothing I can do about it...
I do not believe that person whom you are probably referring to has ever been tested for Celiac... I could be wrong...
Yes, it is important to be cautious with who you give interviews too. Perhaps if you can provide interview info by email, it will help increase the chances of it being accurate??
Even the largest more respected publications make mistakes and some editors distort things. Yes, I too would be upset if that happened to me. At least you tried!
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