YAD SARAH HEALTH NEWSSeptember 2001 vol.5 no.1By Lili Eylon |
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Between 6 million and 7 million people in the United States are allergic to some sort of food. Eight specific items account for the bulk of allergic reactions: peanuts, walnuts, pecans, fish, shellfish, eggs, milk, soy and wheat. Celiac disease is what allergy to wheat is called. Also known as non-tropical sprue, celiac sprue and gluten-sensitive enteropathy, it is an intestinal disorder in which gluten - a natural protein commonly found in many grains, including wheat, barley, rye and oats - cannot be tolerated by the body. In normal, healthy people, gluten is digested like any other protein or nutrient, then absorbed through the fingerlike protrusions called villi (and the even tinier hairlike protrusions called microvilli) that make up the surface of the small intestine. But in people with celiac disease, gluten causes a reaction of the body's immune system, leading to inflammation and damage to the villi and microvilli of the small intestine. The result is that the intestine cannot absorb nutrients properly and the person can become malnourished. An allergic reaction usually occurs within two hours after an allergic person eats food containing wheat, but can also occur in just minutes. In America there are an estimated 1.5 million celiac sufferers. Common symptoms of the disease include: Upset stomach, weight loss, painful abdominal bloating or distention, chronic or recurrent diarrhea, flatulence, fatigue, irritability. Celiac patients must become detectives and investigate the ingredients of each item they eat, making sure that it is free of gluten: the protein found in wheat, barley, rye or oats. Many become (cooking) experts at substituting corn- and rice-based ingredients in recipes calling for flour and other gluten-laden food. Some celiac patients become anemic from their body's inability to absorb iron, while others develop osteoporosis because they can't process calcium, according to Ciaran Kelly, a gastroenterologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Testing for celiac disease involves a blood test that measures antibodies in the blood. The illness, difficult to diagnose, has no known cure. But if a person with the disease follows a strict gluten-free diet, the disease is controllable. Because the disease was found mainly in European countries, food manufacturers there have marked gluten free products with a symbol - an encircled ear of wheat with a slash through it. Celiac disease is believed to be hereditary and is most common among people of northern European descent. As many as one in every 250 Americans may have celiac disease, but most cases go undiagnosed, often because the symptoms are assumed to be caused by other diseases or because symptoms are mild. Although many cases are diagnosed in childhood, celiac disease can be diagnosed at any age. Celiac disease is considered to be an auto-immune condition because the body's own immune system attacks the intestine. .The word "allergy" was first used in 1906 by an Austrian pediatrician named Clemens von Piquet. He was describing the strange symptoms accompanying some diphtheria patients who were treated with a horse serum antitoxin. The word "allergy" is derived from the Greek meaning "change in the original state." Five years later, an Englishman, Sir Henry Dale, identified the role of the chemical histamine in the mechanism of allergy occurrence. Immuno-therapy by way of allergy shots is the practical result of thorough scientific research during the years 1911-1914, by two scientists, Leonard Noon and John Freeman. With these shots, the patient's immune system becomes less sensitive to the substance provoking the allergy, with the result that the allergy symptoms are reduced or altogether eliminated. A new addition to Yad Sarah is a growing library, which can be browsed (and copied from, if desired), at Yad Sarah House, Kiryat Weinberg, 124 Shderot Herzl in Jerusalem.The (currently) three shelves of books, in Hebrew, include volumes on nutrition, diet, life style, alternative medicine, and other aspects of health. The library is run by a dedicated staff comprised of Yad Sarah volunteers. "We hope", say the Yad Sarah volunteers (Yad Sarah has 6000 volunteers), "that this project will grow into a multi-language, multi-discipline library in a short time". If you, our readers, would like to recommend books, or, better still, donate books, Yad Sarah will be grateful. Please contact Bella at 6444-4?? Two very recent achievements by Israeli scientists have found an echo in world media: With stem cells hitting headlines these days, the Haifa Technion has announced that a group of researchers from its' Faculty of Medicine and the Rambam Medical Center have succeeded, for the first time in the world, to grow human heart cells in a lab from embryonic stem cells. The tissue they have created can beat spontaneously and has the electric and mechanical characteristics of a young heart. What still needs to be examined is whether these cells can survive an extensive period of time after being implanted in a human heart and if they can repair damages to the heart. A team from Hadassah's University Hospital in Jerusalem, together with researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, have found the gene that triggers a debilitating muscle disease called Hereditary Inclusion Body Myopathy (HIBM) which strikes Jews from Middle Eastern countries as well as non-Jews in the Bahamas, India, and in Georgia, the U.S. The disease produces a progressive crippling effect on legs and arms. Here are some easy things for celiac sufferers to cook & eat: Products made with soybean or tapioca flours, rice, corn, buckwheat or potatoes. Nuts, fresh fish, meat or poultry, fresh, frozen or canned vegetables without sauces, wine and plain, natural cheeses and natural yogurt, potatoes, rice, eggs, fresh fruit and 100% natural fruit juice, beef, chicken, fish,(no sauces), home made soups, coffee & tea The Tefen Industrial Park in the Galilee, wheelchair accessible and with roomy restrooms, contains a sculpture area, Israeli art exhibits, antique cars and a small gallery highlighting the contribution of German Jewry to Israel. Tefen was conceived and designed by Israeli industrialist and entrepreneur Steff Wertheimer, who firmly believes that Israel can eventually stand on its own economic feet. To this end he created a hothouse for fledgling businesses where entrepreneurs with new exciting ideas and a flair for hard work can develop a wide variety of products for export. Combining technology and ecology, Tefen is an aesthetic, user-friendly park. (From Aviva Bar Am's book "Easy Walks in Israel", kindly donated to Yad Sarah) American
Dietetic Assn. Yad Sarah is a unique, community-based non-profit organization whose 6,000 volunteer and small professional staff provides, via 90 centers located throughout Israel, home care support services to residents in need of temporary or permanent assistance. Aid is also extended to disabled tourists and visitors to the country. Our website: http://www.yadsarah.org.il Material in this E-News is intended only as a resource for general information and should not be used for diagnosis or treatment. . To subscribe and to
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