Thoughts on the Gluten Summit at the Halfway Point

I’ve been following along with most of the content that been released this week during the Gluten Summit as time allows. Amazed that over 100,000 people have registered! There are 3 days left to jump in and here some great content. I’ll have to purchase the digital package to hear it all, and I’m ok with that as I want the transcripts to browse and refresh my memory. There are so many nuggets of great information that it’s hard to retain it all.

A couple of highlights that come to mind:

Dr. Alessio Fasano(whom I wrote about meeting last year here) mentioning that “the gut is not like Las Vegas, what happens in the gut doesn’t stay in the gut.” And the ground breaking research that gluten is not digestible by humans and causes permeability in all humans!

Dr. Mark Hyman talking about how he’s transitioned to testing every patient he sees for celiac disease and is amazed at how many cases he discovers with no history of GI distress. And of course the fact that the average american consumes 135-140lbs of sugar each year!

Dr. Aristo Vojdani’s excellent explanation of the various parts of the immune system and why the skin prick test only measures one portion of the immune system and that it’s important to measure the other responses.

Liz Lipski knows diets that heal!

Melinda Dennis was fantastic with gluten free tips eating out! She has celiac disease herself and she knows and understands the stigma with eating out. Empowering.

Dr. Rodney Ford is a real advocate for a gluten zero life. So refreshing to hear a practicing clinician that is able to change lives with food!

As I was seeing my own patients this week I also started to review medical histories differently. Usually I look for things on the history that will affect what I do. Antibiotic allergies, blood thinners, blood pressure meds, etc. This week I started looking at what diseases they have been treated for. What’s interesting is how many chronic diseases I see on a daily basis that are all related to gluten exposure. Heart Disease, Diabetes, Arthritis, Neurological diseases, Cancer and many more. Which makes me want to dig in and figure out the relationship with gluten/intestinal permeability and periodontal disease and tooth decay, both of which are inflammatory diseases and have strong relationships with other inflammatory diseases, i.e. diabetes.

So if you haven’t had a chance to catch any of the free interviews, they are all available as digital downloads for a lifetime fee of $67.