Gluten: Zero Global

Gluten: ZERO Global

Gluten: bad for us all

The evidence for a Gluten-Free Planet

Dr Rodney Ford

MD MBBS FRACP

ISBN 978-0-473-22005-1

Copyright 2012 Dr Rodney Ford

YfoodX Ltd. PO box 25-265, Christchurch, 8144, New Zealand

Published by Dr Rodney Ford at Smashwords

http://www.DrRodneyFord.com

This book is also available in print

http://www.DrRodneryFord/shop/books

Dedication To all of the children, families and communities who have encouraged so many people to adopt and keep to a gluten-zero lifestyle. Thank you all for your stories and wisdom that has made this book possible. We continue to learn together.

Thank you to the Gluten Free Planet FaceBook community

for all of your support, ideas and stories.

"Observe the masses and do the opposite’ – Walt Disney

Smashwords Edition, License Notes:

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Right time, right place

Hi. You are likely to find this book revolutionary. We believe it is the right book, at the right time. It describes how we all could help to create a gluten-zero world. It is written by the right author who is very experienced in diagnosing the gluten illnesses. This book has the potential to help millions of people to become well by adopting the gluten-zero concept. Up until now there has not been a book written for the sole purpose of helping people understand the reasons why we need a zero gluten world. At last it has arrived.

Why this book? Why zero?

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust.

Why? Every day in my Clinic I feel a sense of frustration. I see a child who has severe gastric reflux, I see another who has been suffering with eczema for years, I am told about someone else who is not learning well at school with attention deficit disorder (ADD/ADHD). I know that all of these problems could be caused by gluten – but no one knows this. No one is investigating. These families need urgent help, but they can’t find any.

This is why I wrote this book. It disturbs to me that so few medical practitioners understand about gluten and the harm that it can cause. In my experience, my medical colleagues never diagnose gluten-related disorders. However, the evidence is all around them if they would take the trouble to look for it– in their clinics, in the medical research literature, and in the words that their patients are saying to them. But they tell me I choose not to believe – to them it appears to be another inconvenient truth. They are locked into the diagnosis of celiac disease without any understanding of the big gluten picture.

This is why I have collected together in this book most of what is known about gluten and the diseases that it can cause. Every day in my Clinic I am explaining to parents the information about gluten-harm. They are concerned for their children, and wonder why their doctor was ignorant about this gluten-illness epidemic. Children and parents want answers, not a brush off.

I also feel a sense of urgency. The more I read research papers about gluten, the more it alarms me. I wrote this book to make this medical literature readily available to you and your community. Then, armed with this knowledge, you can help make a difference. That is why.

How to make a difference?

When you see someone who has been suffering for years, or even decades, I expect that you would like to help, if you were able. It is human nature, we all want to make a difference if we can. When I started in medicine, 35 years ago, the only gluten-illness that was known about was ‘celiac disease’, which was said to be very rare. It was thought to occur in about 1-in-5000 people, and in the USA it was pronounced as non-existent! But during my career as a food allergist and gastroenterologist, I have discovered that any food can cause food allergy symptoms in anybody, and my patients have made me aware that gluten was no exception. Yes, gluten certainly did cause food allergy/intolerance reactions, just the same as any other food. Regrettably, most of the medical profession remain in a state of denial about gluten-related disorders, which are so common and are affecting countless millions of people in our community.

How can you and I make a difference? I think the most effective way is to share accurate and practical knowledge. The medical establishment has got stuck, and so they need help from us. Most doctors do not want to know about food related disorders, so we have to educate our community for them. Sadly, drugs are easier to prescribe than to change eating habits.

So the way we are going to make a difference is by educating our community all about gluten and its problems. That is how we are going to win this gluten war. The information in this book is game-changer. This knowledge about gluten-harm will give you the power to make a difference to your children, to your families, and to your community. It is up to all of us to lead the way.

This book might scare you

Gluten: ZERO Global exposes the universal harm of gluten, with the compelling argument to eradicate all gluten from our human food chain. Gluten is bad for us all. I believe that this warrants the call to create a Gluten-Free Planet.

The big problem is that once you get unwell from chronic gluten exposure – you might not recover – the damage might not be reversible. So, when you get sick from gluten, adopting a gluten-free diet might not make you better again. This is a bit like smoking tobacco – once the lung damage (or cancer) has become apparent, it is much too late to quit (please note, it is never too late to quit, but quitting late in an illness will not be as helpful if you have already sustained permanent tissue damage).

Gluten – not a good food

Undeniably, gluten causes serious harm to many people. Our human instinct makes us both sceptical and optimistic – our inclination is to dismiss looming problems as something that will happen to someone else. We do expect bad things to happen to us. This ostrich mentality (to keep our heads deep in the sand) is especially true about wheat, as nobody wants to hear about the universal harm of gluten. Nobody! It is much too inconvenient to change the whole food chain.

But, the fact is that the harm of gluten has been extensively documented. For instance, Dr. William Davis in his book Wheat Belly calls wheat a malicious food. Gluten is known to cause a vast number of problems:

Death – it kills.

Gut damage.

Skin disease.

Autoimmune disease.

Nerve and brain damage.

Mental illness.

Gluten and wheat also have attributes that make it harmful to everyone. Gluten causes universal harm. It is bad for us all.

The urgent questions examined in the 'Gluten ZERO Global' concept are:

How widespread is the suffering caused by gluten?

How can gluten–wheat be a universal toxin?

How could there be global adoption of a gluten-zero life-style?

What’s new?

The idea of universal gluten-harm is new. Gluten-ZERO-global is a bold new concept to heal/prevent much of the sickness throughout our World. It is an attack on the fundamental beliefs held by the food industry, the pharmaceutical giants and the medical fraternity. This book could bring about a revolution in healthcare. A backlash from illness-based businesses is expected. However, the voice of the consumer will ultimately prevail. We, the consumers, are becoming more aware of the detrimental properties of gluten-grains, wheat-proteins and wheat-starch. We, the consumers, have the spending power and can drive the market by what we choose to buy. We, the consumers, have increasing influence through the growth of our social networks.

Creating global gluten-consciousness

The ultimate goal and my mission is to create global gluten-consciousness: everywhere, in every organization, in every country, in every business, in every community and in every family. This means everyone being aware of gluten-harm and helping others avoid it. The proposition is that there is only one way to achieve world-wide-health: that is to for everyone to always eat the appropriate food. To achieve this, gluten–wheat will have to be completely excluded from our diets. Gluten: bad for us all.

Spread the word.

If you agree with the concepts and thoughts in this book, then please would you endorse this ebook? Write comments on the Smashwords review page, and send the link to every social network that you are connected with. (https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/161907)

The power that we have is by networking together. All it takes to create global-gluten-consciousness is for each of us to inform another 3 or 4 people. If we all demand high quality gluten-zero foods, then the whole of industry will join the gluten-zero revolution.

What this book is not about: it is not about celiac disease; it is not a diet book; it is not a self-help book; it is not a self-management handbook; it does not contain comprehensive information on blood tests; it does not contain any gluten-free recipes. See our other ebooks for help with these issues.

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Man vs. gluten: how to fix a 10,000-year-old blunder

Chapter 1. Gluten ZERO global – why?

Why pick on gluten?

No nukes! Global Zero.

Modify our body … or … modify our food

How big is the gluten burden?

Can our Planet survive without gluten?

Chapter 2. Everyone disturbed by gluten-wheat

Is eating gluten and wheat worth the risk?

Worth of wheat

Nobody can digest gluten

Gluten makes everyone’s gut leaky

Wheat Belly

Gluten–wheat is addictive

Wheat lectins (wheat germ agglutinin – WGA)

Wheat is poor nourishment

Chapter 3. Dancing with Devils

Mitigate universal harm

Smoke cigarettes until you die

Zero Global – no nukes

Chapter 4. Nobody knows what’s wrong with me

What’s wrong?

Idiopathic illness – they don’t know what’s wrong

Just a virus!

Childhood symptoms officially suppressed

Naughty – or sick

It’s in your head – Medical Madness

Lifetimes of misdiagnosis

Test: don't guess

Chapter 5. The health burden of gluten

The gluten curse

It’s not about celiac disease

300 symptoms and diseases caused by gluten

Histology and endoscopy uncertainty

Skin diseases

Dermatitis Herpetiformis (DH)

Death: gluten can kill you

Chapter 6. Beyond celiac disease

The Gluten Syndrome

The Spectrum of Gluten-related disorders

No definitive test yet for gluten sensitivity.

Gluten sensitivity a common illness

Change of diagnostic guidelines for celiac disease.

Gluten can harm brains and nerves

Double blind studies

10% already going gluten-free

Gluten experts

Chapter 7. Damaged nerves and brains

The thighbone’s connected to the kneebone

Gluten Syndrome: a neurological disease

The evidence

The five unanswered questions about gluten

Neurological gut dysfunction

Headaches and migraines

Gluten can make you wobbly

Evidence of gluten nerve damage

Verdict

Chapter 8. Glutened minds

Sick, tired and grumpy

Brains scrambled by gluten

Should all ADD children go gluten-free?

Psychiatric disorders

Chapter 9. Auto-immune and other diseases

80 autoimmune diseases

Triggered by gluten

Multiple sclerosis

Thyroid disease

Diabetes and gluten are linked

Chapter 10. Calculating the size of the gluten problem

Gluten accounting

Meaning of the gluten-numbers

The economic burden of gluten

Save money: find celiac disease sooner

Other gluten-costs

Chapter 11. Diet not drugs

Disease, drugs or diet?

Pharmageddon

Treating 300 symptoms

Drugs for gluten-disease - oh no!

The logic of gluten-free

Treat gluten disease early

Chapter 12. Zero gluten

Question: how much gluten is it safe to eat?

Do I have to go gluten-free?

Get your gluten antibodies down

Is 20 ppm really okay?

Gluten-free is more removing gluten

Advocating ZERO gluten

Gluten labelling: a two-tier approach

Refractory celiacs still gluten contaminated

Cross contamination

Gluten-free food not always healthy

Chapter 13. Global gluten consciousness.

More from Einstein

Changing the world takes time

Gluten-free not black and white

Gluten glamour – fact and fashion?

Top ten gluten-zero ideas

Chapter 14. The ZERO answer

Z–ero language

E–veryone tested

R–evolution in food

O–ur community acts

Use your networks

Chapter 15. Last words: verdict

Gluten

ZERO

Global

Act or do nothing?

Who is Dr. Rodney Ford? His personal story

Chapter 16. Major references

Chapter 17. Web links and books

You can use the eClinic

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INTRODUCTION

Man vs. gluten:

how to fix a 10,000-year-old blunder

This book confronts the biggest controversy surrounding our traditional food. It is the story of adopting wheat 10,000 years ago, which launched mankind into the agricultural revolution; the incorporation of the gluten-grains into every aspect of our diets, which nourished the peoples of this world with plentiful food; and now the recent discovery that gluten–wheat is causing universal harm, which is causing millions to suffer.

The sickness and health industry is ironically being fuelled by gluten-related disorders; whereas, the food industry is obsessed by providing increasing amounts of high-gluten foods to the whole population.

A monumental battle is developing – Man vs. Gluten. The battle lines are being drawn, the opposing armies are lining up, and a global war imminent.

On the ‘pro-man’ side are the people who know that they are suffering from gluten-harm, the medical researchers who have uncovered the extent of the gluten problem, and the food processors who are changing to gluten alternative foods.

On the ‘pro-gluten’ side are the gluten-illness-deniers and gluten-skeptics, the people who unknowingly are addicted to gluten and who demand their daily glutened-bread, and the traditional food industry giants who supply the gluten habit.

Gluten-related disorders known for two decades

I have been warning about the ill-effects of gluten for over 20 years. The date was 23rd July 1990 when I first officially prescribed a gluten-free diet to a non-celiac child. At that time this was an unheard-of-event and my management decision was met with unanimous disapproval from my medical colleagues. This poor sick child, Elizabeth, had three small bowel biopsies which all showed normal healthy tissue, effectively excluding celiac disease. I put her on a gluten-free diet, a decision that was contrary to established treatment protocols. I had crossed to the dark side and Ford was said to have committed ‘medical heresy’.

Elizabeth was nearly 8 years old at the time and she had been sick for years. My medical notes on that day say:

"I am still struggling with Elizabeth’s problem of regurgitation. Although her small bowel biopsy was quite normal (therefore, excluding celiac disease), I am still concerned of