One of the nation's top clinical nutritionists presents her 14-day program for treating and reversing gluten sensitivity, a condition that affects as much as 35 to 50 percent of the U.S. population and is a major contributing factor to an array of chronic illnesses Struggling with weight gain? Plagued by fatigue? Suffering from joint pain? According to preeminent clinical nutritionist Dr. Shari Lieberman, these symptoms are among the hallmarks of a little-known but surprisingly common sensitivity to gluten, a protein in certain grains. Dr. Lieberman has been investigating gluten sensitivity for more than 20 years. In her experience, eliminating gluten can alleviate many troubling symptoms for which doctors often can't find a cause, as well as chronic conditions for which mainstream medicine offers little hope of relief—including rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, fibromyalgia, lupus, and irritable bowel syndrome. In fact, 85 percent of Dr. Lieberman's clients who follow a gluten-free diet report dramatic improvement in their health—and scientific studies support her results. In The Gluten Connection, Dr. Lieberman presents a simple questionnaire to help readers assess their risk for gluten sensitivity and provides a 14-day eating plan to start them on the path to improved health and vitality. She also recommends nutritional supplements to support and maximize the therapeutic potential of a gluten-free diet. SHARI LIEBERMAN, PhD, CNS, is a well-known, widely respected clinical nutritionist who is an expert in identifying and treating gluten sensitivity. She is the author of several books, including the best-selling Real Vitamin and Mineral Book, released in its third edition in 2003. A frequent speaker at medical and scientific conferences throughout the world, she resides in New York City. CHAPTER 1 GRAIN DANGER We Americans love food. We love food so much that we make sure we are never far from it. In every strip shopping center, you'll find at least one fast-food restaurant. In most grocery stores, there is a deli counter. Every 15 minutes on television, commercials for McDonald's, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and Kentucky Fried Chicken bombard viewers. Saturday morning cartoons tempt children with sweet treats and breakfast cereals. And if viewers fail to satiate their visual appetites with the commercials, they can turn on TV's Food Channel to drool over all types of concoctions, from pastas to French pastries. Years ago, our grandparents ate a basic diet of meat, poultry, and fish; potatoes and other root vegetables; and a variety of garden-fresh vegetables. Their meat was free from hormone enhancements. The fish came directly from the ocean or from crystal-clear lakes and rivers, which did not experience fertilizer runoff. And their vegetables were exposed to few (if any) pesticides and herbicides. They ate bread, cake, and pie, of course. But they baked these goods in their own kitchens, using wheat that had not been genetically altered. What a difference a few decades have made! Today, we eat out more often than we cook in. And we eat fast food more than well-balanced meals. Food-manufacturing companies have made sure that we can open a box or a can, or pop a frozen entree into the microwave oven and enjoy, within minutes and without any cooking skill, whatever type of delicacy turns our fancy. Food nourishes. It comforts. When it tastes good, it makes us feel good. But the same food that you enjoy putting into your mouth may be making you sick! The culprit? Gluten. If you have heard the word gluten, it was most likely in context with baking, as in "kneading dough to develop the gluten." Gluten--a protein--is the stuff that makes dough sticky. Unfortunately, this chewy, gluey protein that makes bread and bagels taste so good is poison to a large segment of the population who cannot tolerate it. These people are gluten sensitive. They suffer from a systemic autoimmune disorder. When they eat anything with gluten in it--and that is virtually all processed and prepared foods!--their immune system reacts. For more than 50 years, doctors have pointed to gluten as the cause of celiac disease (CD)--an autoimmune disorder centered in the gastrointestinal system. Worldwide, celiac disease has been studied extensively, almost since it was discovered and named. As testing became more sophisticated and as the definition of celiac disease was expanded to include more than individuals who had overt symptoms, researchers have shown that celiac disease afflicts approximately 1 percent of the world's population, or anywhere from 1 in 100 to 1 in 200 worldwide,1 with much higher rates in some countries.2 In the general populations of Western Europe, the prevalence ranges from 0.5 to 1.26 percent (1 in 200 to 1 in 79).3 For example: A report published in 2001 said that the prevalence of CD (identified through screening methods) in the United Kingdom was 1 in 112 people; in Finland, it