Celiac, Diabetes or Allergy Sufferers

It's no fun for those of us who suffer from Celiac's disease, diabetes or food allergies. Food shopping is tedious and time-consuming and some of us can forget about going out to eat. One wrong ingredient added to our food can set us up for painful consequences which can last for hours, days, or even longer depending on the food and how sensitive our body is to it.

One of the most common culprits today is Celiac's disease. Celiac's disease is an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine affecting those who are genetically predisposed to it. Generally, the disease is believed to affect 1 in 1750 people worldwide and 1 in 150 in the United States alone. Celiac's disease is caused by a reaction to gluten (a protein found in wheat) and similar proteins found in barley and rye. Symptoms can be quite uncomfortable ranging from diarrhea, abdominal pain, fatigue and in some cases, mouth sores. For some, it only takes a small amount of gluten to be consumed to feel the effects of the disease. Although there is no cure for Celiac's, symptoms can be evaded by avoiding foods containing gluten or in some cases milk proteins.

Diabetes is another disease where certain foods need to be avoided. Type II diabetes, otherwise known as adult-onset diabetes, is the most common and affects 90% of diabetes cases today. The other 10% is caused by type I diabetes which is believed to be immunological in origin and lastly, gestational diabetes which is due to lack of insulin production during pregnancy. Additionally, obesity has been observed as the culprit for those of us who are genetically predisposed to diabetes. Most people who suffer from type II diabetes have to change their eating habits in order to control their body's blood sugar levels. Failure to control these levels can cause damage to blood vessels and nerves which could eventually lead to blindness, kidney failure and other severe complications. Because diabetes is becoming more and more prevalent in society today, many suffering from this disease have no choice but avoid certain foods in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Dietary constraints can be perplexing for most, especially if diabetes is onset later in life.

Lastly, those of us who suffer from food allergies can be sensitive to almost anything from peanuts, tree nuts, gluten, dairy and various other foods. Changing dietary habits is not an easy task but thankfully, there are more information sites and sources such as food plans, dietary charts and cook books to guide us in the right direction. There are many useful cookbooks with enormous amounts of information, recipes and information about how to avoid the foods our bodies don't want and enjoy the food we are able to eat without feeling as if we've lost the flavor or taste of some of our favorite foods.

For more information, suggestions and cooking recipes that are gluten-free, low-glycemic or allergy free, click on:
http://www.glutenfree4life.info/

No Food Allergy or Coeliac Disease in Fiji

With Coeliac Disease and allergies to food, nuts, plants and dairy on the increase in nearly every Western country, why is the tiny South Pacific island of Fiji not as affected? The descendants of this ancient Polynesian/Melanesian race are baffled when they meet tourists who cannot eat bread, wheat, gluten, nuts or even some fruits. "You are allergic to food? We can eat everything here!" is the common response. The answer is simple. Genetics and a prevalence of wild foods in their traditional diet.

Up until very recently, not a lot was known about the origins of the native Fijian people. Most scholars agree that they probably settled on the islands some 3500 years ago from a Polynesian race who originally left their homelands thousands of years prior in South East Asia. But geneticists and anthropologists from around the world believe recent discovery of fossils unearthed in the Siberian Denisova cave in 2008 and genome studies of modern Melanesians in Fiji, propose an evolutionary new theory on who the ancient ancestors of the native Fijian people were. Although modern humans, the homosapien, are the only surviving members of hominoids that walked the earth tens of thousands of years ago, analysis of fossil remains now show other now-extinct human groups once lived alongside our ancestors, including Neanderthals, an as-yet-unnamed third lineage recently discovered in Africa and a fourth race who had an evolutionary history distinct from all - the Denisovans. Evolutionary geneticist at Harvard Medical School, Professor David Reich, and molecular anthropologist Professor Mark Stoneking at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, used state-of-the-art genome analysis to confirm that present-day Melanesians, including native Fijians, have between 4-6% of the same genomes as the extinct Denisovan race. The team of scientists confirmed that Denisovans must have roamed widely, from Siberia to tropical Southeast Asia as they left a genetic footprint not only in present-day Melanesia, but also Borneo, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Polynesia.

According to immunologist Professor Robert Anderson at Australia's The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, "It would be surprising to find Coeliac disease in Melanesian Fijians, but not at all uncommon in Indian Fijians as North Indians do have HLA DQ2 quite commonly".

The genes that are susceptible to the synthetic proteins found in GM wheat, barley and rye are found in most Caucasians is what is triggering an alarming rate of this autoimmune disease. But whilst the descendants of the native Fijian's are somewhat protected against CD, they are just as susceptible to the insulin-causing carbohydrates found in wheat and the synthetic compounds found in processed oils. They are dying of diseases caused by a change in diet and lifestyle - the Western life.

So here's a thought.

If most Western people always had those susceptible genes HLA DQ2 and D8, and an increasingly number of us are now developing an autoimmune response and an intolerance to adulterated foods, isn't our body and mother nature trying to tell us that something is wrong with our food? Lucky for the native Fijian, they are genetically protected against the autoimmune disorders caused by their ancestral cousins. For the rest of us, we are what we eat.