June: It’s the Little (Gluten-Free) Things

We are smack dab in the middle of summer and life is getting busy. In the midst of it all I found a few “little things” you might be interested in: a celiac study, new gluten-free food trends and a great story about a 13-year-old’s celiac disease.

Celiac Study

Rush University in Chicago is looking at the way celiacs stick, or don’t stick, to the gluten-free diet – and it needs patients! Jen Cafferty’s article for Celiac.com explained how researchers wonder if going through a mind/body medicine course will keep celiacs from cheating on the diet. It’s an interesting idea to be sure.

There are a few restrictions: you must be newly diagnosed and live in the Chicago area. Check out Cafferty’s article at Celiac.com for more information.

New Trend Data for Gluten-Free Foods

There is a lot of credit going to big companies for the boom in gluten-free foods. General Mills made most of its Chex cereals gluten-free this spring and Anheuser Busch launched Redbridge Beer in 2006 just to name a few. Plus, supermarkets are embracing the boom and consumers are eating the stuff up – either because of celiac disease or for another reason.

According to companiesandmarkets.com, “The report projects that this segment of the U.S. retail marketplace enjoyed a 28% CAGR to reach $1.56 billion by the end of 2008. The report goes on to project that the segment will continue to grow, though not at the same torrid pace, through 2012.”

Gluten-Free Teen gets National Exposure on NPR

Jacob Rosenblum is one year into his gluten-free diet – a treatment for his celiac disease — and this week everyone knows how well he’s doing. National Public Radio gave celiac a very public acknowledgment on June 15th when it interviewed Jacob and his family about his diagnosis and subsequent lifestyle change.

It is a great 4 minutes of your time. Educational for someone who’s never heard of it, but informative enough for people to get a “takeaway” from listening to the report. I would recommend checking it out and passing it along.

Taste Tests Coming on thesavvyceliac.com

Erewhon cereals ready for tasting

I have a few taste tests and reviews to bring you this summer and you’ll want to watch for them: Right now I have 6 boxes of Erewhon cereals to try including their two new ones: Strawberry Crisp and Cocoa Crispy Brown Rice cereals. As you can tell from the picture, Strawberry Crisp has already been opened by Ida our exchange student (who may very well be en route back to Norway when you’re reading this.  Her year here has just finished.). She’s already given me her two cents. So I’m looking forward to trying them myself – I do love a good cereal.

Bristol Baking is sending me a sample of their new hamburger buns. Plus I’ll be trying Liz Lovely Cookies and Sunshine Burgers (a veggie burger made with sunflower seeds) courtesy of the Linden Hills Co-op.

Keep reading and enjoying!  Also always send me your story ideas or even tidbits for this monthly “Little Things” post!

Tags: celiac, cereal, gluten-free, NPR