The International Celiac Disease Symposium is underway in Chicago. It is a meeting of the best minds and experts in the celiac world. I wanted to give you a quick Sunday recap to let you know what is going on.
Barilla GF noodles
It began with the opening of the Global Marketplace which is a vendor/expo area. It is relatively small, but worthwhile, when one of the first vendors I found was Barilla who was giving out boxes of their new gluten-free pasta! It is a combination corn/rice pasta and they say it is made in a dedicated gluten free facility. That was pretty cool to see right out of the gate. They say the gluten-free noodles should be widely available in the US by January.
Global Marketplace welcomed participants to #ICDS2013 Sunday night
A few hours later was the cocktail reception where people mingled and got to know each other over some fabulous gluten free food! I was able to try the gluten-free mac and cheese from Wildfire, that was yummy! Cabot cheese provided cheese, Crunchmaster supplied crackers and Feel Good Foods had great egg rolls (again yum!) I even stopped over to the Woodchuck Cider area (I don’t like beer or cider — usually) but the kind I tried was the Summer Cider made from Granny Smith apples.
Later was a Schar Satellite Symposium with the focus on the Update on Gluten Sensitivity: Where we are. Where are we going. It was great to see the top researchers all in the same room! They had 5-10 minutes of time to discuss their niche and they went through a lot of information in a short amount of time….more than I can discuss in a quick recap.
Full panel of experts (sorry photo quality is not great)
They discussed Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity as well as the basics on celiac disease and where the research stands today including epidemiology (study of how disease spreads or is controlled — Merriam Webster) and pathology (study of diseases and the changes they cause — Merriam Webster). Plus, experts briefly discussed gluten-free and autism. Researcher Anna Sapone said some children affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder have increased gut permeability that is corrected by a gluten-free, casein-free diet. But it doesn’t help all.
Deanna Kelley quickly took on the topic of gluten-free diets and schizophrenia because there is a question as to whether gluten-free can help folks with that disorder. She announced a renewed effort with a new study that is going on in this area.
Yes….lots to cover in the overview from last night. Sorry so brief. I will update more soon.
Tags: #ICDS2013, celiac, gluten-free
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