SV: ADHD and diet

[Guest guest]

Dear Beth,

Our experience says that " wheat free " is a long way from being good enough IF

your child does have a peptide probolem. " Gluten free " is not good enough,

either, at least the way that this term is used in Europe. I don't know about

US phraseology. When we finally quit " gluten free " in favour of " naturally free

of gluten " , our son (then 15) stopped bed-wetting, and levelled off at the best

level he had ever been functioning on, up to then.

Perhaps these extracts from the GFCF Glossary might be helpful to you:

Gluten

Defining gluten can be somewhat confusing as it has become the generic term for

a loosely defined kind of protein found in wheat, rye, triticale, spelt , kamut,

barley and oats. Technically speaking corn and rice also have related proteins

that are sometimes called gluten, but these forms do not have the toxic portion

called prolamins, and are therefore acceptable on a gluten free diet. The

prolamin molecule will typically consist of about 820 smaller amino acid

molecules, linked together in a chain and bundled up. Depending on how this

chain is split up by enzymes, each of these large molecules can produce up to 16

shorter chains that each resembles - rather strongly - the structure of the

peptide called morphine. Since each of these chains contains 5 or 6 amino acids,

nearly 10% of the original molecule can, potentially, be converted into this

form. Each gram of prolamin could therefore, in theory, be converted into nearly

100 milligrams of morphine-like substance. A normal dose of morphine, when it is

used as a medical painkiller, is 10 milligrams.

Gluten Free

" This concept has two definitions: One legal, and one technical. The technical

definition is absolute, and means that the product in question contains

absolutely no gluten, i.e. that none of the ingredients must be made from or

polluted by any raw material coming from any of the four most common grains:

Wheat, Rye, Barley or Wheat. The legal definition is less stringent. It may vary

from country to country. In Europe, it just means that the product in question

contains less than 0.3% of gluten. One kilogram of " " gluten free " " flour in the

legal sense may, therefore, contain up to three grams of gluten, which can -

potentially - be converted into 300 milligrams of morphine-like substance. No

baking product or starch product should be considered safe unless it is labelled

" " naturally free of gluten " " . Read the labels carefully, and look for signs of

" " starch " " or " " modified starch " " . This often means " " wheat starch " "

Prolamin

The toxic part of the various gluten molecules. It's got different names in the

different kinds of grain: gliadin (in wheat), secalin (in rye), horedin (in

barley) and evedin (in oats). It's toxic as long as it doesn't get broken down

properly.

Yours

n Klaveness

www.advimoss.no/GFCF_results

www.advimoss.no/GFCF_survey

-----Opprinnelig melding-----

Fra: Beth A Ranucci

Til: GFCFKids <GFCFKids >

Dato: 20. juni 2001 16:33

Emne: Re: ADHD and diet

>What do you all think of gluten-free as opposed to just wheat free? My

>doc originally had said just to avoid wheat...we haven't tested for

>celiac per se. How does one know if there's really GLUTEN intolerance as

>well as the wheat? I just went whole hog, so to speak, and got on this

>website and decided to do it myself. Actually my doc had said I should

>BEGIN wheat-free and AIM FOR becoming gf. So being stubborn I decided to

>try to " do it all " right from the start!!!!

>

>I wouldn't mind some more opinions on this, facts, etc. since it's all a

>bit confusing to me still.

>

>Thanks.

>

>Beth R.