Ep 153 Controversial Gluten Contamination Studies
A Conversation with Dr. Jocelyn Silvester & Ellen Bayens
Let’s start the blog with the show notes for this Episode –
I recently spoke with Dr. Jocelyn Silvester for Episode 149 of the podcast regarding the “Doggie Bag” Study which looked at the actual amounts of gluten that were contained in our seemingly gluten free diet. Dr. Silvester has gone on to look at some of the everyday ways we handle our food to identify, then quantify the risks of contamination from gluten containing ingredients. Her experiments included cooking gluten free pasta, sharing a knife with gluten foods, and using a toaster along with risks for children in the classroom. The results of her studies are surprising and somewhat concerning. The Canadian Celiac Association has looked at these findings and believes that more research needs to be done on this topic. No one is ready to change the recommendations for handling gluten free foods to avoid contamination with gluten, but these studies do give us pause to think. I was concerned about the interpretation of these results and decided to invite Ellen Bayens of theceliacscene.com onto the podcast to discuss how some of this information can relate to our day to day lives. Ellen was able to help me put the study findings into perspective.
Sue’s Websites and Social Media –
Podcast https://acanadianceliacpodcast.libsyn.com
Podcast Blog – https://www.acanadianceliacblog.com
Facebook – @acanadianceliacpodcast
Twitter – CeliacPodcastCA
Email – acdnceliacpodcast@gmail.com
Baking Website – https://www.suesglutenfreebaking.com
Instagram – @suesgfbaking
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUVGfpD4eJwwSc_YjkGagza06yYe3ApzL
Email – sue@suesglutenfreebaking.com
Other Podcast – Gluten Free Weigh In – https://glutenfreeweighin.libsyn.com
My Thoughts –
I’m sure it’s obvious listening to the podcast that I was uncomfortable talking about deliberately going against my gluten free food rules. After Dr. Silvester sent me the study documents, I printed them off, found a quiet place to sit and began reading. I remember I started to squirm, and my breathing became shallow, I was becoming anxious.
Many things in our lives are grey areas, areas where we apply our judgement. As we mature, our judgement, hopefully, gets better. The gluten free diet requires little judgement. It’s very black and white. If there is risk of gluten in a food, I don’t eat it. It’s simple and it’s the way I’ve lived for twenty-five years now.
It’s hard to have an open mind to science when it up-ends your tried and tested “rules”. Hence, my anxiety. I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about how to deal with Dr. Silvester’s findings. Likely, I’m taking this matter seriously because I often meet with the newly diagnosed to help them start their gluten free journey. Does this change anything, how do I answer, when confronted with these study results? The answer is in the study results.
Now that I’m familiar with Dr. Silvester’s findings and have talked through their implications with Ellen, I can confidently discuss the topic with anyone who challenges me with the science presented here. These studies measured risk, not safety. Every day, we measure risk in all sorts of ways – should we wear boots with heels to walk outside on an icy day? No, we should wear boots with treads. Should we rely on one knife, or one pot of water to keep our food safe? No, but just as with the boots with heels, if we’re careful, we might be fine, not particularly safe, but maybe fine. Ellen had a good point when she talked about the social side of eating a strict gluten free diet, hopefully these studies will help you balance your risk, with your “mature” judgement, and you’ll be fine.