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Could Canker Sores Mean You Have Celiac Disease?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff

Back in January we looked at the question Does Celiac Disease Cause Canker Sores?  Well, more recently, it looks like we should have instead asked the question, could my canker sores mean I have Celiac Disease?  The one thing we’ve known for awhile now is that the gluten-free diet can help clear up canker sores (aka mouth ulcers), so it makes sense to think that having canker sores could in fact be a symptom of Celiac Disease.

According to a recent report on Celiac.com, it appears that there may in fact be reports which suggest canker sores can suggest Celiac Disease, and even goes as far as to say 1 in 20 people with canker sores with have NO other symptoms.

Here is a small excerpt from their post:

The research team looked at 247 people with aphthous stomatitis (canker sores), who had suffered at least three aphthous lesions in the previous year. Subjects had a median age of 33 years.

What should be take from this?   I suppose if you have a friend or family member who feels pretty good but is dealing with significant canker sore problems, you should be recommending they get tested for Celiac Disease.

Autism Linked to Several Autoimmune Diseases

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff

For a while now we’ve been discussing and speculating about Autism and its link to Celiac Disease. According to a recent study, it looks like there is now finally medical research that supports Autism’s link to Celiac, as well as other autoimmune diseases, including Type 1 Diabetes and Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Although the association between autism and a maternal history of type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis had been found in earlier research, the researchers behind the new study say that theirs is the first to find a link between autism and celiac disease.

According to Forbes:

“This finding reinforces the suggestion that autoimmune processes are connected somehow with the cause of autism and autism spectrum disorder,” said researcher William W. Eaton, chairman of the Department of Mental Health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. “This finding is on the pathway of finding the cause of autism.”

Eaton noted that there is no clinical significance to the finding but that it could guide future research as scientists try to pin down the cause or causes of autism.

One reason autoimmune diseases might have a role in autism is genetic, Eaton said. Children who are born underweight or premature are at higher risk for autism, and both of these obstetric problems are associated with celiac disease, he added.

“There may be an overlap in the genetics of some of the autoimmune diseases and autism that would not be trivial,” he said. “Autism is strongly inherited, but we don’t have the faintest idea where. But this may point a flashlight to areas of the genome that connect to autism.”

In addition, there might also be environmental triggers that affect the fetus, he said.

Introducing Celiac-Disease 3.0

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff

This website, Celiac-Disease.com, has been growing steadily since it was first launched close to a year and a half ago, so much so that we felt we had outgrown our existing website design. Combining that with the new features recently introduced into WordPress (such as threaded comments, etc.), and we knew it was time for a makeover!

Nearly three full months later, after a lot of work and planning, today marks the official release of Celiac-Disease.com 3.0, our third website design.   Being that green is the unofficial color of Celiac Disease, we made sure to keep green as the primary color while adding what we feel is a much better design and a better comment setup (which should allow for more productive discussions).

For those of you that follow this website via a feed reader or email updates, here is an image of how this website used to look:

Celiac-Disease.com 2.0

old-celiac-disease

Celiac-Disease.com 3.0

new-celiac-disease

So, what do you think of the new look?   We’d love to gather your feedback in the comments!

Recipe: Gluten-Free Devil’s Food Cake

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff

When it comes to making a gluten-free cake, the temptation is always going to be there to simply grab a cake mix from your grocery store, but for the most part, the gluten-free cake is always better when you make it from scratch. If you’d like to try a Devil’s Food cake, below is a nice cake recipe that isn’t too difficult to make from scratch. Enjoy!

If you’d like to check out other recipe ideas, check out our gluten-free recipes page!

Gluten-Free Devil’s Food Cake Recipe

Cake Ingredients:

  • 2 cups gluten-free flour
  • 1 tsp. xanthan gum
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 1/3 cups water

Cake Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Grease an 8? or 9? pan. (You can use square, round, whatever you like)
  3. Combine the first 5 (dry) ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.
  4. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, like a cute little kitten.
  5. Add sour cream, and blend well.
  6. Add eggs, 1 at a time, blending well between additions.
  7. Beat in vanilla.
  8. To the wet ingredients, add dry ingredients alternately with the water, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.
  9. Pour batter into the cake pan and smack it on the counter a few times to break any air bubbles inside.
  10. Bake for 45-55 minutes at 350 degrees, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, maybe with a few moist crumbs attached. (The cake should be a little spongy, not dense. Do not over bake)
  11. Allow cooling completely before icing. (You can literally use whatever you like)

Kentucky Fried Chicken’s Gluten-Free Menu

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 19 Comments

Looking for a nice gluten-free meal at Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)? Well, to make a long story short, good luck! Despite their recent menu revision which includes grilled chicken items, they still do NOT offer any type of gluten-free chicken. So, what do they offer?

Official Website Menu Information: Kentucky Fried Chicken’s Gluten-Free Menu
Location Finder: Find a Kentucky Fried Chicken Location Near You

According to a representative with KFC, the following few items are confirmed to be gluten-free (not all items are available at every KFC location):

Kentucky Fried Chicken’s Gluten-Free Menu

  • Green Beans
  • Potato Salad
  • Seasoned Rice
  • Jalapeno peppers
  • Corn

Note: mashed potatoes with or without gravy contain gluten.

It is a shame as the grilled chicken could have easily been made gluten-free, exposing their product to a large community of consumers that currently can’t or won’t go there.

As always, when dining out gluten-free, do your due diligence and make sure the staff understands your needs. There are very few restaurants that are 100% gluten-free, so cross-contamination is always a risk. If you don’t feel comfortable with what you are hearing from the staff, perhaps it is best to dine elsewhere.

For information about other gluten-free restaurants menus, check out our gluten-free restaurants page.