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Can Celiac Treatment Be a Tax Deduction?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 4 Comments

Can treatment for Celiac Disease be a tax deduction? According to my research, it appears that Celiac treatment can in fact be a tax deduction, under the condition that you have been officially diagnosed with Celiac Disease.

Here are the guidelines I’ve tracked down:

The following guidelines were received from the Oct. 1993 CSA/USA National Conference in Buffalo, NY:

  1. You can claim only the EXTRA COST of the gluten-free product over what you would pay for a similar item at a grocery store. For example, if wheat flour costs $0.89 per 5 lbs. and rice flour is $3.25 per 5 lbs., the DIFFERENCE of $2.36 is tax deductible. You may also claim mileage expense for the extra trip to the health food store and postal costs on gluten-free products ordered by mail.
  2. The cost of xanthan gum (methylcellulose, etc.) used in gluten-free home baked goods is completely different than anything used in an ordinary recipe, so in the opinion of the IRS, the total cost of this item can be claimed.
  3. Save all cash register tapes, receipts, and canceled checks to substantiate your gluten-free purchases. You will need to prepare a list of grocery store prices to arrive at the differences in costs. You need not submit it with your return, but do retain it.
  4. Attach a letter from your doctor to your tax return. This letter should state that you have Celiac Sprue disease and must adhere to a totally gluten-free diet for life.
  5. Under MEDICAL DEDUCTIONS list as Extra cost of a gluten-free diet the total amount of your extra expenses. You do not need to itemize these expenses.

Suggestions:

  1. You may want to write the Citations (as given below) on your tax return. Always keep a copy of your doctors letter for your own records.
  2. Your IRS office may refer you to Publication 17 and tell you these deductions are not permissible. IRS representatives have ruled otherwise and this is applicable throughout the US Refer them to the following Citations:
    • Revenue Ruling 55-261
    • Cohen 38 TC 387
    • Revenue Ruling 76-80, 67 TC 481
    • Flemming TC MEMO 1980 583
    • Van Kalb TC MEMO 1978 366

Note: I would recommend reviewing any potential deductions with your personal accountant.

How To Gain Weight with Celiac Disease

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff Leave a Comment

For most people with Celiac Disease, switching to a strict gluten-free diet will help someone to naturally regain their normal weight. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. If you eat calories which balance out your physical activity your weight will remain the same.

In order to gain weight with Celiac Disease, just like anyone else, you need to consume more calories than you burn up in daily activity including exercise. However, if you are trying to gain weight you need to think carefully about what you eat and what you do. It is still important to take healthy exercise to ensure you do not develop other problems.

Even when trying to gain weight it is important to eat healthily and stick rigidly to a gluten-free diet. Although fats and oils contain the most calories ounce for ounce make sure you eat a sensible amount of fat and as far as possible eat fats found in oily fish, vegetables and nuts. You will need to be consistent and look for results over time rather than quick gain, which is lost as soon as you stop the eating regime.

Some healthy ideas for putting on weight:

  • Eat regularly throughout the day making sure you have a good breakfast.
  • Enrich the milk you use with a spoon of extra dried skimmed milk, use full fat milk and add 2-4 tablespoons of dried milk powder to a pint of milk.
  • Eat a snack of dried fruit and nuts or full fat yogurt between meals.
  • Use build up meal replacement milkshakes and drinks to supplement your diet.
  • Avocados are rich in nutrients and calories – they taste good too.
  • Eat complex carbohydrates rather than lots of sugar but eat them regularly.
  • Eat lots of fruit and vegetables but you can enjoy them with butter, grated cheese a dressing or sauce.
  • Eat protein with each meal – fish, meat, eggs, cheese, pulses etc.
  • Add ice cream, cream or evaporated milk to all cold puddings and add fortified milk to hot puds.
  • Add a beaten egg and or grated cheese to mashed potatoes.
  • Make a smoothie using fortified milk, a banana, strawberries or any other fruit you have available, add a yogurt or a scoop of ice cream for extra calories. Ring the changes with the fruits or add some chocolate for a change.
  • When making up packet soups or sauces use fortified milk rather than water.
  • Use a gluten-free protein powder to sprinkle into sauces, shakes, and sauces.

Does Gluten Trigger Eczema?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff

No matter how much we talk about eczema, it seems that there is a lot of interest within the Celiac community regarding it, so I try to cover stuff about eczema as I come across it. What we do know is that one of the most common symptoms that is relieved once adhering to a strict gluten-free diet is eczema (or the more bothersome Dermatitis Herpetiformis). So, does consuming gluten actually cause the eczema problems?

According to gluten-free Health, gluten is in fact a trigger of eczema.  They also mention the following:

Some children and adults also react adversely to certain seafoods, sesame, soy (about which I will say more in a future blog), chocolate, cabbage, curry, chilli, salicylates (naturally occurring in some foods and in aspirin), tree nuts, some fruits (citrus and others, particularly if not ripe) and vegetables, food colourings and additives including sulphites, tatrazine and M.S.G.. Animal hair etc and some plants also contribute to eczema problems. Eggs, peanuts, sesame and shellfish have also been implicated in anaphylaxis.

Removing the offending foods from the breastfeeding mother’s and a young child’s diets often quickly reverses the condition.

Eczema is usually more prevalent in children where one or both of the parents have suffered from asthma, eczema and other chronic conditions: i.e. there is genetic or hereditary predisposition.

So, what are your experiences with either eczema or Dermatitis Herpetiformis?

Gluten Sensitivity is More Than Just Celiac Disease

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If you are a reader of this website, you probably either have Celiac Disease or have a family member or friend that has Celiac Disease. I’m sure by now we’ve all heard the statistic that it is believed roughly 1 in 133 Americans have Celiac Disease.  However, did you know that it is believed that a significantly higher percentage of Americans actually have some form of gluten sensitivity?

If you’d like to learn more about gluten sensitivities, Whole Health Source recently took the time to explain that gluten sensitivity is much more than just Celiac Disease:

Approximately 12% of Americans can be diagnosed as gluten sensitive using blood antibody tests (anti-gliadin IgA or IgG). A subset of these have full-blown celiac disease. The vast, vast majority are undiagnosed. Gluten sensitivity associates with a dizzying array of diseases, including autoimmune disorders, cancer, and neurological problems. The problem with the blood tests is they aren’t very sensitive. The most common blood tests for celiac disease look for a class of antibody called IgA. IgA is produced by the mucosa, including the gut. Unless gut damage is already extensive, the majority of IgA stays in the gut. This may cause the assay to overlook many cases of gluten sensitivity. A negative blood antibody test does not rule out gluten sensitivity!

I recently discovered the work of Dr. Kenneth Fine of EnteroLab. He has developed an assay that detects anti-gliadin IgA in stool. Gliadin is one of the problematic proteins in gluten that is implicated in gluten sensitivity. Dr. Fine has been conducting informal research using his fecal anti-gliadin IgA test (data here). He has found that:

  • 100% of untreated celiac patients are antigliadin IgA positive by fecal test, compared to only 76% by blood (n= 17).
  • 76% of microscopic colitis (a type of chronic diarrhea) patients are positive by the fecal test, compared to 9% by blood (n= 57).
  • 57% of symptomatic people (digestive problems?) are positive by the fecal test, compared to 12% by blood (n= 58).
  • 62% of people with autoimmune disease are positive by the fecal test.
  • 29% of asymptomatic (healthy) people are positive by the fecal test, compared to 11-12% by blood (n= 240).
  • Baby and cow feces are 0% positive by the stool assay.

He also later mentions:

Not everyone who is genetically susceptible will end up developing health problems due to gluten, but it’s impossible to estimate how many of the problems we attribute to other causes are in fact caused or exacerbated by gluten.

If you think you have Celiac Disease, you may actually simply have a gluten sensitivity of some sort, which is why it is so important to go through the proper channels and to get an official diagnosis.

Most Common Symptoms of Celiac Disease?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff Leave a Comment

Over the past few years, the medical community has finally come around to the fact that many people with Celiac Disease don’t have the common symptoms that doctors used to look for.

Recently The Savvy Celiac took a community survey of symptoms that lead to a diagnosis of Celiac Disease, and today they shared the survey results. The survey was actually broken down into two sections: children’s symptoms and adults’ symptoms.

Here are the results with the most common symptoms on top:

Children’s Symptoms with Celiac Disease

  • Diarrhea
  • Failure to Thrive
  • Distended Belly
  • Stomach Pain
  • Vomiting
  • Fatigue
  • Constipation

Adult Symptoms with Celiac Disease

  • Diarrhea
  • Fatigue
  • Stomach Pain
  • Anemia
  • Nausea
  • Asymptomatic
  • Weight Loss
  • Constipation

They are definitely interesting results, though they were taken from a very small sample (68 people), so it should be used for informational purposes only. Click here to read their post announcing the survey results.