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This was in my email today from Care2Causes. I'm not advocating anything,
just passing this along FYI.
A Pill to Treat Celiac Disease Could Be Coming Soon
*	By: Julie M. Rodriguez <http://www.care2.com/causes/author/julier> 
*	March 10, 2016
There's exciting news on the horizon for anyone who suffers from celiac
disease - the first medical treatment
<http://www.dailyuw.com/science/article_5a907b9b-709b-56df-bc42-b1aa3922d18f
.html>  for the condition may be entering clinical trials as soon as this
year. Right now, the only treatment for gluten issues is to avoid consuming
any products produced with wheat, barley or rye completely, which can be
tricky to accomplish
<http://www.care2.com/causes/8-things-you-need-to-know-before-going-gluten-f
ree.html>  given how widespread wheat products are in modern food
production.
This New Treatment Attacks and Destroys Gluten in the Stomach
The new treatment, a synthetic enzyme called KumaMax
<http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/01/08/168900138/how-military-
research-on-anthrax-could-lead-to-a-weapon-against-gluten> , is taken as a
pill prior to a meal. To understand how it works, you need to know a bit
about celiac disease, and how the body normally processes gluten. Simply
put, the human body can't completely break down the gluten protein in the
stomach, so it passes relatively unchanged into the small intestine. For
most people, this isn't a problem, and the gluten is effectively ignored by
the body. But in celiac patients, the body's immune system recognizes the
protein as a harmful invader, and it mounts an immune response
<https://celiac.org/celiac-disease/what-is-celiac-disease/>  to fight the
protein off.
The resulting inflammation damages the lining of the small intestine,
usually causing serious digestive issues
<https://celiac.org/celiac-disease/symptomssigns/>  and other systemic
symptoms
<http://www.care2.com/greenliving/10-common-diseases-you-can-get-from-eating
-gluten.html> . A celiac who continues to consume gluten may end up damaging
their digestive system so severely that they have trouble absorbing vital
nutrients, affecting their overall health and putting them at risk of other
autoimmune conditions <http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/547107> . Left
untreated long enough, gluten exposure can significantly raise the risk of
digestive cancers
<http://www.beyondceliac.org/celiac-disease/related-conditions/cancer/>  as
well.
KumaMax was created by University of Washington researchers
<http://www.dailyuw.com/science/article_5a907b9b-709b-56df-bc42-b1aa3922d18f
.html>  with the idea of stopping this inflammatory process before it even
starts. The enzyme, when taken with food, breaks down 99.97 percent of the
gluten in a meal within about 30 minutes - well before the protein has a
chance to enter the small intestine and trigger an immune reaction.
If you've been yearning for a pill that will allow you to consume bagels and
pasta with abandon, don't set your hopes too high. Because KumaMax leaves
about 0.03 percent of the gluten in a given meal intact, it's not yet an
effective "cure" for celiac disease. According to Dr. Ingrid Swanson Pultz
<http://www.uwmedicinepulse.com/a-remedy-for-celiac/> , the lead researcher
on the project, studies show that celiac patients can only safely consume
about 10 milligrams of gluten without setting off a reaction - so the amount
someone using KumaMax could safely consume in one sitting would be about a
gram of the protein. For reference, a slice of high-gluten bread contains
about four grams of gluten. So while the reaction to eating a normal
sandwich wouldn't be as severe for a celiac patient on KumaMax, it still
wouldn't allow them to completely abandon the gluten-free diet.
Instead, what KumaMax would allow celiacs to do would be to allow them to
more easily eat out or sample prepared foods without worry. Unfortunately,
many products that should be naturally gluten-free are often
cross-contaminated
<http://www.eatright.org/resource/health/diseases-and-conditions/celiac-dise
ase/avoiding-gluten-crosscontamination>  with gluten proteins, potentially
making customers ill. Even products specifically labeled as gluten-free can
run into issues - the controversy surrounding the new "gluten-free" line of
Cheerios
<http://www.care2.com/causes/general-mills-is-recalling-1-8-million-cereal-p
roducts-due-to-allergy-risk.html> , which was the subject of a recall after
sickening at least 125 people
<http://www.startribune.com/fda-says-125-people-complained-about-problems-fr
om-gluten-free-cheerios/330957131/> , is just the latest example.
While it's indefensible for a company to advertise a product as being
suitable for a specific medical condition when it's not, General Mills is in
a tough situation. The FDA considers only foods with less than 20 parts per
million of gluten
<http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInfor
mation/Allergens/ucm367654.htm>  to be truly "gluten-free" - meaning that
even a slight bit of contamination can easily render millions of boxes of
product inedible to celiac patients. This is an incredibly common issue with
naturally gluten-free foods that are processed or packaged in shared
facilities with wheat products. Even minimally-processed foods like dried
beans or rice could end up being unsafe if they're not from a gluten-free
facility.
Often, the only safe solution for celiac patients is to seek out brands that
have taken the time, effort and expense to have their products certified
gluten-free <http://www.gfco.org/> , a process that can significantly raise
the price tag in the grocery aisle. While more and more stores are carrying
certified gluten-free products in recent years, it can still be incredibly
difficult to find some foods without special ordering them. KumaMax could
help reduce some of this cost and hassle by allowing people with celiac to
purchase items that would normally be a bit risky due to
cross-contamination.
It could also help those with celiac overcome the social isolation
<http://allergicliving.com/2013/06/12/frustration-isolation-gluten-free-diet
/>  that often comes along with any food allergy or intolerance. Because it
takes so little cross-contamination to set off an immune reaction, it can be
very difficult to find something safe to eat at a restaurant that also
serves bread, pasta or baked goods. Restaurant employees often don't realize
that people with celiac can't eat French fries
<http://www.thesavvyceliac.com/2014/05/06/dining-gluten-free-french-fries-re
ally-gluten-free/>  that have been cooked in the same oil as breaded items,
or rice pasta cooked in the same water
<http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/eatinginrestaurants/a/Staying-Gluten-Free
-At-Restaurants.htm>  as wheat pasta. As a result, many people with a severe
gluten intolerance avoid eating out entirely, or only visit a handful of
trusted establishments.
Needless to say, cross-contamination makes it a struggle to attend social
events, even those where a "gluten-free" menu is theoretically available.
This new medication would eliminate much of the worry for celiac patients
and give them more flexibility over where, when and what they can safely eat
while maintaining a gluten-free diet.
So Far it's Only Proven to Help With Celiac Disease, Not Gluten Sensitivity
What about people with non-celiac gluten sensitivity
<http://www.care2.com/greenliving/does-gluten-sensitivity-exist.html>
(NCGS)? Unfortunately, it's not yet clear how well this medication will
work. Though the immune reaction behind celiac disease is well-known,
scientists still aren't sure exactly what causes gluten intolerance - or if
undigested gluten fragments are even the reason so many people without
celiac seem to respond poorly to the protein. In fact, there isn't even a
test <https://celiac.org/celiac-disease/non-celiac-gluten-sensitivity/>  to
diagnose NCGS yet, because while it causes symptoms similar to celiac, it
doesn't show the same pattern of damage to the small intestine, nor does it
come with the same elevated risk of intestinal cancers.
Hopefully, as more testing is done on KumaMax's effectiveness in humans,
we'll be able to learn more about how people with gluten intolerance respond
to the enzyme. If it ends up having the same effect as it does in celiac
patients, that could give doctors and researchers some important clues about
the causes of NCGS and better options to test for the disease.
When Can We Expect to See the Pill on Store Shelves?
So far, the enzyme has been shown to destroy most gluten in artificial
gastric conditions and in rodent models. However, it's important to remember
that as promising as this treatment sounds, it still needs to go through
several rounds of testing before it's deemed safe and effective enough to
hit store shelves.
Right now, KumaMax is undergoing toxicity tests to ensure that it's safe for
human use, although Dr. Pultz says that she doesn't anticipate any problems
since the enzyme is created from naturally-occurring amino acids that are
already present in the human diet. Once the toxicity study is passed, the
next step will be human clinical trials
<https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/about-studies/learn> , which may begin
within the next year.
*	About Julie <http://www.care2.com/causes/author/julier> 
*	Follow Julie at @julierwrites <http://www.twitter.com/julierwrites> 
Read more:
http://www.care2.com/causes/a-pill-to-treat-celiac-disease-could-be-coming-s
oon.html#ixzz42bue1p72
<http://www.care2.com/causes/a-pill-to-treat-celiac-disease-could-be-coming-
soon.html> 

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