Gluten-Free Chicken Nuggets With Spicy Honey Sauce
Colonel Sanders would have a fit at Leon’s latest recipe.
I regularly eat Leon’s gluten-free chicken nuggets, but today was a first for me, as I had a portion of their latest chicken nuggets in a spicy honey sauce.
They were different, but I quite liked them!
I shall be having them again.
Are Best Before Dates Reliable?
This picture shows one of Marks and Spencer’s gluten-free All Butter Fruit Scones, that has been all dressed up and is ready to eat.
It no longer exists, as I have just eaten it.
It tasted fine, despite having a best before date of the 7th August, 2024.
Gluten And Heart Disease
Type “Gluten And Heart Disease” into Dr. Google and you find two major peer-reviewed studies.
This study is entitled Effects Of A Gluten-Reduced Or Gluten-Free Diet For The Primary Prevention Of Cardiovascular Disease.
These are the authors’ conclusions.
Very low-certainty evidence suggested that it is unclear whether gluten intake is associated with all-cause mortality. Our findings also indicate that low-certainty evidence may show little or no association between gluten intake and cardiovascular mortality and non-fatal myocardial infarction.
There would appear to be no strong link, between gluten and heart disease.
This British study is entitled Long Term Gluten Consumption In Adults Without Celiac Disease And Risk Of Coronary Heart Disease: Prospective Cohort Study.
These were the authors’ conclusions.
In these two large, prospective cohorts, the consumption of foods containing gluten was not significantly associated with risk of coronary heart disease. Although people with and without celiac disease may avoid gluten owing to a symptomatic response to this dietary protein, these findings do not support the promotion of a gluten restricted diet with a goal of reducing coronary heart disease risk. In addition, the avoidance of dietary gluten may result in a low intake of whole grains, which are associated with cardiovascular benefits. The promotion of gluten-free diets for the purpose of coronary heart disease prevention among asymptomatic people without celiac disease should not be recommended.
As before there would appear to be no strong link between gluten and heart disease.
To me, this is the most important sentence.
In addition, the avoidance of dietary gluten may result in a low intake of whole grains, which are associated with cardiovascular benefits.
So can we do something about it?
Enter The First Great Ethiopian Marathon Runner
I used to run a bit (badly) at school and my three heroes were Chris Brasher, Bruce Tulloh and Abebe Bikula.
The Ethiopian; Abebe Bikula was a double Olympic marathon champion.
- In 1960, he won in Rome, running barefoot.
- In 1964, he won in Tokyo, a few days after leaving hospital after having his appendix removed.
Both wins were in world record time.
Since 1964, three Olympic men’s marathons have been won by Ethiopians.
Ethiopian women have also won two gold and one bronze medals since the women’s marathon was inaugurated in 1984.
And then there’s the Kenyans, who’ve won a hatful of marathon medals.
Their competence is generally put down to living at altitude and I wouldn’t disagree with that.
My Experience Of Kenya
Soon after C died, I went on holiday to Kenya.
In one part of the holiday, I was riding horses in the Masai Mara and in the other I was glamping.
The second part was upmarket and one evening the chef approached me to find out more about my gluten-free diet. At breakfast next day, he presented me with a couple of rolls made from a local flour, which was probably something like millet or perhaps, teff from Ethiopia.
I had no adverse reaction. and he said, I could eat like a true African, as Western flour had no place in the local diet.
Conclusion
If we are worried about the lack of whole grains in gluten-free food, then perhaps we should add gluten-free whole grains from East Africa.
As a manager in a Marks and Spencer store, told me that they used Ethiopian flour in their gluten-free breads, I suspect this is already happening.
Gluten-Free Egg Sandwiches From Boots
This morning, I had to pick up a prescription from Boots on Moorgate in London.
I use them, as they are by the 141 bus stop, that I can use to get home, so I pass their outlet regularly throughout the week.
After picking up my prescription, I looked at their small food counter. I was actually looking for milk, as I am out and nowhere on the West side of Moorgate sells small one pint bottles.
They didn’t have any, but they did have two flavours of gluten-free sandwiches; cheese and egg.
So I bought a pack of the egg sandwiches.
These pictures show the one, I have just eaten for lunch, with a beer and a banana.
Note.
- In the last picture, the Adnams 0.5 % Ghost Ship can, is marked with the gluten-free symbol.
- The only allergens noted on the sandwich packet are egg and mustard.
- The bread looks like it could be Genius, which is a brand of gluten-free bread, that I trust.
- The packaging can be recycled.
The sandwich was excellent, but then on past experience at the Tate Gallery and Blackburn Cathedral cafe, gluten-free egg sandwiches are a good combination of flavours.
So next time, I’m hungry, I’ll march into Boots.
How I Was Imprisoned In A Pizza Restaurant And Driven Home By The Metropolitan Police
At lunchtime today, I received a phone call, saying that my GP’s surgery could see me at 16:30 this afternoon, to discuss my lack of sleep, arthritis and various strains and pains.
My middle son; Henry had expressed a desire to be at such an appointment, so I said, that if he could chauffeur me to the GP, he could come along.
His diary co-operated and he duly arrived outside my house at 16:00.By the time of the GP’s appointment, we had parked conveniently outside the surgery and we had been ushered into the GP’s consulting room.
We had a good meeting and by just after five, we had broken up and agreed a comprehensive plan for the diagnosis of my problems.
Henry had three problems of his own.
- He had legal work to do for the morning.
- He needed to do some bits of shopping.
- He also said, that he was feeling rather hungry.
- I too was hungry and needed to do some shopping.
So I suggested we drive to Southgate Road and see if we could get a pizza in Sweet Thursday.
- They do gluten-free pizzas, so I would have no dietary worries.
- In previous meals, I have found the quality excellent.
- There are shops nearby, where we could shop, if we needed.
As I approached the restaurant, I decided we had made the right decision, as there was a parking space about twenty metres from the restaurant.
We both had similar meals.
- Ham and mushroom pizzas, although mine was gluten-free.
- I drunk a zero-alcohol Lucky Saint, whilst Henry had a Diet-Coke.
- We both finished off, with two scoops of appropriate ice cream.
It was only, when we had paid and tried to leave that we got a very big surprise.
Parked in front of the restaurant with its disabled ramp extended, like some beached airliner was a 141 bus, that was empty of passengers.
- There was broken glass at the front of the bus.
- Was this evidence, that the bus had hit something or somebody?
- The police had strung white tape everywhere.
- There were half-a-dozen police cars and ambulances blocking Southgate Road.
Henry’s car wouldn’t be going anywhere for some time, as it was blocked in by two ambulances and a police car with flashing blue lights.
- So, Henry and I each had a coffee, to pass the time.
- We also made friends with others trapped in the restaurant.
- Henry also obtained information from the police, that no-one would be moving, until it was known that no-one would be moving until the full state of the injuries of the person hit by the bus was known.
So Henry and I just sat there with several others on the hard chairs in front of the restaurant.
In the end, for me, it was over very quickly.
- I live about a kilometre North of the incident.
- Some were walking from the incident to the Balls Pond Road to get a bus.
- I am fairly sure, Henry had told the police, that it was far too far for me to walk with my arthritic hip.
I was put in the back of a police car and ferried home, at about 21:45.
Thanks to the Metropolitan Police.
I have some further thoughts.
Do I Drink Enough?
Since lunchtime, I have drunk the following.
- 4 x 330 ml – Adnams Ghost Ship 0.5 % Beer
- 1 x 330 ml – Lucky Saint 0.5 % Beer
- 300 ml – Assorted water and juices.
- 1 cup – coffee.
Is that enough?
I certainly slept better last night!
How To Protect The UK Population From Future Pandemics
The Times today has an article, which is entitled Flu Jab: Single-Shot Vaccine ‘Within Five Years’ Could Stop Future Pandemic.
This is the introductory paragraph of The Times article.
A single-shot vaccine against flu that would provide a lifetime of protection even against future mutations could be available in “five years or less”, scientists have said after making a breakthrough.
The article is very much a must-read, but I believe if used alongside a simple proven medical test, it could be even more effective.
Since 1997, when I was diagnosed as coeliac and started eating gluten-free food exclusively, I have never had a dose of flu.
I may have had one very mild dose of Covid-19, but I have never had a serious dose.
Research At The University Of Padua
This partial immunity to Covid-19 has been shown in a peer-reviewed scientific paper, by the University of Padua in Italy.
I discuss the Padua research in Risk Of COVID-19 In Celiac Disease Patients.
Mathematical Modelling Of Pandemics
As a control engineer, mathematical modeller and statistician, I believe that our herd immunity to future pandemics could be increased, if all new entries to the UK population, like babies and migrants, were tested for coeliac disease.
These days the coeliac test is just a blood test, that costs just a few pounds and I believe that a high percentage of gluten-free coeliacs in the UK population, because of their low susceptibility to flu pandemics, would slow the spread of the pandemic.
In a nuclear reactor non-radioactive carbon rods are often used to control the speed of the reaction.
I believe that non-susceptible coeliacs on gluten-free diets would perform the same function in the UK population.
Should Diagnosed Coeliacs Be Forced To Be Gluten-Free?
I would not force coeliacs to go gluten-free.
They would have to face up to the consequences, if they didn’t.
My son was an undiagnosed coeliac, who refused to get tested.
He died at 37 of pancreatic cancer, as his immune system was useless.
Coeliac disease and a gluten-free diet is a good wingman, but undiagnosed it can kill you!
Why Should Migrants Be Tested?
I hope they are, as some might have something nasty.
But if everyone was tested for a wide range of health and genetic conditions, could it act as a deterrent to come to the UK?
Oxford And Cambridge Compared On COVID-19
In Oxford And Cambridge Compared On COVID-19, I compared the COVID-19 rates of the two University cities.
- Oxford and Cambridge are very similar-sized cities and both ae surrounded by similar counties and countryside.
- During the pandemic, Oxford had a much higher COVID-19 rate than Cambridge.
From my experiences and observations in Cambridge, I believe that the city has a high level of coeliacs.
Why Does Cambridge Have A High Level Of Coeliacs?
I doubt, it is due to the genetics of the local population, as if it was, my coeliac disease would have been picked up earlier.
The two most likely causes are.
- Someone in the Health Authority decided to have a Whack-a-Coeliac policy.
- Addenbrooke’s Hospital, in conjunction with Cambridge University and the Sanger Centre were testing the accuracy of the newly-develop genetic test for coeliac disease.
Note.
- Both routes would have needed a streamlined endoscopy unit to test all those thought to be coeliac.
- I was tested twice in such a unit to prove that I was coeliac, after the genetic test showed, I probably was.
- Fit, younger patients were pushed to have the endoscopy without a sedative, which cut the number and cost of recovery beds and staff.
- My endoscopies were performed without a sedative, by a doctor working alone.
- I was able to drive home, a few minutes after the procedure.
It was a classic case of applying good old-fashioned time-and-motion to a test that would have to be applied to a large number of patients.
If Cambridge’s army of coeliacs helped the city take the edge of the pandemic, what would a Whack-a-Coeliac policy, do for other cities?
Appropriate Nutrient Supplementation In Coeliac Disease
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on PubMed.
I choose this article, as the abstract gave a good list of related problems to coeliac disease.
This is the abstract.
Reduced levels of iron, folate, vitamin B12, vitamin D, zinc, and magnesium are common in untreated celiac disease (CD) patients probably due to loss of brush border proteins and enzymes needed for the absorption of these nutrients. In the majority of patients, removal of gluten from the diet leads to histological recovery and normalization of iron, vitamin, and mineral levels. Iron deficiency anemia is the most common extra-intestinal sign of CD and usually resolves with adherence to a gluten-free diet. However, deficiencies of both folate and vitamin B12 may persist in some patients on a gluten-free diet, thus requiring vitamin supplementation to improve subjective health status. Similarly, exclusion of gluten from the diet does not always normalize bone mineral density; in these cases, supplementation of vitamin D and calcium is recommended. Resolution of mucosal inflammation may not be sufficient to abrogate magnesium deficiency. Since gluten-free cereal products have a lower magnesium content as compared with gluten-containing counterparts, a magnesium-enriched diet should be encouraged in CD patients. In this article we discuss the frequency and clinical relevance of nutrient deficiency in CD and whether and when nutrient supplementation is needed.
I am coeliac and was diagnosed at fifty, by by a mixture of the suspicions of an elderly locum, the very modern genetic test and the classic endoscopic test , in the last few years of the twentieth century.
I have to admit, that being diagnosed was a bit of a surprise.
£20 Electronic Ear-Clips Train The Body To Decrease Blood Pressure
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
These two paragraphs outline how the device is used.
A £20 device that delivers “tingling” electric pulses to the ears and can be worn at home could be almost twice as effective as drugs at reducing blood pressure, a neuroscientist has said.
Early trials suggest that wearing the small electrodes clipped to the ears for half an hour per day over two weeks while relaxing, watching TV or eating can reduce blood pressure by up to 15mm of mercury (mm Hg), compared with 8mm Hg to 10mm Hg for drugs such as Ace inhibitors or beta-blockers.
It appears the device has been developed at University College London.
Would I Use Electronic Ear-Clips To Control My Blood Pressure?
Soon after my wife died in 2007, my cholesterol levels rose.
The Ipswich Town Physiotherapist, who was a drinking partner before matches at Portman Road, recommended that I see his dietician.
She identified the following.
- My diet had changed since my my wife’s death, as I was choosing the food and doing the cooking.
- She suspected, that I wasn’t eating enough soluble fibre.
- I was eating enough fruit and vegetables.
Her solution was two-fold.
- Swap butter and other spreads for Benecol.
- Make sure, I eat, at least one small tin of baked beans every week.
Obviously, as I had been found to be coeliac in 1997, I should stay gluten-free.
I’ve seen other dieticians since and none have criticised, what she said.
No doctor has also ever said, that there is something wrong with my cholesterol.
After my stroke in 2010, I was put on Warfarin to thin my blood.
The only addition to my cocktail of drugs, was that after an unexplained collapse, I was put on blood pressure drugs.
So to return to the question I asked at the top of this section.
I may take six or seven drugs and vitamin tablets every day, but swapping one or two for half-an-hour with an electronic device wouldn’t be too much trouble.
That is, if I could tolerate the device, as I’m not keen on headphones.
But it could be an interesting alternative to taking pharmaceutical drugs.
Council Wants To Only Serve Vegan Food At Events
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
A West Yorkshire council will only provide vegan food at its meetings and events if a new catering plan is approved.
These three paragraphs explain the policy.
Calderdale Council wants its menus to be entirely plant-based, with a preference for seasonal and non-processed foods.
The council adopted a climate change emergency policy in 2020, which included a commitment to using plant-based catering.
Senior councillors will be asked to recommend that the vegan food scheme is adopted at a meeting on 3 June.
I am coeliac and have to eat a gluten-free diet. Sometimes, I will eat meals marked as vegan, but only after I have checked they are gluten-free.
A couple of times in my life, I have been told that I will be fine with a restaurants’s organic vegan food.
These incidents weren’t in the UK and I quickly moved on to a restaurant, which served food, that I could eat.
But you don’t know, where these sort of restrictions will lead.
- Suppose a Muslim-dominated council, insisted that all women kept their hair covered.
- Or all butcher’s shops in the area were to be closed!
- Will the local hosputal have to serve vegan food?
Any restaurant or catering facility, must serve, what its patrons want or need to eat.
Should All Hospital In-Patients Be Tested For Coeliac Disease?
I went to a medical lecture tonight and I came home on the tube with a cardiologist. As we chatted, the title of this post occurred to me.
Consider.
- A diagnosed coeliac on a gluten-free diet tends to have a stronger immune system.
- I am a diagnosed coeliac on a gluten-free diet.
- An undiagnosed coeliac tends to have a poor immune system.
- It would certainly mean, you got the right diet in hospital.
I also have some further more detailed thoughts.
My Son, George
NHS advice on those, who need to be tested for coeliac disease includes this sentence.
Testing is also recommended if you have a first-degree relative (parent, sibling or child) with coeliac disease.
When I was diagnosed as a coeliac in 1997, I told my three sons to get tested. None did!
A month or so before he did, George ended up in Trafford Park Hospital.
If they had tested him, would they have picked up his pancreatic cancer earlier?
Probably not, but it’s a question that must be asked.
Research From The University Of Padua
This paper on the US National Library of Medicine, which is from the University of Padua in Italy.
The University followed a group of 138 patients with coeliac disease, who had been on a gluten-free diet for at least six years, through the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Padua.
This sentence, sums up the study.
In this analysis we report a real life “snapshot” of a cohort of CeD patients during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in Italy, all followed in one tertiary centre in a red area of Northern Italy. Our data show, in accordance with Emmi et al., the absolute absence of COVID-19 diagnosis in our population, although 18 subjects experienced flu-like symptoms with only one having undergone naso-pharyngeal swab.
It says that no test subject caught Covid-19, in an admittedly smallish number of patients.ost
But it reinforces my call for more research into whether if you are a diagnosed coeliac on a long-term gluten-free diet, you have an immune system, that gives you a degree of protection from the Covids.
Conditions Linked To Coeliac Disease
This page on the Coeliac UK web site is entitled Conditions Linked To Coeliac Disease, has the following subsections.
- Autoimmune Disease
- Type 1 Diabetes
- Autoimmune Thyroid Disease
- Down’s and Turner Syndrome
- Osteoporosis
- Lactose Intolerance
- Lymphoma And Small Bowel Cancer
- Autism
- Fertility
Some of the keywords are linked to other pages on the Coeliac UK web site.
Testing For Coeliac Disease
Testing for coeliac disease is not an expensive process and just involves a simple blood test, where the blood goes to the lab.
My now-retired GP reckoned in nearly all cases, the test is decisive.
The Anonymous Widower 