9/10/07 When I was first diagnosed in 1999, I "learned" that celiac disease was extremely rare, that oats were absolutely taboo, and that all vinegar and most alcoholic beverages were gluten-toxic. (I have no idea if that this was "true" in 1999 but these ideas were presented to me as facts.) All these facts are now considered incorrect or at least controversial.

There at least three reasons why gluten free information is so "slippery":

Things change overnight; two gluten free restaurants in Portland, Oregon, have closed since I moved here last November. There are probably other openings and closings that I am not aware of. Gluten free beer is now available nationally and you can buy soy sauce in single-serving packets. At a recent gluten free support group meeting, we sampled oatmeal made from "certified oats". How do we keep up with the changes?

We can’t rely totally on our gut reactions. It is quite possible to ingest gluten and not suffer any obvious symptoms. Sometimes I read recommendations that boil down to "I ate there and didn’t get sick". Unfortunately, that’s a bit like listening to a smoker saying "I haven’t shown any signs of lung cancer".

Anyone can say anything they want to say on the internet. There are no academic qualifications, no editing process, none of the financial consequences that befall an author or publisher if no one considers a book worth purchasing. There are more than a million references to the term "gluten free" on the internet. It is impossible to wade through all this infomation.

My goal and my passion is to distribute reliable information about celiac disease and the gluten free diet. Since the internet is my tool-of-choice, I am particularly concerned about the last item I mentioned. I’ve written a set of Quality Control Standards primarily for my own use. I included them in an article called "All You Need to Know to Use this Site Effectively". Check it out and let me know what you think. Leave a comment at the end of the article or e-mail me at gfceliac@gmail.com