In the context of the gluten-free baking mix recalls the team at Custom Choice Cereal would like to point you to the FDA’s Food Safety website where information about current food recalls and salmonella is provided. The website also offers useful information such as outbreak maps as well as lists of recalled products and stores that sold these products.

Any food recalls and especially those involving salmonella should not be taken lightly! Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children and others with weakened immune systems!

Custom Choice Cereal needs to inform you that GFN Foods is recalling certain lots of the following gluten-free baking mixes because they could be contaminated with salmonella:

• Gluten-Free Naturals Pancake Mix – UPC 187058 000043
  Lots 09159 (expires 12/8/2010), 09320 (expires 5/16/12) and 09322 (expires 5/18/12)
• Gluten-Free Naturals Light & Moist Yellow Cake Mix – UPC 187058 000067
  Lots 09083 (expires 9/24/10) and 09322 (expires 5/18/12)
• Gluten-Free Naturals Cookie Blend Flour – UPC 187058 000029
  Lots 09086 (expires 6/24/10), 09219 (expires 11/7/10) and 10035 (expires 5/4/11)

These mixes were sold online and in stores in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions of the country. GFN Foods stated that this is a voluntary recall triggered by sourcing a soy flour from a company called Thumb Oilseed Producers Cooperative. At this company, traces of salmonella were found on a non-processing surface during an FDA inspection. No salmonella was found in the flour or on the actual processing equipment.

Please make sure you have a look at the lists and check your cabinet for any of the products mentioned!

It is the nature of operating in the gluten-free food space that we at Custom Choice Cereal read about links between celiac disease and various other conditions. Most prominent are the connection of celiac disease and type I diabetes or the controversially discussed relation to autism (or the “leaky gut” as a symptom).

We just came across a article published on the blog RonPaulIsHope that discussed the possible relationship between celiac disease and asthma. It mentions that

• a 2005 study of (a small sample of ) 86 celiacs in the Maltese islands revealed that 27.8% of them also had asthma.  Asthma was thus was statistically significant more common in patients with celiac disease than in the general Maltese population
• asthma preceeded celiac disease in 16 patients, and a “gluten-free diet had led to improvement in asthma in 6 patients, possible improvement in 2 patients, and no change in 8 patients” in the 2005 study
• a 2001 study in Finland looked at the 1987 Finnish Medical Birth Register data of 60,254 births and concluded that “the cumulative incidence of asthma in children with celiac disease (24.6%) [...] was significantly higher than in children without it (3.4%)”

We can only reiterate the conclusion that is drawn at the end of the article: the studies do not prove a causal relationship between celiac disease and asthma. However, they suggest that they might be correlated. Hopefully this will be the subject of further research.

The main take-away is that if you suffer from celiac disease or gluten intolerance and have asthma, going on a gluten-free diet can help reduce the severity of your asthma.

Custom Choice Cereal came across a great resource providing nutrition information and access to registered dietitians that we absolutely had to share with you. The website of the American Dietetic Association is very well organized and provides a wealth of guidelines and advice on how to eat right. It is their mission is to provide “Food and Nutrition Information You Can Trust”.

We were especially intrigued by a particular service they provide: finding a registered dietitian in your area. The search mask allows you to filter by zip code or State, a certain mile radius, and also gives an option to specify the service you are looking for (individual consultation, group consultation or programs/workshops). Custom Choice Cereal thought that the best part is the selection of 26 “specialties”, including

• Alternative Nutrition
• Digestive Disorders
• Gastrointestinal Diseases/Disorders
• Celiac Disease
• Diabetes/Hypoglycemia
• Food Allergies/Intolerances
• Weight Control
• Sports Nutrition

Search results display names, addresses, phone numbers, areas of expertise, a list of services provided and languages the services are offered in. Overall a great site that we highly recommend!

You might not be aware of it, but you are experts in many aspects, and that is the reason why we are asking you for your advice! Custom Choice Cereal is in the middle of preparations for several gluten-free food shows, and in this context we are debating the background colors for a banner that we would like to print and display at our table. After a couple of days of internal discussions and very diverse feedback from friends and family we have narrowed the selection down to three options.

It then dawned on us: you are the decision makers and the best source of information that we have to improve Custom Choice Cereal, so we ask your opinion! It would be absolutely outstanding if you could have a look at the three pictures below and comment on this blog which of these options – orange, blue or yellow – you like the best.

Thank you very much for your feedback, your input makes a big difference!

The team at Custom Choice Cereal is overwhelmed by the flood of daily news on celiac disease, new research findings, information about new drugs under development, and the wealth of tips and tricks for living a gluten-free life. It is part of our mission to filter this information to some degree and pass on the bits and pieces that we find particularly interesting and or helpful.

As you can probably tell from the title of this post we want to share a couple of our findings in no particular order.

• The Philadelphia 76ers will host their 3rd Celiac Awareness Night on March 26th.  Their opponent that night will be the Atlanta Hawks.  We say “Thank you!” for helping to raise awareness for celiac disease!  A special discount for the game is available on the 76ers website with the code “CELIAC”
• Researchers from Columbia University’s Celiac Disease Center studied the Body Mass Index (BMI) of 369 patients proven have celiac disease from 1981 until 2007.  “Classical” femal celiacs were all revealed as predictors for low BMI.  Once on a gluten-free diet, over 50% of the overweight and obese patients lost weight, and of the group who initially had a low BMI, 42.4% attained a normal weight
• Triumph Dining’s Essential Gluten-Free Grocery Shopping Guide is now available as an iPhone application

These are just a couple of items we came across, please feel free to share your findings by commenting on this post!

Our neighbors to the North are also concerned about celiac disease and are researching potential drugs that celiacs can use to treat their condition. Custom Choice Cereal was very excited when we came across a pill that showed promising results in the first clinical trials.

Dr. Richard N. Fedorak from the University of Alberta has helped to develop a drug called Larazotide Acetate.

The drug comes in form of a pill and has shown to prevent some of the damage to the small intestine that gluten. While it is not meant as a cure for celiac disease it can provide some freedom and relief after an accidental ingestion of gluten. The drug could become available as early as 2012.

It’s a small step but at least a step in the right direction. As part of our customer service we will as always keep our ears and eyes open and update you in case we hear about any new developments!

Of course Custom Choice Cereal is also on twitter.com where we can be found under the name @CustomCereal. Some of the people we follow are very active tweeters, and we actually learn quite a lot of interesting news on celiac disease, gluten-intolerances, living gluten-free, and most of all new gluten-free recipes from them.

Our twitter friend @eadibleASH writes the blog the edible perspective with tons of delicious recipes and product pictures that make you want to bite your computer screen! She does not follow a gluten-free diet, so we were very excited when Ashley reviewed our custom gluten-free cereal. She had her gluten-free cereal mix on Friday when she unfortunately woke up with a “crazy pain in her neck” – we can only hope our breakfast treat provided some relief and that she feels better soon!

The mix that Ashley cerealized contained Good Morning Flakes as a base and to which she added apricots, goji berries, almonds, coconut and walnuts. She was “really happy with the amount of fruit + nuts that was in the mix”.

Thanks Ashley, we’re glad you enjoyed your custom gluten-free cereal!

Friday = gluten-free cereal name recognition day at Custom Choice Cereal!

We’ve seen your creativity come to play in past names for you gluten-free cereal mixes. Hopefully this post can serve as an inspiration and encouragement to think outside the box when it comes to naming your gluten-free cerealizations (more than listing the ingredients or giving it your own name). This week’s winners are:

5. Triple Berry Blend (berries are a top seller these days)
4. Fall Celebration Cereal (isn’t spring around the corner?)
3. Berries Plus (some “plus” to mix up the berries in that one…)
2. Leena’s Loca Lot (observe the alliteration!)
1. At the top of the list is Gin Tonic (Seriously? For breakfast?)

It’s finally getting warmer in North Carolina so it will be a good weekend. We hope all of you have a great and relaxing weekend as well!

Custom Choice Cereal came across a review of a book describing what seems to be a very interesting approach to a healthy diet. The book is called “Going against the Grain” and was reviewed by Liz Schau on the Tampa Gluten Free Examiner.

Author Melissa Diane Smith challenges the common advice that grains should be the foundation of our diet. She writes that quite the contrary is true as grains are connected to a variety of conditions, including celiac disease, gluten intolerance, obesity, diabetes, Syndrome X, autoimmune disorders, allergies, and digestive problems. She therefore takes a rather radical view, addressing the nutritional problems of grains and suggesting their elimination from our diets.

One of our New Year resolutions was to read a book every month, so we are very happy to have another candidate that makes it to our list. It will beyond doubt be an interesting read!