Hope for Those With Celiac Disease

PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) – A team of Washington State University researchers is hoping to take a bite out of the gluten-free market by creating a variety of wheat with disease-fighting enymzes baked into foods.

The researchers, working with colleagues across the globe, published their findings last month in the journal Functional & Integrative Genomics.

Their genetically modified wheat is intended to assist the estimated 3 million Americans living with celiac disease, a condition that causes the body’s immune system to attack the digestive track when gluten is eaten.

The Spokesman-Review reports the disease has been linked to a greater risk of serious health problems, including malnutrition, diabetes and colon cancer.

Putting the enzymes inside the wheat is intended to create a sort of firewall that stops that attack from occurring.
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Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesman.com