Founder of the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness – Alice Bast

The President and Founder of the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness – Alice Bast joins the show.

Alice Bast founded the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) in 2003. Her personal experience with celiac ignited her passion to help the estimated three million Americans suffering from the disease receive a prompt and accurate diagnosis.

Alice is widely regarded as a celiac expert and has been a keynote speaker at many national medical and food industry events. Her story has been featured in Good Housekeeping Magazine, Newsweek, USA Today, and on nationally televised programs such as ABC’s ‘The View’ and CNN. Among her recent accomplishments, Alice co-authored an article titled “Celiac Disease and Reproductive Health Issues”, which was published in Journal of Practical Gastroenterology (October 2009). In conjunction, she was also featured in one of their MDTV segments.

Her organization, NFCA, drives diagnosis of celiac disease, improves quality- of-life for children and families adhering to a gluten-free diet and advances science by facilitating collaborations within the healthcare community. The organization consults with top physicians across the country and in 2004 received limited funding from the National Institute of Health for their cause.

NFCA is a leading resource for celiac information. NFCA’s website offers free, comprehensive information and support materials for celiac patients, their families and health care providers (including a comprehensive Symptoms Checklist and a Getting Started Guide), accredited training for healthcare and food industry professionals and the latest news, recipes, videos and blogs to promote quality of life without compromise.

Alice Bast discusses & answers the following:

• We’ve been hearing a lot about celiac disease – but what is it exactly?
• About how many Americans have celiac disease? Has this number been increasing in recent years? Why is that?
• So if 95% of Americans with celiac don’t even know they have it. Why is it so critical they get diagnosed and how can we remedy our country’s staggeringly low diagnosis rate?
• So what is a gluten-free diet? And what are some tips to eating gluten-free?
• Gluten-free diets seems to be ‘all the rage’ among celebrities these days – are there benefits to going gluten-free if you don’t have celiac disease?

Links: www.CeliacCentral.org