Led by the Celiac Disease Foundation, patients have been demanding for decades that researchers, government officials, and pharmaceutical companies understand it is nearly impossible to live in the real world and maintain a “strict” gluten-free diet. Foundation Medical Advisory Board member, Dr. Daniel Leffler of the Celiac Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said the following in response to a study on gluten contamination in restaurant foods:
“This… unfortunately confirms what we have long suspected, which is that there is no such thing as a gluten-free diet… The best patients can do, and lead anything close to a normal life, is a gluten-restricted diet. Depending on how sensitive a patient is to gluten, this may or may not be enough to provide adequate control of celiac disease…. Even today, it is often felt that celiac patients with ongoing active disease are ‘cheating’ or just need to ‘work harder at the diet.’ These data are convincing that gluten exposure is inevitable and that adjunctive approaches are needed.”
Finally, we are being heard. But even this isn’t enough.
Thanks to your impactful support, the Foundation has developed, and now offers to medical researchers, the tools, data, access to patients, and strategic investments to advance promising drugs through the development pipeline. These products include our patient registry, iCureCeliac®, and our just launched iQualifyCeliac, an online screening tool that matches patients to clinical trials.
Everything we do – accelerating research, driving diagnosis and effective advocacy — is made possible by our generous individual donors. We have begun our most important fundraising drive, our Annual Gift of Hope Challenge Match Campaign.
Our Board of Directors is matching your tax-deductible Gift of Hope donations, 1:1, doubling the impact of your gift.
Please help us support you and your loved ones. Thank you for including us in your year-end philanthropy.
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Sincerely,
Marilyn G. Geller
Chief Executive Office
P.S. Please view our 2018 Annual Report highlighting our tremendous progress toward treatments and a cure for celiac disease. If you have questions about anything we are working on, I invite you to reach out to us directly at 818.716.1513. We are delighted to answer any and all of your questions.