You'll Soon Be Able To Eat Gluten Again Courtesy Of Egg Yolks

Those with celiac disease are unable to eat foods containing gluten, and as a result have very limited diets. Others say they are intolerant to gluten, unable to eat it without discomfort, and so too elect to remove it from their diet. Thanks to the studious work of some Canadian researchers, however, those dietary limitations may be a thing of the past. Researchers at the University of Alberta have used egg yolks to develop a new supplement that blocks the absorption of the component from gluten that causes celiacs their troubles.

The supplement was created by the university's Hoon Sunwoo and Jeong Sim using chicken eggs, and was spurred by Sunwoo's interest after he found out some of his friends and family suffered from celiac disease. Those with celiac have trouble digesting the gliadin from gluten.

The supplement works by binding with the gluten and "neutralizing it", which involves "limiting the damage gliadin causes", said Sunwoo. In the next year the supplement will undergo an efficacy trial, and if it all goes well the supplement could then be available to sufferers within another 3 years. The researchers already have partnerships in place to get the supplement on the market.

One of those partnerships is with Veranda Group; said its communications director Claire Perry, "The product could be available to celiac sufferers in Canada within three years, paving the way for testing and product approval in the United States and Europe."

SOURCE: University of Alberta