Gluten troubles were once thought to be a problem primarily for those with celiac disease. But recent research indicates that gluten-related disorders extend to a far broader population, and affect far more than the digestive system.

People with celiac disease represent only a fraction of those who are wronged by gluten. While celiac afflicts roughly 1 percent of Americans, as many as 30 percent (some experts place the figure as high as 40 percent) may suffer from non-celiac gluten intolerance.

Gluten-related disorders masquerade as dozens of different diseases. In 2002, a New England Journal of Medicine review linked 55 different disorders to eating gluten, including anemia, epilepsy, type 1 diabetes and cystic fibrosis. This vast and confusing diversity of diseases means doctors often wind up treating the symptoms of gluten intolerance rather than the underlying cause.

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Research has shown that the food additives used in hundreds of children's foods and drinks can cause temper tantrums and disruptive behavior. A Government-funded study confirms what many parents have long suspected about the effect of chemicals put into sweets, biscuits and foods. Colorings in products such as Smarties, Jelly Tots and fizzy drinks could spark behavior changes in up to a quarter of toddlers.

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Natural Health News — A new report has found strong evidence for the effectiveness and safety of homoeopathy.

The 300-page analysis of existing studies, produced by the Swiss Network for Health Technology Assessment (HTA), will officially be published in the UK on 30th November 2011. However, ahead of its release some of the content of the report has been made available.

The HTA report, exhaustively reviews the scientific literature in homoeopathy, summarising 22 quality trials, 20 of which show positive results for homoeopathy. Four of these showed strong evidence that homoeopathy, as a system of medicine, is efficacious.

It also finds strong supporting evidence for the homoeopathic treatment of allergies and upper-respiratory tract infections.

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(NaturalNews) A new study published in the journal Clinical Epigenetics reveals that both the Standard American Diet (SAD) and various toxic environmental factors play a definitive and synergistic role in the development of autism. According to the study, high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), mercury in vaccines, and agricultural pesticides are among the many cofactors that contribute to the onset of autism spectrum disorders, all of which deserve more attention from health authorities than they are currently getting.

Renee Dufault from the Food Ingredient and Health Research Institute (FIHRI) and her colleagues examined how various foods and environmental factors affect the neurodevelopment of children, and particularly how these factors inhibit the body's ability to eliminate disease-causing toxins and heavy metals from the system. What the team discovered is that HFCS, for instance, which is a highly-processed chemical sweetener used in many processed foods and beverages, depletes the body of the natural mineral zinc. And zinc, of course, is responsible for cleansing the body of heavy metals like mercury, arsenic, and cadmium, as well as aluminum and other toxins that are known to disrupt proper brain development.

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We have always processed our food; this is an activity that is uniquely human. We chop, soak, cook and ferment our food - as well as grind and dry - these are all types of processing.

Traditional processing has two functions: to make food more digestible and to preserve it for use during times when food isn’t readily available. Nutritious, long-lasing processed foods including pemmican, hard sausage and old-fashioned meat puddings and haggis, as well as grain products, dairy products, pickles—everything from wine and spirits to lacto-fermented condiments. Farmers and artisans—bread makers, cheese makers, distillers, millers and so forth—processed the raw ingredients into delicious foods that retained their nutritional content over many months or even years, and kept the profits on the farm and in the farming communities where they belonged.

Unfortunately, in modern times, we have substituted local artisanal processing with factory and industrial processing, which actually diminishes the quality of the food, rather than making it more nutritious and digestible. Industrial processing depends upon sugar, white flour, processed and hydrogenated oils, synthetic food additives and vitamins, heat treatment and the extrusion of grains.

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