Nima Gluten Sensor | Hacker News Reader

Nima Gluten Sensor

nimasensor.com

17 pointslaex15 comments

> $5 per capsule

https://nimasensor.desk.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2138...

> capsules are not reusable or recyclable and will need to be disposed of in the trash

https://nimasensor.desk.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1925...

As a celiac myself I welcome the new technology. However I doubt that I would use this myself, as it is often quite easy to figure out if something is gluten free, in my experience. But of course it could be beneficial in some cases.

Also, the new "gluten-free" diet fad scares me, and I hope this does not become yet another thing they use to fuel their illusion of health.

> Also, the new "gluten-free" diet fad scares me, and I hope this does not become yet another thing they use to fuel their illusion of health.

Too late...

> Also, the new "gluten-free" diet fad scares me,

As a coeliac also, I freaking love the fad. Back when I was first diagnosed around 2004, it was nearly impossible to find GF bread mix. Now, I can buy 6 different brands of ready-made GF bread within a few km of my house - 7 once they finish building the Aldi down the road - and the larger supermarkets even have an entire aisle of gluten free stuff.

I was diagnosed 1994, and I do not live in the US. Back then I will say it was harder to find gluten-free stuff. But it progressed a lot long before the 'diet-thing' happened. Bread mix has always been around here, however more alternatives have popped up over time.

I happen to live in a country where we've always had a strong lobby group for celiacs though, and what I see mostly after the diet-thing came about is that there's a lot more almond flour and things like that.

I suppose it's different in other countries, I will agree with you that new products arise that would probably not have come otherwise, but what scares me is the threat of not being taken seriously when you mention you don't eat Glute.

I have Celiac too. With respect to the GF fad, one thing to note is that everyone with an HLA-DQ2.5 or HLA-DQ8 (less so) gene variant (homozygote or heterozygote) responds to gliadin (wheat protein) with an autoimmune inflammatory response. ~5% of people have the gene variants even though only 1% have the diagnoses - for those 5% the GF diet makes an immense difference. Celaic is basically the most severe symptom set one can experience with the genetic predisposition. So not entirely misguided...

I realize there is a problem of underdiagnosis, however there have been double blind-test studies where people who claim they get better on gluten-free diets without a diagnose did feel better if they thought they were eating gluten-free while in fact eating gluten.

That being said, I was only diagnosed myself because of hereditary markers later confirmed by examination, rather than any obvious surface-level symptoms.

Yes. 30% of people in NA aim to eat GF, where 5% have the Celiac gene, meaning 25% of people could be sensitive to FODMAPs or just misguided, but will never (as in genetically impossible) have existential health problem (ie. Celiac and co-morbid issues) caused by gluten.

One-time use capsules? Made of all that plastic? No thanks.

If you think of it strictly as a (non-medical) medical device, the wastage isn't terrible, at least compared to permanent epithelial damage. But for every celiac patient using this I guarantee you there will be a hundred paelovore Crossfitters with a HuffPo-level understanding of dietics, so then it starts to look like a K-cup level trash generator.

The reason for that type of capsule is that it's not just a plastic capsule - it's a plastic capsule containing a sealed pocket of what's most likely some kind of enzyme solution designed to react to gluten molecules, plus a device that the capsule fits into with a sensor to pick up the relevant change in that solution.

For people with serious gluten issues this might be worthwhile though I suspect most of them have by now managed to come up with workarounds (e.g. when traveling & concerned about airport delays, bring along a microwavable GF rice noodle dish or at least GF snacks).

For people avoiding gluten because it doesn't fit into their "paleo lifestyle" then yes, this is a waste.

I just found a great signal for filtering people I do not want to date. PITA celiac and their wannabe friends, please buy this!

Yeah, fuck people who are medically unfortunate. Or does PITA mean something other than I think here?

Either way, there is a legitimate condition for which this could be a useful thing, I don't see why you should be disrespectful to people with a condition. However, if you're referring to the gluten-free pretenders, I won't argue.

as far as it affects me, it does not matter if they're pretending or born that way. Still a pain in the ass. Anyways, that my comment was a little more reddit than HN. I'll try and stay on topic.

I have Celiac. Celiac is a genetic condition that people die from and this is a medical device. Your comment equates to avoiding people with cancer in their genes or who believe they may have cancer in their genes, so by this you must be referring to everyone on earth. Every one with an HLA-DQ2.5 or HLA-DQ8 gene variant has a negative, inflammatory autoimmune response to Gliadin, the protein in gluten. 5% of people have the variant, even though only 1% are diagnosed. So for every one person who has a Celiac diagnoses, four more are suffering from a laundry list of symptoms culminating in issues as serious as stomach cancer, thyroid diseases, diabetes and mental illness. Stay in your lane.

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