Think gluten makes you sick? A new test could tell you for sure
It's a terrible dilemma. Sick of suffering diarrhoea, fatigue and bloating, people who suspect they might have coeliac disease give up gluten and begin to feel better. But then a doctor orders them to keep eating bread for months.
That's because coeliac disease can be diagnosed only if the body is reacting against gluten.
Now Australian scientists have developed a new ultra-sensitive blood test for the disease that works even in people following a strict gluten-free diet.
The researchers believe the test could one day replace the need for gastroscopies and biopsies of the intestine to check for damage, the current methods doctors use to confirm diagnosis.
'People want to get tested, but then they're told they have to go back to eating gluten, which is really difficult because it often makes them sick. We're talking a couple of slices of bread a day for six weeks,' lead author of the Gastroenterology study from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Associate Professor Jason Tye-Din, said.
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The draining and tedious testing process is part of the reason the disease is underdiagnosed. One study estimated 80 per cent of people with the disease don't know they have it.
'It's an important lifelong condition. It can lead to infertility and osteoporosis and cancers,' he said.
About 10 to 15 per cent of Australians are on gluten-free diets, but many are unsure if they have coeliac disease or just a gluten intolerance. (Both have similar symptoms but only coeliac disease results in long-term gut damage).
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The Advertiser
37 minutes ago
- The Advertiser
Independents unite to demand home support for 20,000 after aged care delay
In their first flex of group political muscle since the federal election, Australia's independent MPs have teamed up to call on the government to fund - within weeks - at least 20,000 extra aged care home support packages. The government announced in early June it was delaying by five months big changes to aged care, which had been due to start mid-year, to give service providers more time to prepare. But 10 crossbenchers have teamed up to express concern about the impact of the postponement on the nearly 83,000 elderly Australians on the waiting list for home care. "Research shows that the longer people go without appropriate home care supports, the higher their risk of injury or hospitalisation," the MPs said in a June 10 letter to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae. "This delay will also imperil your government's commitment that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package. "On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current home care packages scheme, which can then be rolled over onto the new support at home program when it eventually commences," the letter reads. The call for bridging support to cover the delay is supported by both Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Older Persons Advocacy Network. "I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for home care packages," ACT independent senator David Pocock said. "We can't afford to delay this further." Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi in north-east Victoria, said waiting times were lengthened by a lack of qualified people to provide care in regional areas. "We also can't delay the rollout of a pricing framework that fairly reflects the travel costs to deliver care in rural areas," she said. Any setback for older people who wanted to stay at home was "unacceptable", Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said. "Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this issue over the last ten years," she said. "What the minister calls 'a brief deferral' will directly impact the lives of older Australians." Sydney-based Allegra Spender said she had heard "heartbreaking" stories of elderly people forced into nursing homes due to the long wait for assistance at home, while Dr Monique Ryan in Melbourne said "older Australians shouldn't suffer because of the aged care system's failures". Andrew Gee, the newly re-elected independent MP for Calare in NSW, also put his name to the letter in a sign the former National - who quit the party over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament - will work with the so-called teals in this parliament. The other signatories were Sydney's Dr Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, and Kate Chaney from Western Australia. Given Labor's thumping majority win at the May election, the independents will have less sway in this parliament, but the letter is the first indication they will nonetheless use their numbers to lobby together. Home care packages are a form of commonwealth assistance designed to help people aged 65 and over to stay at home longer by providing assistance with household tasks, personal care and some medical care, such as that provided by nurses. The government has pledged to switch to a $5.6 billion "support at home" system, promising to be "the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years" designed to slash waiting lists. The health minister's office has been contacted for comment. In their first flex of group political muscle since the federal election, Australia's independent MPs have teamed up to call on the government to fund - within weeks - at least 20,000 extra aged care home support packages. The government announced in early June it was delaying by five months big changes to aged care, which had been due to start mid-year, to give service providers more time to prepare. But 10 crossbenchers have teamed up to express concern about the impact of the postponement on the nearly 83,000 elderly Australians on the waiting list for home care. "Research shows that the longer people go without appropriate home care supports, the higher their risk of injury or hospitalisation," the MPs said in a June 10 letter to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae. "This delay will also imperil your government's commitment that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package. "On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current home care packages scheme, which can then be rolled over onto the new support at home program when it eventually commences," the letter reads. The call for bridging support to cover the delay is supported by both Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Older Persons Advocacy Network. "I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for home care packages," ACT independent senator David Pocock said. "We can't afford to delay this further." Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi in north-east Victoria, said waiting times were lengthened by a lack of qualified people to provide care in regional areas. "We also can't delay the rollout of a pricing framework that fairly reflects the travel costs to deliver care in rural areas," she said. Any setback for older people who wanted to stay at home was "unacceptable", Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said. "Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this issue over the last ten years," she said. "What the minister calls 'a brief deferral' will directly impact the lives of older Australians." Sydney-based Allegra Spender said she had heard "heartbreaking" stories of elderly people forced into nursing homes due to the long wait for assistance at home, while Dr Monique Ryan in Melbourne said "older Australians shouldn't suffer because of the aged care system's failures". Andrew Gee, the newly re-elected independent MP for Calare in NSW, also put his name to the letter in a sign the former National - who quit the party over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament - will work with the so-called teals in this parliament. The other signatories were Sydney's Dr Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, and Kate Chaney from Western Australia. Given Labor's thumping majority win at the May election, the independents will have less sway in this parliament, but the letter is the first indication they will nonetheless use their numbers to lobby together. Home care packages are a form of commonwealth assistance designed to help people aged 65 and over to stay at home longer by providing assistance with household tasks, personal care and some medical care, such as that provided by nurses. The government has pledged to switch to a $5.6 billion "support at home" system, promising to be "the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years" designed to slash waiting lists. The health minister's office has been contacted for comment. In their first flex of group political muscle since the federal election, Australia's independent MPs have teamed up to call on the government to fund - within weeks - at least 20,000 extra aged care home support packages. The government announced in early June it was delaying by five months big changes to aged care, which had been due to start mid-year, to give service providers more time to prepare. But 10 crossbenchers have teamed up to express concern about the impact of the postponement on the nearly 83,000 elderly Australians on the waiting list for home care. "Research shows that the longer people go without appropriate home care supports, the higher their risk of injury or hospitalisation," the MPs said in a June 10 letter to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae. "This delay will also imperil your government's commitment that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package. "On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current home care packages scheme, which can then be rolled over onto the new support at home program when it eventually commences," the letter reads. The call for bridging support to cover the delay is supported by both Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Older Persons Advocacy Network. "I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for home care packages," ACT independent senator David Pocock said. "We can't afford to delay this further." Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi in north-east Victoria, said waiting times were lengthened by a lack of qualified people to provide care in regional areas. "We also can't delay the rollout of a pricing framework that fairly reflects the travel costs to deliver care in rural areas," she said. Any setback for older people who wanted to stay at home was "unacceptable", Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said. "Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this issue over the last ten years," she said. "What the minister calls 'a brief deferral' will directly impact the lives of older Australians." Sydney-based Allegra Spender said she had heard "heartbreaking" stories of elderly people forced into nursing homes due to the long wait for assistance at home, while Dr Monique Ryan in Melbourne said "older Australians shouldn't suffer because of the aged care system's failures". Andrew Gee, the newly re-elected independent MP for Calare in NSW, also put his name to the letter in a sign the former National - who quit the party over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament - will work with the so-called teals in this parliament. The other signatories were Sydney's Dr Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, and Kate Chaney from Western Australia. Given Labor's thumping majority win at the May election, the independents will have less sway in this parliament, but the letter is the first indication they will nonetheless use their numbers to lobby together. Home care packages are a form of commonwealth assistance designed to help people aged 65 and over to stay at home longer by providing assistance with household tasks, personal care and some medical care, such as that provided by nurses. The government has pledged to switch to a $5.6 billion "support at home" system, promising to be "the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years" designed to slash waiting lists. The health minister's office has been contacted for comment. In their first flex of group political muscle since the federal election, Australia's independent MPs have teamed up to call on the government to fund - within weeks - at least 20,000 extra aged care home support packages. The government announced in early June it was delaying by five months big changes to aged care, which had been due to start mid-year, to give service providers more time to prepare. But 10 crossbenchers have teamed up to express concern about the impact of the postponement on the nearly 83,000 elderly Australians on the waiting list for home care. "Research shows that the longer people go without appropriate home care supports, the higher their risk of injury or hospitalisation," the MPs said in a June 10 letter to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae. "This delay will also imperil your government's commitment that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package. "On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current home care packages scheme, which can then be rolled over onto the new support at home program when it eventually commences," the letter reads. The call for bridging support to cover the delay is supported by both Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Older Persons Advocacy Network. "I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for home care packages," ACT independent senator David Pocock said. "We can't afford to delay this further." Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi in north-east Victoria, said waiting times were lengthened by a lack of qualified people to provide care in regional areas. "We also can't delay the rollout of a pricing framework that fairly reflects the travel costs to deliver care in rural areas," she said. Any setback for older people who wanted to stay at home was "unacceptable", Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said. "Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this issue over the last ten years," she said. "What the minister calls 'a brief deferral' will directly impact the lives of older Australians." Sydney-based Allegra Spender said she had heard "heartbreaking" stories of elderly people forced into nursing homes due to the long wait for assistance at home, while Dr Monique Ryan in Melbourne said "older Australians shouldn't suffer because of the aged care system's failures". Andrew Gee, the newly re-elected independent MP for Calare in NSW, also put his name to the letter in a sign the former National - who quit the party over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament - will work with the so-called teals in this parliament. The other signatories were Sydney's Dr Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, and Kate Chaney from Western Australia. Given Labor's thumping majority win at the May election, the independents will have less sway in this parliament, but the letter is the first indication they will nonetheless use their numbers to lobby together. Home care packages are a form of commonwealth assistance designed to help people aged 65 and over to stay at home longer by providing assistance with household tasks, personal care and some medical care, such as that provided by nurses. The government has pledged to switch to a $5.6 billion "support at home" system, promising to be "the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years" designed to slash waiting lists. The health minister's office has been contacted for comment.
Sky News AU
3 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Mid-air medical emergency forces Qantas flight full of Aussies to make drastic landing in Azerbaijan, leaving passengers outraged and isolated
Hundreds of Aussies have had their holiday plans torpedoed after being forced to spend more than a day in the Azerbaijan capital of Baku due to a Qantas A380 flight experiencing a sudden mid-air medical emergency. A passenger on board the 'relatively full' plane suffered a life-threatening cardiac emergency mid-flight, leaving hundreds of home bound Aussies stuck. The aircraft touched down safely at 7:55am local time at Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku, Azerbaijan, with Australian doctor Hamish Urquhart who was on board at the time confirming the passenger who suffered the major cardiac event was a women aged in her 60s. "The lady was really quite unwell and needed intravenous access while we were trying to land, which was a bit challenging," Dr Urquhart said. Dr Urquhart said the pilot had to make a 'dramatic 180-degree turn' to reach Baku' and that 'in the air, it was a bit stressful as we were flying towards Afghanistan'. It is understood the women who suffered the unexpected cardiac arrest on the flight is okay and recovering. The decision to make passengers wait a day in Azerbaijan was due to the operating crew reaching their duty limit and being 'out of hours'. Passengers discovered upon arrival that Azerbaijan was in the midst of a public holiday, which served as a logistical nightmare in organising visas for as many as 500 people in addition to securing overnight accommodation. The plane was also due to receive routine maintenance checks in Singapore, with the checks now brought forward to happen in Baku further compounding the lengthy delays. Numerous passengers took to social media to slam Qantas for its handling of the situation, with some stating they were initially told by the captain that the flight had to make the surprise landing due to an engine fault. A Qantas spokesperson told that the aircraft faced no mechanical complications and condemned multiple mastheads for incorrectly reporting that the flight had made an 'emergency landing'. 'Please note, some media outlets are incorrectly referring to this diversion as an emergency landing, I just want to reiterate there was no emergency landing. It was a normal landing as part of a planned diversion,' the statement read. The spokesperson also said Qantas' first priority was the safety of it's passengers, and apologised for any inconvenience caused to its customers. 'We apologise to customers for the disruption and are working to get them on their way to Singapore as soon as possible," they said. 'All customers will be provided with overnight accommodation, and the flight is expected to depart for Singapore tomorrow, Tuesday 10 June'. Despite the aircraft being mechanically sound, an engineer was flown from London to inspect the plane and certify it before departure. It is understood some passengers who approached airport staff in the hope of securing an earlier flight were told that this was only possible if they provided a payment of cash or cryptocurrency. Nine's Europe correspondent Hannah Sinclar who was on the board the flight travelling home for her wedding blasted Qantas for the debacle on X. 'There's been no help getting a different flight and airport staff are asking for us to pay for new flights in crypto or cash only. Not ok,' the post read. However, Qantas firmly rejected reports that passengers were asked to pay for replacement flights with cryptocurrency, and that the workers demanding crypto payments were not Qantas employees. Another passenger Nick Phillips told the ABC that Qantas' management of the unforeseen diversion was shambolic and that passengers were left in the dark for hours. "It took five hours to exit the plane, then three hours to wait for a visa to come through, and finally a two-hour trip to a hotel with frequent stops as the guide called someone, evidently totally unsure where to take us," he said. Passengers are set to depart Azerbaijan at 4.30pm Tuesday local time, or 10.30pm AEST.
Sydney Morning Herald
4 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Re-imagining your home for the next chapter
O'Connell advocates for what she describes as 'decluttering with purpose'. That means focussing on the items you truly use and love, then making a fun project of donating and selling the rest. By decluttering with purpose — rather than just haphazardly heaping items into a bin bag — 'you're not just throwing it away, you're actually passing it on to someone else who could use it better than you can'. If you're thinking about rightsizing your home for somewhere easier to look after, you should also consider where that next home is located — because easy access to services like health care, transport, walkable environments and community centres or programs can make all the difference as you age. Future-proofing your home for the years to come Rightsizing can be a great opportunity to ensure our homes are as accessible as possible for the decades to come. And future-proofing your home 'doesn't have to be expensive, and it doesn't have to mean renovations', says O'Connell. There are many minor adjustments you can make to help you stay independent and at home for longer. These include replacing doorknobs, which due to conditions such as arthritis, may become difficult to turn as you age, with simple levers. Door hinges can be offset so you can widen the doorway for future accessibility needs if required. And adding grab rails to toilets and showers can help you move around the bathroom with confidence. Brighter lighting, especially in stairways and hallways, can increase visibility and reduce fall risk, as can adding contrasting colours on the edges of steps. You might also consider installing smart-home technology that offers features like voice-activated assistance to control lights, video doorbells and alarms. Again, it's never too early to start on these changes. 'I do think starting early and making changes gradually makes it more affordable,' says O'Connell. 'And small changes now can equal more autonomy later.' Bonus tips for setting yourself up for healthy ageing Here's a statistic that might surprise you: 'Only around 25 per cent of age-related decline is genetic,' says O'Connell. 'So, what that means is that we can do an awful lot to help ourselves live well now and into our later years.' In her work with LiveUp, a national platform designed to help older Australians stay well as they age, O'Connell uses healthy ageing principles set out by the World Health Organization. That includes encouraging simple but effective steps like getting physically active and eating well, staying socially connected, joining clubs, volunteering, learning new skills to keep the brain sharp, as well as getting regular health checks to catch any small issues before they become big ones. O'Connell believes that both in and outside of the home, with a little forward planning, you can set yourself up to be able to do what you both need and want to be able to do in the future.
