Did anyone go to Dr Tom O'Bryan's tal... - Gluten Free Guerr...

Gluten Free Guerrillas

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Did anyone go to Dr Tom O'Bryan's talk yesterday (or the HPC talk on Saturday), and if so what did they think?

katethebake profile image
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katethebake
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Regalbirdy profile image
Regalbirdy

Hi Kate,

Yes I went.

I found listening to his lecture to be excellent. I already now know much about gluten (as one must if you wish to successfully argue the toss with your GP!) but he added to this knowledge in a way that was interesting, entertaining and informative.

It was his analysis of gluten research papers that I found particularly interesting. Occasionally I thought he gave a little too much weight to some very small studies (ie 10-15 people used as subjects); because from what I understand, even the researchers themselves have said these findings merit more study. However that said, much of the time he was spot on.

Btw, Hi Roger! It was good to meet you and your other half. I hope you got home safely and had time to enjoy that tasty looking roll.

Did you go to the lecture Kate?

katethebake profile image
katethebake

Thanks for your thoughts, Regalbirdy. Yes I did go. It was definitely interesting, but I found myself a bit annoyed that the fact that he was obviously sponsored was hidden. Somehow that devalued the content for me and left me feeling that he was using the talk to substantiate the need for the product rather than to inform people more generally. That said, I appreciate the fact that he did use research papers and therefore gave access to further information, though most of this information has been referenced in other easily accessible papers. So, overall, I was a bit torn.

Regalbirdy profile image
Regalbirdy

Hi Kate,

I wish I had of bumped into you! - It would've been nice to put a face to the blog name. Next time we will have to wear badges or something...

Overall I didn't mind that he was sponsored and had links to products. I kind of expected that from an American, as it is often the American way of doing things.

I think I have previously come across one or two pieces of the research he was using myself, so I found it most interesting to hear his spin on it.

Part of me also thinks it would have been good to attend the professional version of his talk, because I think that it may have gone into more of the technical details than we were given.

katethebake profile image
katethebake in reply to Regalbirdy

Yes, I was kicking myself that i hadn't checked it out, but when i did i discovered it was a BANT event so £65. I think that in this case the professional event may have been even more of a hard sell because those nutritional therapists will be the main prescribers/promoters of the test, though the whole day quite appealed to the geek in me.

For retrospective identification, I was on a motorbike, so identifiable by ludicrously bulky waterproofs and a helmet :)

Regalbirdy profile image
Regalbirdy

Trying to remember if I saw a motorbike....

katethebake profile image
katethebake

it wasn't the harley davidson that was outside btw (that would be weird!)