The Checkup: Gluten-Free Wheat Is Possible, Experts Say

Scientists tinkering with wheat enzymes say they may be able to eliminate the problematic proteins with genetic engineering.
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• Take heart, celiac sufferers! A team of scientists thinks it may be able to engineer a kind of wheat your body can happily digest. The key? Inventive genetic engineering—specifically, figuring out a way to eliminate a troublesome wheat enzyme that activates genes that trigger the production of proteins that celiac patients and those with gluten intolerances find, well, intolerable. Follow that? So far, reports the Los Angeles Times, the Washington State University research team has succeeded in drastically reducing the levels of these problem proteins but hasn’t eliminated them totally just yet. The experts say, however, that they think it’s entirely possible to do so, and they’re up for the task. The result would be a new kind of gluten-free wheat, which, besides sounding like an oxymoron, is actually good for baking. Read more—and, go on, rejoice about it a little—here.

• Beware the moon bounce, parents: The AP reports that bounce-house injuries are on the rise among kids, with about 30 kids treated for related injuries each day, according to new research.

• Here’s what I learned from this article about how the American Academy of Pediatrics is trying to understand social media as it relates to kids’ health: that the average teenager sends 3,400 text messages a month—that’s more than 100 a day. Um, WHAT?