What is Celiac Disease?

According to the National Digestive Diseases Infomation Clearinghouse (NDDIC-http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/celiac/index.htm), celiac disease is basically an autoimmune disease where a person can't eat any gluten. Gluten is a protein that is found in wheat, barley and rye. If a person with celiac disease eats gluten in any form, it will trigger an immune response that will destroy the villi in the small intestine. Villi are the tiny hair-like protrusions that line the intestine and help the intestine absorb nutrients in food. Once the villi are destroyed, the intestine is no longer able to absorb nutrients, which leaves the body lacking in nutrition. It doesn't matter how much food a person eats if their body can't absorb the vitamins and nutrients in their food.

As everyone knows, the human body needs essential nutrients for survival. In celiac patients, even fat is not absorbed and is released into the stool, making it float or appear light in color. Fats are also necessary for a healthy body. Researchers have found that celiac disease can first start after some sort of traumatic event like extreme stress, pregnancy, surgery or even after fighting a disease. Celiac disease also tends to be genetic. Family members are susceptible if other members have it. Population studies have shown that northern European populations are more likely to have celiac disease (http://www.medicinenet.com/celiac_disease/article.htm).

Celiac disease can cause different symptoms in different people, and could depend on the age of first onset of the disease. Children tend to have moderate to severe digestive problems, lactose intolerance and diarrhea, while adults have fewer or no digestive issues. But, adults have other symptoms that can be quite serious. Some of these include arthritis, diabetes, thyroid trouble, iron deficiency anemia, amenorrhea and even loss of tooth enamel.

The trouble with diagnosing celiac disease is that the diverse symptoms can easily be mistaken for a variety of other diseases or problems. Unless all symptoms are considered as a group, some can be assumed to be simply associated with the process of aging or, as in children, as lactose intolerance. The Celiac Disease Foundation offers a free brochure in PDF format from their website (http://www.celiac.org/) that discusses symptoms and how to get tested.

To diagnose celiac disease, a doctor will order blood tests and a biopsy of the small intestine. If the tests show that the patient is a celiac patient, then the diet has to be altered to eliminate all sources of gluten. This is the only treatment available. There is no medication or surgery, only a change in the diet. While this is a bit difficult, it's essential to get rid of every product that contains gluten. This includes wheat flour and anything that contains it. Many packaged foods like cookies, pasta and snack foods contain some form of gluten. Luckily, once on a gluten-free diet, the damage to the villi in the small intestine will be fixed within a short time, anywhere from 3 to 6 months.

If the symptoms don't go away within 6 months or so, then the doctor and patient will need to go over the diet to make certain that all forms of gluten have been removed from the diet. As difficult as it might be to check foods for gluten, things are a bit easier these days because a lot of foods are labeled as containing wheat. And there are also a lot more gluten-free products on the market today. But to avoid long-term damage, a celiac patients needs to get on a gluten-free diet as soon as diagnosed.