What is Celiac’s Disease??

March 7, 2008

What is Celiac Disease?

The area of the Naked Nutrition Network is dedicated to providing top level information about celiac disease, gluten free diets, gluten free foods, and living the gluten free lifestyle.

Celiac disease is grossly under diagnosed in our society despite its incidence being on the rise.

For a primer on celiac disease I have pasted below an excerpt from Wikipedia

Celiac disease, also spelled celiac disease, is an autoimmune disorder of the small bowel that occurs in genetically predisposed people of all ages from middle infancy. Symptoms include chronic diarrhea, failure to thrive (in children) and fatigue, but these may be absent and symptoms in all other organ systems have been described. It is estimated to affect about 1% of Indo-European populations, but is thought to be significantly underdiagnosed. A growing portion of diagnoses are being made in asymptomatic persons as a result of increasing screening.

Celiac disease is caused by a reaction to gliadin, a gluten protein found in wheat (and similar proteins of the tribe Triticeae which includes other cultivars such as barley and rye). Upon exposure to gliadin, the enzyme tissue transglutaminase modifies the protein, and the immune system cross-reacts with the bowel tissue, causing an inflammatory reaction. That leads to flattening of the lining of the small intestine, which interferes with the absorption of nutrients. The only effective treatment is a lifelong gluten-free diet.

To many people being “sentenced” to a life long gluten free diet may seem like just that, a sentence; but in actuality being gluten free doesn’t mean that you have to miss out on good food (or comfort food). Check back often to learn how we are gluten free and loving it.

Written by Mike Roussell · Filed Under Gluten free