What is Celiac Disease?
Celiac Disease is a genetic autoimmune disease and can cause the small intestine to become damaged when the protein that is found in rye, wheat, and barley, known as gluten, is consumed.
Symptoms of Celiac Disease can range in severity from person to person, which makes it common for a proper diagnosis not to be made right away. Because a high number of cases go undiagnosed, it is estimated that the current number of cases (one in one hundred thirty three people) is actually much higher. For some people, constipation is the only symptom, while others have severe diarrhea, and for others there are no problems with regularity.
Some common symptoms of Celiac Disease are: gas, indigestion, pain in the abdomen, bloating, vomiting, nausea, lactose intolerance, a decrease in appetite, a distended stomach, irregular stools, and weight loss that cannot be fully explained.
Celiac Disease also comes with a variety of symptoms that are not related to digestion like: bruising easily, pain in the joints or bones, depression, children with growth delays, hair loss, fatigue, malnutrition, changes in behavior, anemia, irritability, skin problems, seizures, ulcers in the mouth, decrease in bone density, muscle cramps, swelling, hypoglycemia, nose bleeds, difficulty breathing or catching the breath, defects in tooth enamel or discolorations, and deficiencies in vitamins or minerals such as folate, vitamin K, or iron.
There is no cure to Celiac disease and the only remedy to the condition is to have a gluten-free diet. It is estimated that about one out of every 100 people in the United States is suffering from Celiac disease. It’s actually one of the most common genetic diseases but not many people are aware that they are suffering from it.
How Do I Get Tested for Celiac Disease?
To diagnose Celiac Disease, a blood test is performed to measure the levels of the following antibodies in the blood: Immunoglobulin A, anti-tissue transglutaminase, and anti-endomysium antibodies. After the blood test is performed and celiac disease is suspected, the doctor can perform a biopsy on tissue samples from the small intestines to determine if the villi in the small intestines have been damaged.
What is Gluten?
Gluten is a special kind of long-chain protein that is composed of gliadin and glutenin. Gluten can be found in wheat, rye, barley, and other grains. Gluten is an important source of protein for dietary needs of people globally. Wheat is one of the biggest sources of Gluten as the wheat seed is composed primarily of gliadin and glutenin. Other grains contain protein in their endosperms but they often lack glutenin which is an important component of Gluten.
Figure 1. Gluten Protein (www.rikenvitamin.jp)
Gluten in wheat flour is what cause dough to rise. Different wheat flour products have different attributes, some wheat flour contain more gluten than others. The Gluten content in the flour is what causes the different textures of bread and other products. Gluten derived from wheat can also be added directly to ordinary flour to change the flour’s properties.
Aside from food products from wheat flour and other grains, Gluten can be derived from wheat to create high-protein food products. Gluten is often used as a meat substitute for vegetarian diets. When gluten is added to flavoring it absorbs the taste of the flavoring and also becomes firm making it an excellent alternative to chicken, pork and other meat food products.
Although wheat and other grain products are good sources of protein, there is a medical condition that makes the consumption of Gluten more detrimental than it is beneficial to achieving good health. The medical condition, called Celiac disease, causes intolerance to Gluten. The disease is also called Celiac Sprue and gluten-sensitive enteropathy. It causes damage to the villi in the small intestines preventing the effective absorption of nutrients to body (as seen in figure 2).
Figure 2: Villi in the Small Intestine (www.itmonline.org)
This results in malnutrition even for people who try to eat healthy diets.