Celiac Disease

Celiac disease is an immune response to eating gluten which is a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, malt, and sometimes oat.

If you have Celiac, eating gluten produces an immune response in your small intestine. Over time, this response produces enough inflammation that the lining of the small intestine is damaged and prevents absorption of some nutrients from occuring and you can become malnourished.

Symptoms then can start to occur and weight loss, bloating, diarrhea can begin to occur. If it goes on long enough your brain, nervous system, bones, liver, and other organs can be deprived of vital nourishment.

Often it is hard to diagnose because symptoms are often mistaken for other things or do not occur at all for a long time. The diagnosis is a blood test and a small bowel biopsy. There is a high percentage of both false positives and negatives for these tests too, however.

The only cure for Celiac disease is to follow a strict gluten free diet.


No comments:

Post a Comment