What Is Celiac Disease?
You may have heard of celiac disease, but what exactly is it? Celiac disease is a chronic autoimmune disorder that damages the small intestine. While there is no known cause, celiac disease triggers a negative reaction in the immune and digestive systems when gluten is ingested. Since the disease is chronic, there is no cure; you can’t just “grow out of it.”
Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barely, rye, and other grains, as well as products like vitamins, supplements, and skin and hair products, among others. According to the Celiac Disease Foundation, 1 in 100 people worldwide have celiac disease, and approximately 60-70% of Americans are undiagnosed and suffering.
Symptoms & Diagnosis
There’s a wide variety of symptoms for celiac disease. Some people may have multiple symptoms, and others may have none but still suffer from intestinal damage. Some symptoms affect the digestive system, and others affect other parts of the body. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, some of the most common symptoms of celiac disease are:
- Constant diarrhea or constipation
- Weight loss
- Gas
- Pale, bad-smelling stool
- Anemia (feeling tired)
- Skin rashes
There are two ways to diagnose celiac disease. The first method is through an antibody test, where a healthcare professional will take a blood sample and send it off to a lab. Doctors can identify the presence of celiac disease based on the levels of specific antibodies. Someone suffering from the disease will have antibody levels read higher than average. The second way to test for celiac disease is through a medical procedure called an endoscopy. During an endoscopy, the doctor takes a sample of the small intestine, and the tissue is examined for celiac disease.
Causes
While there is no known cause for celiac disease, doctors do know that the disease almost always occurs in people with one of two gene variants — DQ2 AND DQ8. Not all people with DQ2 and DQ8 genes develop celiac disease after ingesting gluten, though. Celiac can develop at any age after gluten is introduced to the body through foods or medications.
Treatment
The only way to safely manage the symptoms and prevent damage to the small intestine and every other organ in your body is by removing all gluten from your diet. Not only is gluten in foods, but it’s also in other common products like toothpaste and mouthwash, communion wafers, cosmetics, Play-Doh, preservatives, modified food starch, and malt flavoring.
It’s important to read food and product labels to ensure you are not consuming anything with gluten. Even the smallest amounts can trigger a reaction; however, cutting out gluten entirely doesn’t always fix the problem. According to the Celiac Disease Foundation, 50% of diagnosed patients still suffer from symptoms even on a completely gluten-free diet.
If celiac disease goes untreated, it can lead to severe health conditions like type 1 diabetes, osteoporosis, thyroid disease, multiple sclerosis, anemia, infertility, and miscarriage, among others.
The Future of Celiac
As far as the future goes, those suffering from celiac disease are hoping for a medical miracle. Gluten is everywhere, and avoiding it is nearly impossible — especially due to cross-contamination.
In the past decade, the mere talk of a healing medication for celiac patients has turned into more than a dozen research trials involving tests for new medications on patients. If scientists, doctors, and other medical engineers could create medicine to combat the symptoms of celiac disease and further protect the health of the small intestines, millions of individuals would be able to experience a new quality of life.
