Oct. 1, 2020 | Celiac disease is a digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. People who have celiac disease cannot tolerate gluten, a protein in wheat, rye, and barley. Gluten is found mainly in foods but may also be found in everyday products such as medicines, vitamins, and lip balms. When people with celiac disease eat foods or use products containing gluten, their immune system responds by damaging or destroying villi, the tiny, fingerlike protrusions lining the small intestine. Without healthy villi, a person becomes malnourished, no matter how much food one eats. Celiac disease affects one percent of healthy average Americans. That means at least 3 million people in our country are living with the disease, with 97 percent of them undiagnosed. To put this into perspective, the number of people with celiac disease in the U.S. is roughly equal to the number of people living in the state of Nevada.

Oct. 1, 2020 | The symptoms of celiac disease vary from person to person and may occur in the digestive system or in other parts of the body. Digestive symptoms are common in infants and young children and may include abdominal bloating and pain, chronic diarrhea, vomiting, constipation and weight loss. Malabsorption of nutrients during the years when nutrition is critical to a child’s normal growth and development can result in other problems such as failure to thrive in infants, delayed growth and short stature, delayed puberty, and dental enamel defects of the permanent teeth. In adults, diarrhea, abdominal pain and weight loss is common. Adults may also have unexplained iron-deficiency anemia, a tingling numbness in the hands and feet or seizures. People with celiac disease may have no symptoms but can still develop complications of the disease over time. Long-term complications include malnutrition, liver diseases, and cancers of the intestine.

Oct. 1, 2020 | Celiac disease can be hard to diagnose because its symptoms are like many other digestive diseases. Some people with this disease, which can cause anemia and infertility, go untreated for many years. If your doctor thinks you have celiac disease, you will probably need a blood test. You will need to follow your regular diet before and while being tested. If you don’t, the results could be wrong. If your test results show you might have celiac disease, the doctor will perform a biopsy to make sure that is the problem. For a biopsy, the doctor takes a small piece of tissue from your small intestine. During the biopsy, the doctor removes tiny pieces of tissue from the small intestine to check for damage to the villi. To obtain the sample, the doctor eases a long, thin tube called an endoscope through the patient’s mouth and stomach into the small intestine. The doctor then takes the samples using instruments passed through the endoscope.

Oct. 1, 2020 | The only treatment for celiac disease is a gluten-free diet. Doctors may ask a newly diagnosed person to work with a dietitian on a gluten-free diet plan. Someone with celiac disease can learn from a dietitian how to read ingredient lists and identify foods that contain gluten in order to make informed decisions at the grocery store and when eating out. For most people, following this diet will stop symptoms, heal existing intestinal damage, and prevent further damage. The small intestine heals in three to six months in children but may take several years in adults. To stay well, people with celiac disease must avoid gluten for the rest of their lives. This means avoiding medicines that may be hidden sources of gluten like nutritional supplements and vitamins. Certain non-food products also contain gluten, including cosmetics, skin and hair products and toothpaste. Be sure to check with your pharmacist about any products that may contain gluten.

Oct. 1, 2020 | A gluten-free diet means not eating foods that contain wheat, rye, and barley. Foods and products made from these grains should also be avoided. In other words, a person with celiac disease should not eat most grain, pasta, cereal, and many processed foods. Despite these restrictions, people with celiac disease can eat a well-balanced diet. They can use potato, rice, soy or bean flour instead of wheat flour. They can buy gluten-free bread from stores that carry organic foods or order products from special food companies. Gluten-free products are increasingly available from mainstream stores. Foods labeled gluten-free tend to cost more than the same foods that have gluten. You may find that naturally gluten-free foods are less expensive. With practice, looking for gluten can become second nature. If you have just been diagnosed with celiac disease, you and your family members may find support groups helpful as you adjust to a new approach to eating.