Conquering Celiac Disease
To most people, the thought of choosing between a sandwich or burrito just presents a delicious conundrum. But imagine that one crumb can make you violently ill. For those with celiac disease it is a situation faced on a consistent basis.
Celiac disease (sometimes called celiac sprue or gluten-sensitive enteropathy) is an autoimmune disorder in which the body’s defenses attack the small intestines, damaging the ability to absorb nutrition from food. The disorder is triggered by genes and the consumption of gluten, a gluey substance which is a protein found in many grains like wheat, rye, or barley. If gluten is consumed, a person could suffer side effects like vomiting, diarrhea, bloating, weight loss, malnutrition, and in some cases, even death.
When people with celiac eat gluten, their immune systems respond by destroying fingerlike projections called villi inside the small intestine. Without villi, the body cannot absorb the nutrients in food, which leads to malnutrition and digestive problems. This may cause lesions in the small intestine. Here’s where things get gross: Undigested food in the intestines absorbs water, causing feces to be looser and carrying with them abnormal quantities of fats, proteins, sugars, iron, and other minerals.
This poor absorption of nutrients can affect other areas of the body. Since vitamin D and calcium are poorly absorbed, a person with celiac disease may develop brittle bones. Impaired absorption of vitamin K can lead to easy bruising. Iron can’t get to the bone marrow because the intestine blocks its passage into the blood. Anemia develops.
Iron deficiency can cause fragile nails, while a lack of folic acid may cause epilepsy. Inadequate vitamin A can lead to vision disturbances and dry mucous membranes. Too little zinc can lead to hair loss and brittle nails. Some other symptoms of celiac disease include mouth ulcers, abdominal pain, itchy skin rash (dermatitis herpetiformis), headaches, fatigue, joint pain, and reduced functioning of the spleen.
According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, some experts estimate 2 million people in the United States have celiac disease and about 1 percent of people around the world have the condition. Celiac disease tends to run in families and there’s a definite genetic component to it but sometimes it may skip a generation. And there may be environmental triggers as well but scientists are still unsure what they are.
Many people have been suffering in silence with celiac disease for decades. The connection to gluten was first recognized in the 1940s, when a Dutch pediatrician noticed that children with this illness fared better under wartime rations when cereal supplies were scarce, only to relapse the minute grains were reintroduced.
Living with celiac disease can mean a complete life change. Omitting gluten from your diet can be challenging because there are a plethora of products that contain the substance including soy sauce, tomato soup, blue cheese, some medicines, mouthwashes, and shampoos. Even communion wafers contain gluten.
Diagnosing celiac disease can be tricky. Often, it can take months or years for a correct diagnosis to be made even though a simple blood test can identify celiac with near certainty. What makes the diagnosis elusive is that symptoms can appear early or late in life, can be mild or severe, can include anemia, constipation, chronic fatigue, osteoporosis, short-term memory loss, mood swings, and even cessation of menstruation. In addition to the blood test, your physician may perform a biopsy of the small intestine to check for damage to the villi.
When gluten is removed from the diet, the intestinal wall begins to repair itself within in as little as three to six days. Those who remove gluten from their diet require no drugs or other treatment.
Left untreated, for those who don’t remove gluten, this may lead to other conditions such as lymphoma, diabetes, lupus and other immune diseases. There is even a heightened risk of certain cancers.
People with celiac disease can eat a wide variety of foods like rice, millet, quinoa, corn, tapioca, soy, buckwheat, potatoes, as well as any foods consisting of protein, fats, as long as it doesn’t include gluten. Here are some recipes to start with on your journey of gluten-free eating. Unlike several years ago, there are resources where you can learn more about gluten-free eating such as the National Celiac Association and the Celiac Disease Foundation.
Eliminating gluten from your meals is easier said than done. But now, there are more and more tasty alternatives to enjoy. Living gluten-free doesn’t have to be a punishment. So don’t be afraid to continue to satisfy your sweet, sour, salty, and tangy cravings with the healthier versions of dishes you love.
