More people than ever are buying, cooking and eating gluten-free foods — not all require the diet. Gluten-free living appeals to about 30 percent of American adults and despite the lack of scientific clarity, gluten-free eating appears here to stay, whether it’s trendy for some or necessary for others.
Celiac disease is an inherited autoimmune disease that causes damage to the small intestine when gluten is ingested. Celiac disease damages the lining of the small intestine and prevents it from absorbing parts of food and essential nutrients. The damage is due to an immune reaction in the small intestine when eating gluten. Gluten is found in wheat, barley, rye, and possibly oats. Food doesn’t usually trigger a response by the body’s immune system, your defense against microbes and other threat to health. But with celiac, the ingestion of gluten triggers a reaction from the immune system that causes the lining of the small intestine to become inflamed and swollen. This results in the villi, the tiny hair like projections in the small intestine, to shrink and eventually disappear. In a healthy body, the villi absorb vitamins and minerals and other nutrients from food. With shrunken or no villi, a person with Celiac loses the ability to digest and absorb nutrients, resulting in malabsorption. Malabsorption can deprive the brain, nervous system, bones, liver, and other organs of nourishment and cause vitamin deficiencies in iron, folate, niacin, vitamin D, zinc, phosphorus, calcium and vitamin B12.
About 1 in 133 people or .75 percent of the population is celiac. About .4 percent of those people have a doctor-diagnosed wheat allergy. In those people, a true allergic response to wheat (which contains gluten) can include skin, respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms. Celiac disease can affect anyone at any age and can be triggered by pregnancy, severe stress, physical trauma, or a viral infection. Diagnosis can be difficult and symptoms are broad range with no common symptom. Eating certain foods like pizza, pasta, most bread, cookies, cakes, candy bars, canned soup, lunch meat or beer can cause cramps, diarrhea, anemia, skin disorders, osteoporosis, neurological conditions or chronic fatigue and more.
Celiac was once thought to be a rare disease, but now is quite common. Celiac disease is thought to be incurable, but treatable by adhering to a 100% gluten-free diet. You can avoid further damage to your intestinal lining and villi by following the gluten-free diet. Significant healing and re-growth of the villi may take several months in younger people and as long as 2-3 years in older individuals.
All individuals with celiac disease can be at risk for long-term complications. If celiac disease is left untreated, the autoimmune disorder can cause diabetes, multiple sclerosis, dermatitis, anemia, osteoporosis and other illness. Celiac can be a gateway disease and the longer you go without being diagnosed, the greater your risk of developing additional disorders. The major issues that can arise come from malabsorption of nutrients. Some symptoms are gas and bloating, fatigue, chronic diarrhea, constipation, sleeping issues, weight loss or gain, neuropathic issues, brain fog, and hemorrhoids.
Dermatitis herpetiformis, also known as DH and Duhring’s disease, is a skin manifestation of celiac disease. Itchy bumps or blisters appear on the body, on the forearms, knees, and buttocks. Dermatitis Herpetiformis bumps and blisters resemble herpes lesions, but are not caused by the herpes virus. Symptoms of DH tend to come and go, and it is commonly diagnosed as eczema. Most all symptoms normally resolve when on a strict, gluten-free diet.
A gluten-free diet includes:
- Fresh meat, fish and poultry
- Milk and unprocessed cheeses*
- Dried Beans
- Fruit and Veggies
- Corn and Rice
- Amaranth
- Brown Rice
- Buckwheat
- Millet
- Quinoa
- Sorghum
- Wild Rice
- Black Rice
- Oats (marked gluten free due to cross contamination)
Avoid bread and cereal make from wheat, rye, barley and oat flours. Processed foods that contain wheat and gluten derivatives as thickeners and fillers like hot dogs, ice cream, salad dressing canned soup, soup mixes, non dairy creamers, processed cheese, cream sauces, and some medicines can contain wheat. Malt (malt vinegar, barley malt extract), brewer’s yeast and derivatives of wheat such as modified food starch, starch, and dextrin, may also contain wheat. Shared lines with other wheat products could be a problem for some diets.
On August 2, 2013 , the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its long-awaited gluten-free food labeling rule. After August 5, 2014 , all food product and dietary supplements regulated by the FDA must adhere to the food label guidelines for gluten-free. The gluten-free labeling standard of < 20 ppm of gluten is based upon the recommendations of the scientific and medical communities, because there are no analytical methods available that are scientifically validated to reliably detect gluten below 20 ppm. 20 ppm is a scientifically determined level of gluten that has been shown to be tolerated by those with celiac disease and is in line with standards in other countries. There is no requirement that gluten-free foods must be labeled “gluten-free.” Any food product conforming to the standard may be labeled “gluten-free” even if it is naturally gluten-free (i.e., water or fresh produce).
-Mona Claypoole, Director of Marketing and Wellness Support
-Mona Claypoole, Director of Marketing and Wellness Support
