Signs of celiac disease, gluten sensitivity

(KRON) - One in 133 Americans across all races, genders, and ages suffer from celiac disease, and 83% of them don’t know it.

Despite these statistics, there’s been a gluten-free explosion. By 2019, gluten-free product sales had grown from $580 million in 2004 to $4.3 billion, and it’s estimated to reach $7.5 billion by 2027. To break this down for us, our health expert, Karen Owoc, is here to explain the disease, the trend, and who’s at risk.

What is Gluten?

• Gluten is a general name for the proteins in wheat (e.g., wheat berries, durum, emmer, semolina, spelt, farro, graham Kamut®, einkorn), barley, and rye, and triticale (a cross between wheat and rye).

• Gluten gives foods their “stretchability” (think tossing pizza dough) and helps foods, like breads, cakes, and pastas hold their shape (acts like a glue). So when you bake with gluten-free flours, you have to make some ingredient adjustments to help keep your product from falling apart and crumbling.

What is Celiac Disease?

• Celiac disease is a condition in which the immune system is abnormally sensitive to gluten (a protein found in wheat, rye, barley)

• It is a serious autoimmune disorder. Eating food containing gluten causes the body to produce an immune response that attacks the small intestines and other tissues and organs.

Note: People that have a gluten intolerance or sensitivity don’t have an auto-immune response to gluten, but may have symptoms. All people had to do was give up wheat and claim they felt better and diagnosed themselves as gluten-intolerant.

• The Lining of a Healthy Intestine: A healthy intestine has small finger-like structures called “villi” (pronounced VIL-liyh) inside the small intestine. The villi trap food, so the nutrients can be absorbed into your body.

• Celiac diseased intestine: Immune response attacks on the small intestine cause “villous atrophy”, where the villi are ‘flattened’ and damaged by celiac disease, which makes it impossible to absorb nutrients, resulting in malnourishment.

• If a gluten-free diet isn’t strictly followed, the immune system becomes overactive causing chronic systemic inflammation, which leads to chronic disease.

Areas Affected By Celiac Disease

• When celiac disease goes undiagnosed or is misdiagnosed, it can have serious health consequences. The average time a person waits to be correctly diagnosed in the U.S. is 6-10 years.

• There are over 300 known symptoms associated with celiac disease, which makes an accurate diagnosis difficult and often delayed.

Symptoms include:

• BRAIN: Headache, dizziness, migraines, depression

• MOUTH: Ulcer and tooth enamel erosion

• JOINTS / MUSCLES: Pain, swelling, chronic fatigue

• BONES: Osteoporosis

• STOMACH: Pain and nausea

• INTESTINAL: Diarrhea, bloating, constipation

• SKIN: Brittle nails, acne or eczema

• FEMALE ORGANS: Infertility (1 in 6 women with infertility have undiagnosed celiac disease)

How Celiac Disease Is Diagnosed

• Endoscopy with duodenal biopsy showing villous atrophy (the gold standard).

• Antibody screening (tTG-IgA Test) — a simple blood test.

• Sometimes a genetic test and/or small intestinal biopsy are performed for confirmation.

• Celiac disease in older adults is often misdiagnosed as some type of gastrointestinal distress, which is common in the elderly.

A Sick Gut (Intestine) Has Serious Consequences

• 70% of the body’s immune system is in your digestive tract.

• Your gut wall houses 70% of the cells that make up your immune system.

• A healthy gut promotes a healthy immune system.

Who’s At Risk

• Tends to run in families.

• Can strike at any age. You can eat gluten for most of your life and never get sick, but all of a sudden, you can’t digest gluten.

• Today, the majority of celiac patients that have the gene have “latent disease” (they have the gene, but do not show symptoms yet).

• In people who are genetically prone to celiac, a change in the composition of the gut bacteria could trigger the autoimmune response. This could be the cause of the celiac epidemic.

• Surgery, antibiotics, an infection, or stress (e.g., death of a close family member, friend, or spouse) can change the bacterial composition.

Treatment

• Currently, removing gluten from the diet is the only treatment for celiac disease.

The Trend

• Health trends, e.g., weight management and “clean” eating (less processed foods), have led to the gluten-free trend.

• Gluten-free for weight loss became a trendy weight loss diet when Lady Gaga announced she was maintaining a strict gluten-free diet to shed 10 pounds.

• There is NO scientific evidence that going gluten-free causes weight loss.

The Downside of a Gluten-Free Diet

Eliminating gluten is not recommended unless you have celiac disease.

• B vitamin intake is lower.

• Levels of arsenic in the blood are higher in those following a gluten-free diet, due to the high intake of rice (rice flour).

The Takeaway: If you have any of the signs and symptoms of celiac disease, it’s imperative to see a doctor immediately

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