Celiac (coelicac) Disease or Gluten Intolerance?
What is it?
Coeliac Disease (CD) is a chronic life-long inflammatory disease of the small intestinal lining and may affect as much as 1% of the UK child population according to the British Medical Journal. It is triggered by a delayed allergic reaction to a protein called gluten in the normal diet. Gluten is a protein found mainly in Wheat and to a lesser extent in Rye, Oats and Barley. Hence the alternative name for the condition of Gluten-sensitive Enteropathy.
It is an autoimmune disease, whereby the body attacks its own tissues. The small intestine, where absorption of your food particles takes place, contains villi which are like tiny hair like projections lining the mucus membranes (see article on digestion), these projections become flattened due to an immune response to ingested gluten and causes some or all of the symptoms listed below.
It is highly prevalent in the United Kingdom as well as the rest of the world, affecting 1 in 300 or more people but can be quite difficult to reliably detect.
It can be confused with other bowel problems so full investigation is important. Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, IBS, diverticulitis, chronic fatigue (see related articles) all have some of the following symptoms which is why a blood test is so important.
What are the symptoms?
- Irritable bowel causing constipation, diarrhoea, loose stools, bulky stools any combination
- Cramping in the abdominal area
- Nausea/sickness
- Bloating and flatulence
- Indigestion/reflux
- Weightloss (not always)
- Fatigue/tired all the time
- General malaise
- Anaemia
- Vitamin and mineral deficiency and malnutrition
- Immune suppressed leading to low resistance to other illnesses
- Diabetes
- Low thyroid and other hormonal imbalances
- Hair loss (alopecia)
- Teeth enamel weakness
- Nail weakness
- Recurrent mouth ulcers
- Joint and bone pain
- Neurological (nerve) problems such as poor muscle co-ordination and numbness or tingling in the hands and feet
- Osteoporosis
- Infertility
- Depression
- Headaches and Migraine
These are just a few symptoms – but wow! These could also be linked to IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) most commonly diagnosed by your medical practitioner. What a mistake! and it happens so much. (see below for what Celiac is and also how to get a proper diagnosis if you need one).
What can you do about it?
Plenty thank goodness but first of all you need to know if the symptoms you are having are linked to any other gut problems and what other presenting symptoms or illness you already have.
My immediate advice will of course be eating the right foods for complete health.
- Follow the 30 day detox programme – this is a vegetarian/vegan eating programme but does contain oats and rice, depending on the severity of your problem you may find these also irritate, if so leave them out and include quinoa, millet and buckwheat. Once the 30 day plan is complete and healing is taking place you may find the oats and rice tolerable.
- When buying grains it is important to check if there is any gluten contained in them – often manufacturers will add gluten to bulk out the packet, so buy from a reputable company – online is usually well trusted as there a sites who specialise in gluten free diets (don’t buy into gluten free products as they contain far too much sugar – more about that later)
If you are not able or willing to follow the 30 day plan (I can assure you it will be perfect for you and you will feel great) cut out all wheat – rye – barley – bulgur wheat – cous-cous-durum wheat- kamut – pearl barley – semolina – spelt
- Eat a vast range of vegetables, lentils, pulses, bean curd
- If you wish to continue to eat meat, (see my article) reduce to a maximum of once daily, especially whilst trying to heal the gut, also dairy. Meat and dairy are acid forming foods and you need to be a far more alkaline state to heal the gut.
What is wrong with gluten free products?
Most of these products contain sugar or sugar substitutes, yeast, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated fats, preservatives and whilst it is easy to grab these products off the shelf – I can guarantee they will not help to heal your digestive system because if you have celiac or gluten intolerance there will be a host of other issues such as candida which needs to be reduced in order for complete healing to take place and full health and vitality to return.
How to get tested
There is only one true test and that is blood – I can assure you that as a practitioner using the BEST system (see BEST system) I cannot possible diagnose this, however, I can always find other gut problems associated with this disease so do not trust anything other than blood.
The blood test will be carried out by your medical health practitioner and will be one or both of the following:
Tissue transglutaminase antibody (shortened to ‘tTGA’)
Endomysial antibody (shortened to ‘EMA’)
Or there is now a new finger prick test available online or at your pharmacy (A report in the British Medical Journal which studied 2690 children and 120 adults showed that the finger prick blood test for coeliac disease was as accurate as hospital laboratory tests (Korponay-Szabo et al. BMJ 2007;335;1244-1247).
No tests will be completely accurate but following a good eating regime, and if you have been diagnosed, keeping off gluten containing foods will allow you to lead a full healthy and normal life.
