12 Telling Facts on Celiac Disease

First published 25th May 2020 Robin James

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Celiac Disease is a condition which currently affects millions of people worldwide. In fact, it likely affects many more people than you initially assume! It can be a painful and difficult condition to live with, and unfortunately, it is a condition which has no cure – millions simply have to adapt to it.

Celiac Disease is more than an allergy to gluten. It is an auto-immune disease which makes sufferers intolerant to foodstuffs and products made from specific wheat and grain, specifically gluten in most cases.
Therefore, one of the most straightforward ways to treat Celiac Disease is to adapt to a gluten-free diet. However, it is thought that around 20% of Celiac Disease sufferers do not adapt fully to these dietary changes.
The disease impacts the small intestine most of all. It characterises through the way that a sufferer’s body adapts to the ingestion of gluten. It can lead to their immune systems reacting negatively to the protein.
This can lead to a sufferer developing thinning of their intestinal walls, which makes it more difficult for them to digest nutrients and vitamins for a healthy diet.
There are many different symptoms involved with Celiac Disease. For example, sufferers may find that they experience extreme fatigue, digestive complaints, bloating, depression and even infertility. It is, unfortunately, a wide-ranging condition which can make life hard for many people.
In fact, it’s thought that there are up to 300 different symptoms that a sufferer may experience at any given time.

More and more people are developing Celiac Disease. It is thought that around 1% of the world’s population suffers with the condition, while the condition has grown from affecting one in 10,000 to one in 130 in the USA within ten years.
Diagnosis of Celiac Disease takes place either through endoscopy or through blood testing, though more often than not, both tests will take place to build a bigger picture.
Celiac Disease is thought to be able to start developing in adults at any time, providing they ingest gluten. Celiac Disease is much different to simple gluten intolerance in that the symptoms vary more, and that it could make life more painful and difficult for sufferers.
Current research suggests that there may be up to 83% of Celiac sufferers in the US who are currently going undiagnosed.
Diagnosis can take a long time to take effect. It could take up to ten years before you know for certain whether or not you suffer from the disease.
There are currently no medicinal treatments or remedies on the market which can help cure Celiac Disease. As such, the only treatment experts currently advise is taking on a diet which is 100% free from gluten.