Celiac Disease
· Definition
· CELIAC DISEASE is the disorder of an abnormal immune response to Gluten, a protein in wheat and other grains.
· Celiac disease leads to inflammation of the intestine after eating wheat or other grains.
· Overview
· Celiac disease is sometimes referred to as a wheat allergy.
· Celiac disease is common, affecting one percent of people from Northern European countries.
· Celiac disease is often misdiagnosed or under diagnosed and as many as 90% of people do not know they have the disease. Up to 40% of people with Celiac disease have no symptoms.
· Celiac disease causes inflammation and damage to the first part of the intestine in response to the ingestion of wheat or other grains.
· Symptoms
· Celiac disease symptoms include:
nonspecific abdominal pain
Unexplained nausea
Weight loss
iron deficiency anemia
diarrhea
· Diagnosis
· Celiac disease can be diagnosed with blood tests for anti -endomysial or anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies.
· Celiac disease can also be diagnosed from a biopsy of the first part of the intestine.
· Complications
· Celiac disease can lead to an increase in risk of certain types of cancer.
· Celiac disease can cause malabsorption of nutrients and weight loss.
· Treatment
· Celiac disease treatment is the complete restriction of the gluten containing grains:
wheat
rye
barley
References
Celiac disease. N Engl J Med. 2007 Oct 25;357(17):1731-43. [PMID: 17960014] Information coming soon
Posted on September 24, 2008
