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

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