Celiac Disease/Gluten Intolerance 
 
A Genetic Immunologic Disease
 
An intolerance to the gluten, found in wheat, barley, oats, and rye, affects many people worldwide -- forcing sufferers to avoid foods that contain these grains at all costs.
This intolerance, Celiac Disease, is the most common genetic disease in Europe. Although an estimated one in 4,700 Americans have been diagnosed with this disease, a study from the Red Cross suggests that as many as 1 in every 250 Americans may have it.

What Is Gluten?
Gluten is a cohesive, elastic protein found in wheat, rye, oats, and barley. Gluten is made up of proteins classified in two groups, the Prolamines and the Glutelins.

Gliadin, a prolamine seems to be the catalyst in Celiac Disease. For a gluten intolerant person, this offending substance damages the lining of the intestines and flattens or atrophies the small airlike projections that normally protrude from the intestinal surfaces to absorb food. These projections are called villi.

What Is Celiac Disease?
Joseph Murray, MD, defines Celiac Disease as a permanent intolerance to gluten that results in damage to the small intestine and is reversible with avoidance of dietary gluten.

Because the villi become damaged they are unable to absorb water and nutrients. This causes the celiac to be susceptible to a variety of other conditions related to malabsorption.

Symptoms
The symptoms of Celiac Disease can vary with each individual. They can range from no symptoms at all to severe gas, bloating, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. If untreated, malnutrition can occur. If left untreated too long it can be life-threatening.

Symptoms do not always involve the digestive system. It can cause irritability, depression, muscle cramps, joint pain, fatigue, and menstrual irregularities, to name a few.

Reactions to ingestion of gluten can be immediate, or delayed for weeks or even months.

Diagnosis
There is no test yet which is definitely diagnostic of celiac disease.

Blood antibody tests (endomysial, reticulin (IgA), and gliadin (IgG and IgA) are used to measure levels of antibodies to gluten. If the antibodies in the blood are higher than normal then a biopsy of the small intestine is done.

A biopsy of the lining of the small intestine checks for damage to the villi. If the villi appear damaged then a gluten-free diet is introduced. Another biopsy is done after 6 months or more of dieting.

Relief of symptoms or reversion of an abnormal intestinal biopsy is the most convincing evidence that an individual has celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.

Who Is At Risk?
Celiac disease is hereditary and primarily affects whites of northwestern European ancestry. It rarely affects blacks, Jews, Orientals, and people of Mediterranean ancestry. It affects twice as many females as males, and usually affects more children than adults.

It can be triggered by over exposure to wheat, severe stress, emotional or physical trauma, surgery, or a viral infection.

Some people with wheat allergies are not gluten intolerant and can eat rye, barley and oats.

Other Names For Celiac Disease
Listed below are the names associated with Celiac Disease. All the names refer to the inability to tolerate gluten.

Celiac Sprue (CS)
Celiacs
Coeliac Disease
Gee-Herter's disease (or syndrome)
Gluten Intolerance
Gluten Sensitive Enteropathy (GSE)
Gluten Sensitivity
Idiopathic Steatorrhea
Intestinal Infantilism
Malabsorption Syndrome
Nontropical Sprue (Nts)
The Celiac Affection
The Celiac Condition
The Celiac Syndrome

Treatment
The only acceptable treatment for Celiac Disease requires a life-time adherence to a strict diet that avoids all products that contain gluten. An adherence to a gluten-free diet can prevent almost all complications caused by the disease.

Reading product food labels is important. Wheat is not the only offender, watch out for other offending grains such as rye, oats and barley. Remember products labeled wheat-free are not necessarily gluten-free.

Other key words to watch for are: farina, flour, caramel coloring, enriched flour, cereal, malt flavoring or extracts, MSG, modified food starch, emulsifiers, stabilizers, distilled vinegar, semolina, durum, and triticale.

Gluten is often used as a thickener. Be sure to read the labels on canned soups, catsups, mustards, soy sauce and other condiments -- many contain gluten.

Treatment, or in this case, a gluten-free diet is important because people with Celiac Disease could develop complications like cancer, osteoporosis, anemia, and seizures.

Related Disorders
Celiac Disease is linked to many immune related disorders. The best established connection is with Type I diabetes (mellitus).

Some other illnesses related to Celiac Disease are chronic active hepatitis, chronic fatigue syndrome, and inflammatory bowel disease.

Some researchers believe that gluten intolerance can impair mental functioning in some individuals. They also believe it can cause or aggravate autism, attention deficit disorder (ADD), and schizophrenia.

Since gluten can damage the villi, it is common for celiacs to have problems with lactose intolerance also