Coeliac Disease: Could A Gluten Sensitivity Be Compromising Your Health?

Different health concerns can interact in unusual ways.

For example, a US HSI member named Eileen wrote in about a personal experience in which she lowered her triglyceride (blood fat) level by cutting back on carbohydrates. But it wasn't quite that simple. She was also having digestive difficulties, so she did some research and found out why. Eileen writes:

'I figured out that the gluten in certain foods was the culprit. This is called coeliac disease. The gluten flattens out the villi in the small intestine and prevents the normally secreted digestive juices in the small intestine from being able to help. I ceased my intake of gluten foods, no wheat, rye, oats, barley, modified food starch, or spelt for me. This in effect took care of the triglycerides. I am 99.99% rid of the problem. I can always tell when an offender sneaks into my food.'

Eileen is fortunate that she successfully brought her triglyceride level under control. But controlling coeliac disease (CD) is just as important, because when this problem becomes chronic, it opens the door to very serious health risks.

Developing sensitivity
To understand coeliac disease, first we need to look at gluten, as the condition is also known as gluten intolerance.

Gluten is a typical component of several different grains. As a primary ingredient of flour, gluten delivers protein and gives bread a higher rise. The problem with gluten is that many people don't tolerate it well - complicated by the fact that a good number of these people aren't even aware of their sensitivity.

I asked US HSI Panellist Dr Allan Spreen, for his insights on gluten basics, and here's what he had to say:

'The high-gluten grains are within the mnemonic BROW (Barley, Rye, Oat, Wheat). When completely unrefined, these grains in and of themselves are not the problem. It's when sensitive individuals run into them that trouble can occur (not counting the dangers of refining them into low-nutrient, low-fibre, high-starch blood sugar stressors).

Most often, reactions can involve swings in blood sugar, which can manifest as irritability, headache, difficulty concentrating, fatigue, increased appetite, and subsequently weight problems.

'Constant exposure to one food can cause a person to become 'sensitised.' This is most common in the case of wheat, since wheat is absolutely everywhere. If a person craves grains, cereals, breads, etc., or eats them every day, I often test them by avoiding the potential offending agent for 7 days (21 for dairy). Sometimes the results are remarkable.'

An underestimated disease
Coeliac disease is an auto-immune disorder in which gluten creates an obstruction to the absorption of nutrients in the small intestine. When coeliac disease (CD) goes untreated, malnutrition develops, followed by a chronic condition that may trigger other dangerous ailments, including gastrointestinal cancer.

Last year, the Archives of Internal Medicine published a report of a large coeliac disease study conducted in several different medical centres throughout the US. Knowing that coeliac disease (CD) is often genetically inherited, the researchers set out to compare the prevalence of coeliac disease (CD) in an at-risk group to a not-at-risk group.

The scientists took blood samples from more than 13,000 adults and children. Almost 75 percent of the subjects were thought to be at risk for coeliac disease (CD) because of family history or prior symptoms. In this at-risk group, coeliac disease proved to be present in almost 4 of every 100 subjects. In the not-at-risk group, one in every 133 subjects was shown to have coeliac disease (CD).

These results suggest that coeliac disease is far more common than was previously believed to be the case. Given the knowledge that this is not as rare a disease as previously thought, the researchers hope that doctors will be more inclined to test for it, increasing the possibility that a greater number of cases will be caught in the early stages.

Lessons from history
The problem with diagnosis of coeliac disease (CD) is that the symptoms are sometimes directly related to digestion (as with abdominal cramping, unexplained weight loss, and chronic diarrhoea), but sometimes not (as with osteoporosis, joint pain, and depression). If any of these symptoms occur in a patient with family history of coeliac disease (CD), this should stand out as a red flag for any physician.

The primary treatment for coeliac disease is adherence to a strict non-gluten diet - but this is easier said than done. As Dr. Spreen has pointed out, refined 'BROW' grains are the primary culprits and should be completely avoided. But gluten may be hidden in some foods such as soups, soy sauce, low-fat or non-fat products, and even in sweets such as jelly beans. Some common food ingredients that may contain gluten include: modified food starch, hydrolysed vegetable or plant protein, and some binders and fillers, as well as malt and natural flavourings.

Fortunately, if diagnosed early and addressed before it has a chance to do serious damage, coeliac disease is relatively easy to treat. If you believe that you may be experiencing symptoms of coeliac disease (especially if the family history is there), ask your doctor or dietician to provide you with specific strategies for recognising and avoiding hidden gluten in your diet.