This Issue: Celiac Disease

It’s hard to diagnose and is often misunderstood. In fact, possibly 90 percent of suerers aren’t even aware they have the autoimmune disease. Here’s what you need to know to protect yourself.

- Karen Robock

IT’S NOT A CELEB-ENDORSED WEIGHT-LOSS PLAN, TRENDY eating style or fancy menu item. For people with celiac disease (CD), eating gluten-free (GF) is so much more — it’s treatment for their disease.

With this condition, the absorptive surface of the small intestine is damaged by ingesting gluten. (Gluten is a general name for a group of proteins in grains like wheat, rye and barley.) This damage can lead to a variety of symptoms, such as the inability of the body to absorb the nutrients it needs, including vitamins and minerals, which are necessary for good health.

The disease affects men and women (though it’s speculated that rates might be higher in women, as with most autoimmune diseases), and there’s no average age of diagnosis (when the disease tends to appear).

Traditionally, CD was thought of as a children’s disease, but experts now know that it can appear at any age, at any time, for people who are genetically predisposed. “It can strike at any time and be triggered by almost anything,” says Dr. Jenni Zelin, a family doctor with a special interest in CD in Charlottetown, P.E.I.

“It’s the great clinical chameleon because it can mimic other diseases and conditions with a variety of symptoms and signs,” says Dr. Zelin. Classic symptoms include chronic diarrhea and weight loss, but many sufferers also experience atypical symptoms that range from osteoporosis to neurological problems, to infertility. This makes CD very difficult to diagnose.

And, unfortunately, it’s likely that a lot of Canadians with CD are undiagnosed or misdiagnosed as a result.

Read on for some expert advice on better understanding CD, and tips for living well with the disease.