Gluten Intolerance and Celiac Disease

I am so happy to see the media taking a real interest in informing the public about Gluten Intolerance and Celiac Disease.  So many people are suffering from this disease, but have no idea what is wrong with them.

Without knowing it, bakeries have poisoned us over the years by adding more and more gluten to their products!  And of course, our American diet consists of so much baked goods …. it is no wonder that Gluten Intolerance and Celiac Disease is on the rise!

Gluten for punishment

 Celiac Disease awareness growing

 By Linda Watts, Vancouver Courier

Although eating gluten isn’t an issue for many of us, others truly suffer. According to Dr. Scott Whittaker, a gastroenterologist at St. Paul’s Hospital and professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, a small percentage of the population have the genetically-determined illness, celiac disease (CD), and another segment of the public — a larger group — have a more broadly defined condition called gluten intolerance or gluten sensitivity.

Whittaker explains that when an individual with CD consumes gluten, it triggers an immune response in the body that causes an inflammatory reaction in their small intestine. This in turn damages the small intestine lining. And since that lining is the direct pathway for nutrients to enter our bloodstream, proteins, fats, calcium, iron, other minerals and vitamins may not be properly absorbed. ….

Shelley Case, a Regina-based registered dietitian who specializes in celiac disease and the gluten-free diet, says that physicians and other heath care providers are now realizing that the prevalence of CD in the North American population is much higher than initially thought. Once believed to be 1 in 10,000, research over the past decade has revealed that 1 in 100 people have the condition.

Case, who authored Gluten-Free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide (Case Nutrition Consulting Inc., 2010), adds that because the condition is being mistaken for other illnesses, only 5 to 10 per cent of those with CD are being diagnosed. That means at least 90 per cent of people with the disease are walking around unaware.