Treating Celiac Disease: An Autoimmune Disease With Many Faces - Part 1
Celiac disease affects many people without them even realizing it. Many people report fatigue, digestive problems, inability to lose weight, or joint pain and they cannot figure out what is causing these symptoms. Celiac may be the cause.
Celiac disease, which is also referred to as celiac sprue, nontropical sprue or gluten-sensitive enteropathy, is almost always characterized by digestive and other symptom that come and go periodically through life, starting after the introduction of specific grains into the diet. There is a strong genetic link for people that have celiac disease. People of European descent are more likely to have the genetic marker associated with celiac disease, though it’s possible to have celiac without the marker. Celiac disease is also more common among people diagnosed with Down syndrome and Turner’s syndrome.
What does celiac disease do to the body and why is it associated with eating certain grains? Some grains have proteins on the cell surface called gluten and, more specifically, gliadin, which trigger the immune response in the intestinal tract. The immune system tries to neutralize the gliadin and, instead, damages the intestinal cells.
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