{"id":6601,"date":"2014-02-19T19:31:02","date_gmt":"2014-02-19T19:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glutenfreeworks.com\/health\/?p=6601"},"modified":"2020-07-11T10:41:50","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T14:41:50","slug":"celiac-disease-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glutenfreeworks.com\/health\/celiac-disease-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Celiac Disease"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Celiac<\/a>

Celiac Disease Can Affect Any Body Organ or Tissue. Click To Enlarge Any Area.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

What Is Celiac Disease?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Celiac Disease is a common health disorder affecting more people than breast cancer or Type 1 diabetes mellitus, but is greatly underdiagnosed.1<\/a><\/p>\n

One\u00a0person in a hundred is estimated to have celiac disease, but less than 5% of these people are being diagnosed.\u00a0 The other 95% are\u00a0being harmed on a daily basis by eating common food like bread and pizza.<\/p>\n

Celiac Disease\u00a0is serious and\u00a0the personal cost can be great.\u00a0 If left untreated, Celiac Disease can cause health problems ranging from inconvenience\u00a0to debilitation and even death.\u00a0It can\u00a0affect work and relationships. The good news is\u00a0that many health problems can be avoided by early diagnosis and eating a gluten-free diet.<\/p>\n

To date, gluten is the only known environmental factor to play a direct causal role in celiac disease, and the only treatment for celiac disease is a gluten-free diet.2<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The Name: Celiac Disease<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u201cCeliac Disease\u201d was the name given to this disorder because it was thought to primarily cause digestive symptoms. \u201cCeliac\u201d means bowel.\u00a0Other names for celiac disease are\u00a0Gluten Sensitive Enteropathy,\u00a0Celiac-Sprue, and\u00a0Non-Tropical Sprue.<\/p>\n

The term, Celiac Disease, is used worldwide. Medical coding systems\u00a0use it for billing purposes and as a tracking tool.\u00a0The\u00a0International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9-CM) code for Celiac Disease is \u201c579.0 celiac disease.\u201d\u00a0This is the code your doctor will use\u00a0for your medical records.<\/p>\n

Celiac Disease Explained\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Celiac Disease\u00a0is a common, inherited\u00a0lifelong sensitivity to\u00a0gluten<\/a>, a protein in the grains of wheat, barley, rye, and oats.\u00a0 When the immune system is activated by\u00a0gluten, the inherited predisposition becomes a\u00a0digestive\u00a0disorder that results in malabsorption of food nutrients with or without digestive symptoms like pain, bloating, diarrhea or constipation.<\/p>\n

Active Celiac Disease involves a specific\u00a0auto-immune response in the small intestine\u00a0that inflames and damages the vital tissues of the lining.\u00a0 Resulting\u00a0health problems\u00a0are called multi-systemic because they may involve any body system.\u00a0Symptoms may be few and mild or mind boggling in number and severity.\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>Characteristics Of Celiac Disease:\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/i>\n\t\t\t <\/b><\/p>\n

1. Genetic – <\/b>runs in families, 2. Chronic – <\/b>cannot go away, 3. Digestive – <\/b>inflames and damages our small bowel, 4. Autoimmune – <\/b>produces self-destructive antibodies,\u00a05. Malabsorptive – <\/b>interferes with nutrient absorption, and 6. Multi-systemic – <\/b>may harm any part of our body.3<\/a> \n\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>\n

1. \u00a0 Genetic.<\/b><\/h4>\n

People who have inherited\u00a0susceptibility genes for Celiac Disease have\u00a0the \u201cpotential\u201d to develop \u201cactive\u201d Celiac Disease. Potential means there\u00a0can be no response without first eating food that is made with wheat, barley, rye, or oats.\u00a0The gluten protein\u00a0precipitates\u00a0development of symptoms.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0 Chronic.<\/b><\/h4>\n

Once developed, active Celiac Disease is self-perpetuating and progressive as long as we\u00a0continue to eat gluten. Damage\u00a0stops\u00a0when we stop eating gluten-containing food.\u00a0 However, we will always be susceptible to future harm from gluten\u00a0because it is part of our genetic make-up.4<\/a><\/p>\n

3. \u00a0 Digestive.<\/b><\/h4>\n

All health problems\u00a0in Celiac Disease begin when gluten contacts the surface of our small intestinal lining.\u00a0Harm\u00a0arises from interaction with partially digested segments of this protein called peptide fractions. These peptide fractions, also called prolamines, are\u00a0\u2019gliadin\u2019 in wheat, \u2018hordein\u2019 in barley, \u2018secalin\u2019 in rye, and \u2018avenin\u2019 in oats. Research studying\u00a0antibodies in children\u00a0at diagnosis\u00a0found that avenin antibodies follow the same pattern as gliadin antibodies but the magnitude was slightly lower.5<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a04. \u00a0 Autoimmune.<\/b><\/h4>\n

Celiac Disease produces a destructive, auto-immune response in our small intestine at the site where gluten is being digested. Once the immune reaction is triggered, inflammation and damage occurs. Inflammation causes intestinal swelling and disorder, resulting in progressive loss of the natural folding of the lining and shape of the intestine. A misshapen bowel can twist on itself or telescope one section into another. Either condition would require emergency surgery.<\/p>\n

Damage occurs to\u00a0the villi and crypts in varying degrees that interferes with nutrient absorption. Villi are minute structures that have the\u00a0function of absorbing nutrients from the food we eat.\u00a0They are multitudinous projections on our intestinal surface that wave in the liquid mix of nutrients passing through them.\u00a0Crypts are valley-like formations\u00a0between villi.\u00a0Progressive inflammation\u00a0leads to collapse of villi and thickening of the crypts, resulting in loss of function to absorb nutrients. Read more\u2026Digestion Guide<\/a><\/i>.<\/p>\n

\"Drawing<\/a>Figure 1.2<\/b>\u00a0Close-up illustration of a small section of the small intestine with flap cut away to reveal inner wall.\u00a0 The inset shows the microscopic finger-like structures, called villi, on the inner surface of the small intestine. Image \u00a0courtesy of the National Institutes of Health.<\/i><\/p>\n

Eventually, our intestinal surface can become flattened, losing both its folding and its villous structures.\u00a0 Its capacity can diminish from the size of a tennis court to that of a table top.6<\/a><\/p>\n

5. \u00a0 Malabsorptive.<\/b><\/h4>\n

Loss of absorption results in malnutrition because damaged villi cannot\u00a0properly finish digestion, absorb or transfer\u00a0the full amounts of nutrients into our bloodstream as required for health.\u00a0 If we become deficient in one or more nutrients (malnutrition), our bodies cannot work well and problems develop.\u00a0Malabsorption\u00a0causes malnutrition, malfunction, and poor health.<\/p>\n

6. \u00a0 Multi-Systemic.<\/b><\/h4>\n

Any part of\u00a0our body can develop problems either from the effects of malnutrition or from toxic gluten peptides that abnormally enter our bloodstream.\u00a0 Once in our bloodstream,\u00a0toxic peptides can directly harm any of our body tissues, causing disorders such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and\u00a0arthritis.\u00a0 Complications can be serious, disabling, or deadly such as\u00a0cancer and hardening of the arteries, which can lead to stroke or heart attack.<\/p>\n

How\u00a0Active Celiac Disease Develops\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Health problems\u00a0cannot begin until we actually eat\u00a0gluten and become sensitized. \u00a0For example, infants do not develop problems until they are introduced to food that contains\u00a0gluten, such as\u00a0a teething biscuit or baby cereal made of wheat, barley, rye, oats, or mixed\u00a0grains. Or, they may\u00a0themselves find\u00a0a piece of\u00a0pretzel inadvertantly dropped on\u00a0the floor.\u00a0 Unfortunately,\u00a0our society\u00a0eats gluten\u00a0in large quantities so that the risk of developing\u00a0health problems can be great.<\/p>\n

The process that leads to active Celiac Disease is not fully known but is under intense investigation. The onset of symptoms requires\u00a0both genes and a trigger. The mechanism involves antibody production and increased intestinal permeability of the small intestinal lining, \u201cleaky gut syndrome.\u201d4<\/a><\/p>\n

1. \u00a0 Susceptibility.<\/b><\/h4>\n

Celiac Disease affects one in about 100 persons of the general population, an epidemic proportion. But, if one member of a family has Celiac Disease, the odds are 1 in 10 that other close family members (parents, children, and siblings) have also inherited the susceptibility genes.7<\/a> Family members should definitely be tested.<\/p>\n

Specifically, Celiac Disease is associated with both HLA genes and non-HLA genes. HLA is short for human leukocyte antigen. Leukocytes are simply white blood cells. The genetic markers for Celiac Disease are certain HLA molecules known as HLA-DQ2 and\/or HLA-DQ8.HLA molecules mark cells as \u2018antigens\u2019, meaning they are detected as\u00a0\u201dnon-self.\u201d Unfortunately, in Celiac Disease, HLA is marking our own tissues as objects for attack by antibodies. About\u00a090 to 95% of celiacs have\u00a0HLA-DQ2 and 5 to 10% have HLA-DQ8.\u00a0Some people, however, \u00a0with Celiac Disease\u00a0do not show either of these HLA molecules.8<\/a><\/p>\n

2. \u00a0 Triggers.<\/b><\/h4>\n

Protein does not normally provoke an immune response when we eat it. And gluten protein does not always provoke an immune response in susceptible people who eat it. However, known triggers that activate the immune response are:<\/p>\n

\n