What is Celiac?

Celiac Disease (also known as Celiac Sprue, Celiac Disease, Nontropical Sprue, or Gluten-Sensitive Enteropathy) is a chronic and permanent sensitivity to the food protein gluten, found in the grains wheat, barley, and rye.

Developing the disease requires three things:
1. A genetic predisposition
2. Exposure to gluten through digestion
3. A trigger to start this atypical immune system response. 

Celiac Disease can occur in people of all ages once they have it been exposed to gluten and is the most common genetic disorder in North America and Europe, although it is found in populations all over the world.

           
By now you probably already know that Celiac Disease (CD) is classified as an autoimmune disease, which simply means that the body attacks itself in an inappropriate immune reaction. In CD, the reaction is caused specifically by exposure to gliadin, a protein of the food molecule gluten found in wheat, barley and rye; in most all other autoimmune diseases, the catalyst for starting the inappropriate reaction in the body is not yet known.

Looking further into the actual “Celiac reaction” requires a review of the small intestines. In a normal, healthy person, the small intestine is lined with shag carper-like projection of tissue called villi, in which absorb valuable nutrients into the bloodstream and block the absorption of other molecules. In a person with Celiac Disease, though, the intestinal linings are abnormally permeable, allowing some molecules like gluten to be absorbed through the gut. This leakage through the intestines initiates an immune assault that causes an inflammatory reaction and damages the villi that have absorbed it.


Through repeated absorption and ensuing damage, these villi are ultimately blunted and flattened, destroying the body’s ability to properly absorb food (called “villous atrophy”). The result: your intestines can no longer efficiently or effectively absorb any nutrients from your food, not just gluten. This damage begins a chain reaction in the body that you may or may not notice, depending on how long your body has manifested this active celiac reaction and on your unique symptomology.

The only treatment or prevention of this effect in a person with Celiac Disease is to adhere to a life-long gluten-free diet. There is no magic pill.

Text Exerpt From;

The First Year: Celiac Disease and Living Gluten-Free: An Essential Guide for the Newly Diagnosed

Author: Jules E. Dowler Shepard

Foreward: Alessio Fasano, MD, Founder of the Center for Celiac Research at University of Maryland
ISBN: 073821227X
ISBN-13: 9780738212272
Publisher: Da Capo Press http://www.perseusbooksgroup.com/dacapo/
Pub. Date: December 2008