CELIAC DISEASE

Celiac Disease and Gluten Free Dieting

Celiac Disease and Gluten Free Dieting

What is celiac disease?

Celiac disease is a digestive disease that damages the small intestine and prevents absorption of nutrients from food. People who have celiac disease cannot tolerate gluten, a protein in wheat, rye and barley (Marsh 2000). Gluten is found mostly in foods but may furthermore be found in everyday products such as medicines, vitamins, and lip balms.

When people with celiac eat food or use products containing gluten, their immune system reacts to the damage or destruction of the villi, tiny fingerlike protrusions lining the small intestine. Willie normally allows nutrients from food to pass through the walls of the small intestine into the bloodstream. Without healthy villi, a person becomes malnourished, regardless of how much food one eats.What are the symptoms of celiac disease?

Symptoms of celiac infection vary from individual to person. Symptoms may occur in the digestive scheme or in other parts of the body. Digestive symptoms are more widespread in infants and juvenile children.

Irritability is another common symptom in children. Malabsorption of nutrients in the years when nutrition is critical for normal growth and development can lead to other problems such as failure to thrive in children with growth retardation and short stature, delayed puberty, and dental enamel defects in permanent teeth (Karr Holmes Catassi 2009).

People with celiac disease may have no symptoms but can still evolve difficulties of the infection over time. Long-term complications include malnutrition, which can lead to anemia, osteoporosis, and miscarriage, among other diseases, liver problems and bowel cancer.How is celiac disease treated?

Only for the treatment of celiac disease is a gluten-free diet. Doctors may ask the newly diagnosed person to work with a dietitian on a gluten-free diet plan (Peter Rory Jones 2009). A dietitian is the professional medical care, which specializes in food and nutrition. Someone with celiac disease can learn from a dietitian how to read ingredient lists and identify foods that contain gluten, to make informed decisions at the grocery store and when eating out.

For most persons following this diet will halt symptoms, heal living intestinal impairment and prevent farther damage. Improvement begins in a few days after beginning the diet. The small intestine usually heals from 3 to 6 months in children, but may take several years for adults (Fasano, 2009). Healed bowel means a person now has villi that can absorb nutrients from food ...