Dieting has become a new way of life in today’s culture. People remove foods from their diets that they think are bad or unhealthy for their lifestyle. While some people do not have the choice about what they need to cut from their diet. There are many different types of diets that need to exclude things like dairy, meats, and even types of grains. Diets that need to be strictly enforced because of a person’s reaction to a type of food, whether that be hives forming in an area of the body or symptoms leading to a more dangerous measure such as inflammation. Wheat can have a serious impact on some people. In today’s culture doctors have narrowed it down to “3 major wheat-related food illnesses: celiac disease (CD), non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS), and wheat allergy.” (Fasano, A., M.D., & Catassi, Carlo,M.D, 2012, 2419-2426.) Out of the three of these, celiac disease is the most severe. Celiac disease targets the digestive system and ultimately affecting the whole body. In an article titled “Celiac Disease” MD Fasano states that “CD affects .06 to 1% of the population worldwide” (Fasano, A., M.D., & Catassi, Carlo,M.D.) In this paper, the disease known to us as celiac disease will be discussed. But before getting into any more detail on this disease, the reader must understand the medical definition of celiac Disease. Celiac disease is “an autoimmune disorder involving both an innate and adaptive immune response that occurs among genetically predisposed subjects who are exposed to gluten-containing foods and other environmental factors.” (Fasano, A., M.D., & Catassi, Carlo,M.D)
To understand celiac disease, the reader must understand this disease presents itself in symptoms but actually starts all the way back with genetics. Not anyone can randomly start having celiac disease, it starts within the cells. There are factors within the cells that can allow for the body to be more suitability to developing full active celiac disease. There are many genetic factors that influence the body to create celiac disease. For example, in a medical review titled “Oral Diseases” it states;
HLA class II genes HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8 are the best-characterized genetic susceptibility factors in celiac disease. These molecules are expressed on the surface of the antigen-presenting cell in the gut lamina propria and play a central role in celiac disease pathogenesis because they are responsible for presenting modified gluten peptides to CD4+ T cells, thereby eliciting a gluten-specific immune response. (Rivera E, Assiri A, Guandalini S, 2013, 635-41)
There are other genetic factors, but as the quote says, this is a huge factor. Then there is environmental factor. In the process of celiac disease acting the body one must be in contact with a form of gluten. For example, some people who have celiac can play with play-do, while some cannot because play-do has wheat in it. It all depends on the severity of one’s CD. When someone with CD digests gluten in some form it goes down the digestive tract. It starts having an affect when it gets to the smaller intestines. Cellier Green P.H.D. states in an article titled “Celiac Disease” that once it gets to the smaller intestines “gluten is partially digested into gliadin fragments that gain entry through the epithelial barrier of the intestinal mucosa in the setting of increased mucosal permeability.”(Green, 2015, 1099-1106 as cited in Green, 2007, 1731-1743). Once this happens the cilia hair, which reside in the smaller intestines, are flattened and sometimes destroyed. These cilia hair are known to absorb nutrient that come through from food. This may cause malnutrition in people who have celiac disease, which in the end affects the whole body and can lead to death.
Celiac can be diagnosed through physical symptoms that can be further confirmed by serologic screening and a biopsy of the small intestine. P.H.D. Green states that symptoms can range from;
chronic diarrhea, weight loss, and abdominal distention (in 40 to 50% of patients). Other manifestations include iron deficiency with or without anemia, recurrent abdominal pain, aphtha’s stomatitis, short stature, high aminotransferase levels, chronic fatigue, and reduced bone mineral density. (Green, 2007, 1731-1743).
These physical symptoms play a big role in the hinting that there is a larger medical problem at hand, then just some tiredness or weigh loss. Once these physical signs have manifested, one can go and get a biopsy, which will confirm if the suspicions are real. There are many possibilities in results resulting from these diagnostic tests. In an article titled, “Endomysial antibodies-negative celiac disease: clinical characteristics and intestinal autoantibodies deposits” test results are explained in the following way:
The characteristic histologic changes include an increased number of intraepithelial lymphocytes (>25 per 100 enterocytes), elongation of the crypts, and partial to total villous atrophy.1 However, false positive results (e.g., normal mucosa with an atrophic appearance in a specimen that has not been cut longitudinally) and false negative results (owing to patchiness of the mucosal damage) may occur. The detection of sub epithelial anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody IgA deposits by means of double immunofluorescence may be useful in patients with an uncertain diagnosis, such as patients with negative serologic results and positive results on biopsy. (Salmi, Collin P, 2006, 1746-1753)
Through these two tests and the physical symptoms, there can be a logical assertion that one may be suffering from CD.
The way to manage celiac disease is to cut gluten and all products that are gluten from one’s diet. There cannot be any ingestion of gluten if one wants to get rid of the symptoms of celiac. It is stated that even if one ignores wheat and its products, intestinal damage can continue because of how easily food can be contaminated. (Fasano, A., M.D., & Catassi, Carlo,M.D, 2012, 2419-2426.). At the current time, there is no “cure” for celiac disease, just the excluding wheat from one’s diet.
Celiac disease affects 1% of the world’s population and there has yet to be a cure for this up and coming disease. This intestinal disease can cause much damage to a person’s body and even lead to death if it is not treated correctly. However, the treatment which consists only of diet restrictions is enough to keep a person with celiac disease free from symptoms.