Celiac Disease - Coeliac Disease

Celiac Disease (coleiac disease) is an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine. It a disorder that affects people of all ages.

Other names used are celiac sprue, non-tropical sprue, endemic sprue, gluten enteropathy or gluten sensitive enteropathy.

It is a chronic condition that causes breakdown of the intestinal villi in the small bowel.

According to the Canadian Celiac Association the statistics are not readily available but it is estimated that 1 in 133 persons in Canada are affected by celiac disease.

This can be caused by antibiotics, food allergies, drugs, chemicals or microorganisms, including parasites.

Symptoms

Chronic diarrhea and fatigue are symptoms that people frequently experience.

Other symptoms are very wide range such as

chronic fatigue

irritable bowel

constipation

constant bloating

pain

allergies

weight gain or loss

Some of these symptoms are very similar to Candida Albicans.

Malabsorption of food nutrients in the gastrointestinal tract can lead to malnutrition and variety of anaemias.

What is CD?

Upon exposure to gliadin, a prolamin (gluten protein) found in wheat, the enzyme tissue transglutaminase modifies the protein, and the immune system cross-reacts with the small bowel tissue, causing an inflammatory reaction.

This leads to the villi lining in the small intestine to atrophy. The villi are responsible for absorption and when in this state do not absorb nutrients.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat and other grains such as oats, barley and rye.

Treatment

An effective treatment is a lifelong gluten-free diet.This requires avoiding gluten foods and taking extra enzymes such as Protease to aid breakdown of food.

Important

I suspect a link between Candida albicans (yeast overgrowth) and CD.

It is also suspected that irritable bowel syndrome, crohn's disease and fibomyalgia all stem from Candida albicans.

Do you know anyone who has CD and has gone on a gluten free diet and did not feel much better?

A wise thing to do would be to go on a "Candida" diet and take huge amounts of probiotics and see what difference that makes.

Another thing to do would be to start a diary and watch carefully how you feel after the gluten free diet and then the candida diet.

It is sometimes hard to remember from day to day how your body feels after eating certain foods.

While celiac or coeliac disease is caused by a reaction to wheat proteins, it is not the same thing as a wheat allergy.

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