OK I’m going to ask. Why did I never hear about allergies to gluten until the last few years? Is any of this psychosomatic or part of an obsession with health issues?
Not at all, ringil. The reason you didn’t hear about it is because you had no contact with it. I had never heard of celiac disease either, until our son got very ill and was on the verge of death. I was freaked out when the doctors told us he could never again eat wheat, barley or rye! But we went forward because the life of our son depended upon one thing - his diet.
It was thought to be uncommon, but in actuality, it is the most common autoimmune disease, I believe worldwide. 1:133 people has it. But sometimes it takes years to be activated, and years to be properly diagnosed. Many women are diagnosed when they are having problems trying to conceive. Infertility is one of the fallouts of malnutrition.
Unfortunately, there has been some faddish attention lately. Some people believe that the gluten-free diet is somehow healthier for everyone, and they promote it as if it is necessary and desirable. But the GF diet is very stringent. People who do not truly need to be on it, are not going to treat it as seriously as those who have the medical need. So if you have one of those people, who has just heard something about the diet being healthier, who goes into a restaurant and tells the server, “I need gluten free food,” but then orders something not gluten free, or takes the bun off the hamburger (a celiac would never be safe doing something like that), or eats the toppings off of the pizza, it reduces the seriousness of the diet for people who DO need it.
As well, there are those people who should be on the strict diet but who cheat, like diabetics who eat cake and candy. There will always be a certain number of non-compliant patients in any given diagnosed population. But those people do not represent the disease well to the larger public.
Here is an info sheet on the disease. You might find it interesting.
Mayo Clinic - Celiac Disease
The last paragraph describes my son: *Seek medical attention for a child who is pale, irritable and fails to grow, and who has a potbelly and foul-smelling, bulky stools. Other conditions can cause these same signs and symptoms, so discuss it with your child’s doctor before trying a gluten-free diet. *
Anyone who suspects celiac disease should do more than merely discussing it with their doctor. They should be thoroughly tested, because once they go on the GF diet, if the problem was celiac disease, their small intestine will begin to heal and the tests could be rendered useless.
That is common sense when dealing with gluten free items.
How about 8 that I know of. Since I run the local support group, I normally find out about people with Celiac then tell them to talk to the priest about how to receive.
