Celiac Disease, Symptoms & Allergies

What is Celiac disease?

Celiac disease is a genetic auto-immune disease, where eating gluten, a protein found in grains like wheat, barley, rye, triticale and spelt, triggers an autoimmune response (the body attacks itself) in the small intestine.

Long-term, Celiac disease inflames the small intestine, damaging & destroying the villi that absorb nutrients, leading to all sorts of symptoms.

The only treatment for Celiac disease is a strict gluten-free diet for life.

How Celiac disease affects the body

In a healthy person, digested food is absorbed in the small intestine, through villi, finger-like projections that collectively have a massive surface area of around 2,700 square feet.

Over time, in someone with Celiac disease, the auto-immune response destroys the villi, reducing their surface area, sometimes to almost nothing.

The result can be a host of complications like mal-absorption, malnutrition, diarrhea, bloating, fatigue, anemia and over two hundred symptoms, listed below.

Celiac disease diagram

Having Celiac disease is serious, life-changing & life threatening. But getting a diagnosis is the best thing you can do. Then you can manage it with a gluten-free diet, the only known therapy. There is no known cure. It’s better to know you have Celiac disease than continue to eat foods that cause your body to attack itself.

Dermatitis Herpetiformis (DH)

Between 5-10% of people with celiac disease also have DH. The condition shows up as intense itchy and blistering skin rashes on both sides of the body; often on the elbows, knees, buttocks, back of the neck, upper back, scalp and hairline.

At first small blisters form, which erupt and leave scars. DH usually sets in around the 30-40 year mark, but can also happen in kids and

older people.

Ingredients and allergens are listed for each product, so you're free from concern about sticking to your particular diet.

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Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS)

Many people who don’t have Celiac disease can’t tolerate gluten. The terms Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS) and Non-Celiac Wheat Sensitivity (NCWS) describe those people for whom living a gluten-free lifestyle clears symptoms.

It’s thought that between 0.5%-13% of people may have NCGS. Symptoms include tummy pains, bloating, gas, diarrhea or constipation, anemia, headaches, fogginess, depression, chronic fatigue, skin rash, leg numbness and joint pain.

Celiac diagnosis & symptoms

Because there are so many different symptoms, which present in so many different ways, it’s often difficult to tell if someone has Celiac disease. Over the last few years testing has improved dramatically.

Mother and son eating sandwiches

Who Gets Celiac Disease?

Research says around 1 in 133 people in N America carry the Celiac gene. Or about 1% of the population.

In countries like Ireland and Scotland it's as high as one in a hundred, meaning people of Irish or Scottish descent have a higher chance of carrying the gene than the general population.

Many who have Celiac disease are misdiagnosed because symptoms overlap with other illnesses.

it's estimated that 80% of people with Celiac disease don't know they have it. This can lead to serious life-draining illness. If in doubt get tested.

abdominal bloating and pain
chronic diarrhea
vomiting
constipation
pale, foul-smelling or fatty stool

weight loss
fatigue
irritability and behavioral issues
dental enamel defects in permanent teeth

delayed growth and puberty
short stature
failure to thrive
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Adults are less likely to have digestive symptoms. One third experience diarrhea.
unexplained iron-deficiency anemia fatigue bone or joint pain arthritis osteoporosis or osteopenia (bone loss)	liver and biliary tract disorders (transaminitis, fatty liver, primary sclerosing cholangitis, etc.) depression or anxiety peripheral neuropathy (tingling, numbness or pain in hands and feet)	seizures or migraines missed menstrual periods infertility or recurrent miscarriage canker sores inside the mouth Dermatitis Herpetiformis (itchy skin rash)

Long term implications of leaving celiac disease untreated can include:
Iron deficiency anemia Osteoporosis or osteopenia (low bone density) Infertility & miscarriage	Vitamin & mineral deficiencies Central & peripheral nervous system disorders	Pancreatic insufficiency Gall bladder malfunction Lactose intolerance

Testing for Celiac Disease

It's estimated that 80% of those with Celiac disease don't know they have it. If in doubt, or you experience symptoms it's always best to have it checked.

First degree relatives of someone with Celiac should be tested as there is a 5-15% chance of them also developing the disease.

Over the last few years testing has improved dramatically.

Blood Testing

A first step is a blood test for anti-bodies marking celiac disease. But, these tests sometimes don’t show positively because the amount of anti-bodies is too low to detect. On the other hand the tests sometimes show up a false positive.

Intestinal Biopsy

The only real test for diagnosing celiac disease is an intestinal biopsy. A camera through the mouth into the small intestine allows doctors to visually check the state of the villi. At the same time small samples of the intestine are taken and tested for damage and atrophy.

Get Tested

It's thought that only twenty percent of people who actually have Celiac disease are diagnosed. If in doubt, it’s worth getting tested. Especially if you have a first degree relative who has the disease, where the chances are higher. Celiac disease is very serious.

Celiac Disease & Allergies

Evidence shows that if you're Celiac you're more likely to have another allegy. And if you have an allergy, it's more likely you'll develop others.

That's why Kinnikinnick has pioneered baking that's not only gluten-free but free from the Top 8 allergens as well. Safe & scrumptious.

Allergies

Allergies happen when someone's immune system is hypersensitive to harmless (for others) substances in the environment. These reactions include hay fever, food allergies, skin rashes and asthma. Causes range from ingesting the wrong food or medications to insect bites. In worst cases anaphylaxsis can occur, a shock that may even result in death.

In the developed world, it's thought that about

20% of the population suffer from hay fever
6% have at least one food allergy
20% have a skin rash at some point in life
2% or less have an anaphylactic reaction.

Allergic reactions are on the rise.

Autism

Over the years many parents told us that their children with autism seem to get better on a gluten/casein free diet. It was one of the reasons we removed dairy from our ingredients list.

Even though there have been scientific studies that show improvements, there’s still not enough definitive research to claim that a gluten-free diet leads to improvements in behavior. Anecdotally, many parents do report improvements.

More research needs to be done to know the mechanism by which gluten affects those with autism and whether removing it and lactose/dairy from the diet creates provable benefits.

Since 1991 Kinnkinnick has pioneered gluten-free baking, removing more and more known allergens as science confirms more and more people react negatively to them.

Read more about our free from protocols and testing