The Sunday Times has an article today explaining that coeliac disease is not just a fad diet, but a serious disease requiring proper diagnosis and treatment by gluten-free diet.
Coeliac disease is an autoimmune problem, which means that the body produces antibodies to itself when gluten is eaten, eroding the villi in thesmal intestine. It isn’t just a matter of a little bloating, or of avoiding carbohydrates. Coeliac disease can trigger bloating, yes, but also vomiting, diarrhoea, mouth ulcers, skin problems, joint pain, miscarriages, depression, osteoporosis and cancers.
The variety of symptoms means it can be difficult to spot, though diagnosis is fairly straightforward, once the connection is made. Diagnosis is usually made by blood test followed by biopsy – and you should keep eating gluten until a diagnosis is made – or, of course eliminated. Going gluten-free may give inaccurate results of any tests.
It is great to see an article clearly explaining the difference between a fashionable diet and a diet required for medical reasons. All too often, people think that going gluten-free is something optional. Congratulations to Amanda Ursell for giving us such good publicity with such an accurate and helpful article.
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I’ve written a book summarising what we’ve learnt over 20 years of dealing with the gluten free diet, and it might be just what you’re looking for. It packs the lessons we’ve learned into what I hope is a helpful and straightforward guidebook. It’s available on Amazon, as a paperback or for your Kindle… |
