What Exactly Does…

What Exactly Does Having A Gluten Intolerance Mean?

So you have the general question of what is gluten intolerance? This can sometimes be a difficult question to answer. There is confusing information that is being presented by different parties. Gluten intolerance can be named several different names including sprue, Non-tropical sprue, Gluten intolerance, gluten-sensitive enteropathy, and Celiac Disease.

Celiac disease is thought to be an inherited autoimmune disease in which the lining of the small intestine is damaged from eating gluten and other proteins found in wheat, barley, rye and possibly oats. Celiac disease, or gluten intolerance can develop at any age of life. Studies show that celiac seems to run in families. If one person in your family has CD, then your chances of developing it is increased. This disease also seems to be more common in the white race and also in women.

This sensitivity is when the body can’t tolerate the gluten proteins. The villi in the small intestine become flattened. The villi are small hairs that are inside of the small intestine. They are responsible for absorbing the minerals and nutrients that we consume. When they flatten, they can no longer absorb those nutrients as before. Over time that can cause malnutrition in the body.

With CD, it can be hard to diagnose due to the fact that many of its symptoms are the same or similar to other diagnoses. There are several disease that seem to be associated with celiac disease. Some of those are anemia, rheumatoid arthritis, some intestinal cancers, down syndrome, lactose intolerance, miscarriages, neurological problems, osteoporosis, osteopenia, thyroid disease and type 1 diabetes. To think you could possibly save yourself from some of these problems just by cutting gluten out of your diet.