To the uninitiated, celiac disease is a genetically inherited autoimmune disorder also known as gluten intolerance. Gluten is the protein which provides elasticity in foods made with the grains wheat, barley and rye. These are grains that celiacs must avoid. Oats used to be included in this hazardous grains list, but recent studies in Finland, among others, have suggested that celiacs can safely include large amounts of wheat-free rolled oats in their diets without adverse effects.

Because celiac disease is not a food allergy, but rather an autoimmune disorder like diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis, those afflicted with it must have both a genetic predisposition as well as the presence of an environmental factor to trigger its onset. For most autoimmune diseases, the triggers are not yet known; however, for celiac disease, we know that trigger is gluten. In response to exposure to this trigger, celiacs produce antibodies to attack the gluten, but the same antibodies also attack the intestine, causing damage to the villi lining the small intestine as well as potentially instigating a host of resulting illnesses.

The vexing difference between gluten intolerance and food allergies is that gluten intolerance often takes much longer for symptoms to arise after exposure, thus making the link between the offending substance and the symptomatic complaints difficult to recognize. In fact, because of a general lack of awareness of the many ways it can manifest itself, celiac disease has taken an average of 10-12 years to diagnose in most patients. Fortunately, a preliminary diagnosis can now be made with a simple blood test to screen for the presence of specific gluten antibodies, although an endoscopic biopsy of the small intestine is necessary before a formal diagnosis can be made.

Celiac disease is currently thought to affect nearly 1 in every 133 Americans, or over 2 million people in America alone. Recent studies show that the presence of celiac disease in the United States is as frequent as it is in Europe, and that similar results were obtained in Africa, South America and Asia, where celiac disease had previously been considered a rare disorder.

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