Coeliac Disease

Coeliac Disease also spelt as Celiac Disease is a disease that affects the digestive system. It is an intolerance to Gluten. Gluten is protein, which is found in wheats, barley and rye. In this report it will cover the Definition of Coeliac Disease, the diagnosis, symptoms, the history of the disease, who gets it and how, and the treatment.

Definition of Coeliac Disease

Coeliac Disease is the allergic response of the digestive system in humans to the protein gluten. Wheat has the most amount of gluten in it and does most of the damage. If a human has untreated coeliac disease the small bowel which is the intestine lining is damaged. This disorder will mainly effect the small bowel from the body reacting to gluten contained in foods.  When someone with coeliac disease eats food or products containing gluten the immune system reacts by inflaming and damaging the villi, the small hair like protrusions covering the inside of the small intestine. The function of villi in the digestive system is to absorb the nutrients. People who suffer from coeliac disease usually have a different appearance of the lining of their small intestine to a healthy human being. It is mostly shrunken and flattened. The figure below shows where the problems take place in the small intestine.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis of coeliac disease involves a doctor to take a careful look through you medical history, including making a thorough search through family members and asking them if they have ever been diagnosed with coeliac disease or any other auto-immune disease such as thyroid problems or osteoporosis. A physical examination will need to be done that could occur feeling your abdomen to make sure it is not another problem, it will also involve getting a general health check by taking your blood pressure and examining your reflexes. A small bowel biopsy, a gastroscopy and ordering blood tests will be needed to make sure of the diagnosis. A test for osteoporosis is encouraged this is done by having a bone density scan. All these tests could be needed but may not be necessary, the tests needed would depend on the symptoms you have.

Symptoms

The symptons of coeliac disease can differ from every human that has it. This can make it challenging to know if you have coeliac disease. Most of the symptoms are caused by the small intestine not doing its work properly by nutrient malabsorption. Some of these symptoms are: Indigestion, diarrhoea, tiredness and abdominal pain. Luckily these symptoms are not as bad in the past because of the greater awareness of coeliac disease in our society. The more severe symptoms 15 years ago were episodic diarrhoea more then 10 times a day. These days these symptoms are rarely seen because it is detected and understood by doctors a lot earlier before the villi are extremely damaged. More signs of coeliac disease could be blood deficiencies that could be in iron, vitamin D, vitamin B12 and zinc folate.

History of The Disease

Aretaeus the Cappadocian was the first to discover the condition in the 1st century CE. The link between diet and the disease was not found until the Second World War, when Willem Karel Dickie a paediatrician discovered that the condition was worsened by wheat. Children with coeliac disease during the war improved from the lack of wheat flour used to make bread. Through the years coeliac disease has been described as other names such as the technical name coeliac sprue.  Coeliac disease is the English spelling of it and the American is celiac. More names used for this disease includes coeliac syndrome, nontropical sprue, idiopathic steatorrhoea, primary malabsorption and gluten insensitivity.

Who Gets it and How

Some doctors and dieticians believe that one in one hundred people suffer from coeliac disease in Australia. Studies have shown that the disease has been found in Western Europe and more common in the Celtic population. Places around the world where Europeans have emigrated have a similar rate of the disease. This disease has been found in countries all over the world in other populations. The disease does affect West Asians but has found to be very rare in people of Japanese or Chinese descent. It is unknown why people in different cultures and countries are affected differently but genetics is understood to play a large part in it. If a person has a first degree relative the rates are increased that there is a 10% chance of that person developing it. If a twin has developed the disease there is a 70% risk of the other twin developing it as well. It is important that if a direct family member has the disease that you should get tested as well. There are other factors that are believed to play a role in the incidence of having this disease such as the introduction of gluten into a child’s diet or the concentration of gluten protein in infant formulas.

Treatment

There is no cure for Coeliac disease but people can still live a very healthy and normal life. The main treatment for this condition is the persons diet. A gluten- free-diet is the great treatment for coeliac disease. There are heaps of food in the world that contain gluten. But people living with coeliac disease have to live without these foods. There are many obvious gluten foods around but people have to be careful about the not so obvious gluten food such as licorice and natural flavorings. People must be very careful about the labeling  and must go further to make sure what you can and cant eat. The main substitute for wheat is rice. Rice contains no gluten. Food manufacturers usually make a substitute for delicious foods and make them into no gluten. There are sometimes products that call themselves wheat free but this does not always mean gluten free. It may be free of wheat but there are other substances that also contain gluten that may be in that product. It is very hard to make a gluten-free lifestyle and it can be very challenging but it will help the people live a healthy life. There are few other treatments for coeliac disease that can involve medication. If a gluten-free diet is unsuccessful drug treatment may be needed, then the patient could take drugs with corticosteroids such as prenisolone and still have a gluten-free diet.