Gluten Sensitive or Coeliac - How Do You Know?

This has become a BIG subject, so check out the dedicated site now at www.trulyglutenfree.co.uk for much more!

First, a couple of eye-openers about gluten and gluten illness:

1. There is gluten in ALL grains (not just wheat, barley, rye and oats).

2. Some people can be sensitive/intolerant to these other gluten types instead of or as well as having coeliac disease so even if you test for gliadin antibodies, it's more than likely you won't find the problem.Corn, in fact, is a very likely culprit.

3. Coeliac disease and gluten sensitivity are NOT the same thing. Being gluten sensitive is a state of genetics; you  either are or aren't genetically sensitive to gluten. If you are, Coeliac Disease is likely to be just ONE of the manifestations of this gluten problem; there are hundreds of others and none of them include villi damage so you won't confirm it by biopsy. Most gluten illness is somewhere other than the gut. If you are genetically predisposed, it is a matter of time before the damage is done if you continue to eat gluten; that's why most gluten illness starts to show at age 35-45.

4. Most auto-immune disorders have gluten as a common denominator. In fact, people with type 1 diabetes and glutens sensitivity share the same genotype!

5. You don't have to be eating gluten to test for gluten intolerance or sensitivity.You can now do a gene test via a cheek swab which is highly predictive of present problems or future predisposition to gluten problems.

Read more below, go to the resources section for tons more info, get the TrulyGlutenFree ebook , join the TrulyGlutenFree blog site or look at the test options. 

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Coeliac Disease/Celiac Disease, Non Coeliac Gluten Sensitivity, Gluten Intolerance or Gluten Syndrome?

It doesn't matter what you call it, these all describe the same problem really, it's just that different experts call it different things. They all mean you may have a problem with gluten, wherever it may come from. Contrary to popular belief, coeliac disease is not the be-all-and-end-all of gluten sensitivity, but probably just ONE consequence of it. In other words, the gluten intolerance comes first and causes major problems, one of which could be damage to the villi, as in Coeliac Disease [CD], but equally it may cause damage anywhere else.

Gluten expert Dr Peter Osborne provides a list of diseases which, he says, "have been directly associated with gluten sensitivity." The most common ones he cites in his literature include:

Asthma, thyroid disease, eczema, psoriasis, autism, ADD/ADHD, colic, acid reflux, migraine, chronic joint pain, schizophrenia, bipolar, IBS, infertility, chronic constipation, restless legs, iron-deficiency anaemia, osteoporosis, high cholesterol, non alcoholic fatty liver disease (and other gallbladder and liver problems), fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Looking at the four-page list of illnesses (see the download below) he associates with gluten sensitivity [GS], you could be forgiven for thinking that GS could be at the heart of pretty much anything. I think he, and others saying the same thing, are probably right that something we consume on a daily basis isn't suiting us and logically it could affect any part of us, hence the long list of very different illnesses.

Certainly in practice I have seen an even longer list of symptoms caused or exacerbated by wheat and/or dairy intolerance so it stands to reason gluten could be another. Perhaps the villi damage is the extreme, but gluten affects our absorption capacity and leads to macro and micro nutrient deficiencies, which we know can affect any gland, organ or cell in the body? It's an interesting concept and I wouldn't be at all surprised.

One thing's for certain: GS isn't just about digestive issues and many people have no digestive symptoms at all. Many people with GS are missed and in a kind of ‘no-man's land' because they don't have the traditional gluten symptoms of weight loss, gut signs or failure to thrive as a child. GS may not even involve an immune response of any kind (and antibody tests therefore may not be enough to diagnose it) and people can have the total opposite symptoms associated normally with gluten illness.

Now check out the testing options here or find out more in the resources section.

Ongoing Help

Further help is available via consultation, the resources section where you can get a free introductory video, my TrulyGlutenFree ebook, sign up for the TGF newsletter and Membership of the Gluten Free Society in the US who provide a series of fab videos, regular blog posts and much more. They have also just launched a new cookbook.