What Exactly is Celiac Disease?
When you hear of celiac disease (CD), you will also hear of gluten. If you don’t know what either of those are this article will clear the air, and if you think CD is a gluten allergy then keep reading so you can support friends or family who have CD with your new knowledge.
First of all, what exactly is gluten? It is a protein found in certain cereal grains: wheat, barley, rye and oats (except, “pure/uncontaminated oats”). Other grains like rice, quinoa and even buckwheat do not contain gluten, while other species of true wheat like couscous, spelt, farro, kamut, emmer and red fife contain this protein and therefore are not gluten-free.
When someone with CD consumes any form of gluten or products made from gluten, such as potatoes coated in wheat starch, teriyaki sauce thickened with wheat flour, malted sweets (barley malt) and any beer made with barley (that’s basically all beer by the way); their body has a haywire reaction — that’s the AUTO-immunity/SELF-attacking. The presence of this tiny chain of amino acids, this protein, in any food or drink product, triggers the body to attack it’s own healthy tissue. Let’s clarify this with a brief description of an immune allergic reaction and what intolerance often means…
In an allergic reaction, the body will have a haywire response against a normally-safe protein that it deems unsafe. For example if someone is allergic to the casein protein in dairy, then they drink milk, their body breaks the drink into sugars (lactose), fat, and protein (casein). They may be fine with lactose but when the body sees casein it creates an immune reaction against the casein protein and inflammation ensues. This inflammation can be as minor as bloating/diarrhea and redness/skin rash to as severe as anaphylaxis. That casein exposure can also cause symptoms throughout the body such as acne and joint pain. Many other food allergies cause symptoms throughout the body too (think, gut health and leaky gut — another story). However once the casein protein has been engulfed by immune cells and cleared by digestion, the reaction is over (usually lasts 2 hours to 2 days). Skin rashes and other symptoms might take longer for the body to clear, but there is little long term risk — minus death being the obvious long term risk of severe allergy.
Alternatively if the person was lactose intolerant that means their body doesn’t produce enough enzymes needed to break down the lactose sugars, but they are not creating an immune response against the milk protein. True allergy is a reaction to a protein. Lactose intolerance is generally associated with digestive symptoms in reaction to clearing an undigestible chain of sugars from the guts. The typical gassiness of lactose intolerance is a matter of undigested substances fermenting in the lower intestine where only digested materials are meant to be present for absorption of nutrients. Often this inability to digest leads to a, “fine, I’m kicking you out,” by the body — eek… where’s is the closest bathroom?!
Gluten intolerance or non-celiac gluten sensitivity (a conditioned dubbed NCGS in nutritional literature) is similarly an inability to digest gluten containing foods but the cause is still unknown by researchers. NCGS can also lead to very uncomfortable short term symptoms due to the presence of gluten in the intestines. It’s a mysterious condition in which symptoms can happen all over the body, just like an allergy or auto-immune reaction, including joint pain, depression and anxiety. Living with these symptoms regularly can seriously affect mental health, relationships, ability to work and exercise… basically someones whole life. However once that foodstuff is cleared from the body and the inflammatory response cools down, the long term risk is essentially nil.
Celiac disease, on the other hand, is an auto-immune reaction against the body’s own tissue triggered by the presence of gluten proteins. See the difference? In an allergy, someone may have a minor or extremely severe short term reaction to clear a protein. Also note, in terms of gluten foods, just wheat allergy (WA) is common and not all gluten grains. However in my experience of being a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and having CD for 10+ years, I have never heard of a WA this bad. Keep in mind someone may have WA and NCGS at the same time.
The long term risk of triggering an auto-immune CD reaction is extremely dangerous to the individual. It is a slow death, and here’s why…
The tissue the body attacks in the presence of gluten proteins when someone has celiac disease is the skin lining the intestines. This is the surface where almost all nutrients from the diet are absorbed. If you scar and damage that surface long term (from undiagnosed celiac or continuing to be exposed to gluten) you are at risk of malnutrition and many associated conditions such as anemia, osteoporosis and neurological degradation. Imagine you eat healthy foods, do all the right things, exercise, but your body cannot absorb those nutrients from point A, the intestine, to point B, the bloodstream. The surface area of the intestine, with all the folds of skin and villi, is about the size of a tennis court. Someone with scarring and damage from CD is chipping away at that court and shrinking it throughout life if they continue to eat gluten.
The list of symptoms and conditions associated with CD is over 200 items long. The most common symptoms are exactly what you would expect: diarrhea/constipation, bloating, inflammation, gas, brain fog, migraines/headaches, acne. However the felt symptoms are small change compared to the big bill of long term conditions.
Malnutrition and related conditions are the effect of degraded intestinal health but what comes along with that auto-immune reaction? Chronic inflammation. Short term inflammation is your friend, chronic inflammation leads to chronic inflammatory diseases (CIDs) therefore anyone who has CD and is regularly exposed to gluten is at higher risk of type II diabetes, heart disease, cancers and more.
So when someone asks, “what happens when you eat gluten” as someone with celiac I feel triggered because I know they want to hear… “Oh I just shit my pants for a few days,” and laugh it off (not true, and I haven’t deliberately eaten gluten since the sweet summer of 2010).
Truthfully I live in fear of the long term health consequences of cross contamination or accidental exposure such as heart disease, bowel/intestinal cancer, infertility, multiple sclerosis, neuropathy and more. Truthfully I don’t want to talk about the short term pain and stress I’m under if I get exposed and the constant inner conversations I have with myself, regaining inner peace, finding inner balance, meditating and training myself not to live in fear of my own body. I’m very thankful for my diagnosis because knowing I have full blown CD helps me stay diligent and practice self-care through continually communicating about my needs at every meal. If I went through life thinking I was gluten intolerant I would still be living in a fog, thinking the pain in my abdomen was just, ‘my normal,’ accepting the status quo that my low health became over years of slow decline.
I’m thankful I have celiac disease because going gluten-free showed me my human potential and now I know how good I can feel. Staying in this mindset is what frees me from my stress or feelings of restriction. That, along with my training as a Registered Holistic Nutritionist (R.H.N.). Read this to learn what Holistic Nutrition is all about. Thank you for reading and please comment to learn more or clarify; and share with anyone who needs to know!
