Celiac Disease – Cause, Symptoms and Treatment

You have probably heard of someone who has an intolerance to gluten. This is not an uncommon condition nowadays , we are talking, of course, about celiac disease, which usually affects children between 1 and 3 years old and is more common in women than in men.

Cause of Illness

The cause of the disease is the body’s difficulty in processing gluten , which can generate reactions in the entire body, especially in the intestine. Celiac disease usually affects people who are genetically predisposed to having this type of intolerance, that is, you cannot catch or pass this type of disease to someone else.

It is an autoimmune disease and not a type of allergy and this is an important detail, as many people end up confusing and trying to find a cure through other types of treatments.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis of the disease is made only through blood tests , as there are several types of symptoms that may indicate conditions other than celiac disease in the person.

This condition manifests itself in a much more common way in children up to one year of age, but there are cases in which it only appears in adulthood, usually with a lower degree of intolerance than that of children. Despite manifesting itself mostly in women, men are not free of the disease, not even in adulthood.

What is Gluten?

Before we talk about the disease itself, it is important to know exactly what we are talking about. Gluten is a protein found in several foods , mainly in pasta. It has the function of making the dough more elastic and more resistant, in addition to also helping in the growth of foods such as cakes and breads.

Main Foods Containing Gluten

Gluten is present in several very common foods for us . Despite this, there are companies that manage to modify and adapt their recipes to remove this protein from their products. The main foods that contain gluten are:

  • Breads, cakes, toast and crackers
  • Sauces like ketchup, mayonnaise and shoyo
  • Snacks like hot dogs and hamburgers
  • Pizza
  • Beer
  • Chips
  • Wheat
  • Processed cheeses
  • Processed foods

The list may be much longer than that, containing several details about other types of food, but it is important to have a sense of what a person with this condition may or may not eat in their daily lives . In Brazil, there is a law that requires manufacturers to indicate on their packaging whether the product contains gluten or not.

Symptoms of Celiac Disease

Now that we understand what this protein is and where it is found, it is also important to understand how celiac disease manifests itself in people’s bodies . When eating foods with gluten, the body of those who have this disease, has difficulty processing them, causing a series of discomfort in the person.

Symptoms can vary from person to person, but there are some that are more common, such as:

    • Diarrhea
    • Stewed belly
    • Craving
    • Gases
    • Abdominal pain
    • Constipation
    • Changes in mood (discouragement or irritability)
    • Excessive weight loss or gain
    • In women, it can cause infertility or changes in the menstrual cycle
    • Loss of hair

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It is important to remember that the disease does not always manifest itself with these symptoms, and, in some cases, may even be asymptomatic. At the same time, only symptoms that are not as common as anemia, for example, can manifest themselves intensely in the person.

There are also cases where the person has no symptoms at all , but the consequences of not being able to process gluten are still reflected in your body. In these cases, the patient ends up finding out through exams that indicate this condition.

Even if the symptoms do not appear or present themselves lightly, it is important to take care that the disease does not have worse consequences in the future, such as bowel cancer or osteoporosis.

Treatment of Celiac Disease

There is no cure for disease, only a control treatment using drugs to control celiac disease. This means that the only way to avoid suffering from the disease is to eliminate gluten-free foods from your diet.

Of course, there is not just a degree of gluten intolerance, which means that some people may ingest small amounts, while others need to get rid of foods that contain this protein altogether.

It is recommended that a person who has celiac disease seek a nutritionist who can help with the most appropriate diet for each case. It may seem difficult, but nowadays there are many people who do not have celiac disease and who also do this type of diet because they consider a healthier life. This, together with the advancement of communication on the Internet, has resulted in several gluten-free diets and recipes appearing on the Internet.

Nowadays, there are several gluten-free options for practically every type of food and, although there is a difference in prices, it is a way for people who have celiac disease to live normally, normally eating foods that everyone eats.

Rice flour, for example, replaces wheat flour in virtually all recipes where its use is needed. Powdered cocoa, on the other hand, can replace conventional chocolate drinks to be taken with milk or other recipes.

Celiac people should also bet on a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, as these foods, in addition to being gluten free, are healthy. There are still some alternatives for those who do not want to stop eating what they like, recipes like gluten-free pizza are a great example.

In addition, there is an industry that is attentive to those who do not eat gluten, either because they do not want to or because they cannot. According to studies, one in 600 Brazilians suffers from celiac disease .

Knowing this, it is important to understand how the disease manifests itself, what its symptoms are and how to get rid of complications because of it. No matter what age the disease manifests, it is very important to know that we can count on the help of professionals such as nutritionists and of various recipes and foods that appear as alternatives to traditional recipes.

So if you experience any symptoms frequently mentioned here, see a doctor and get tested, it is the only way to know whether or not you have celiac disease and whether or not you need to change your diet.

See also: Children with Glass Bones – Diagnosis and Treatment

Dr. Alexis Hart
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My name is Dr. Alexis Hart I am 38 years old, I am the mother of 3 beautiful children! Different ages, different phases 16 years, 12 years and 7 years. In love with motherhood since always, I found it difficult to make my dreams come true, and also some more after I was already a mother.

Since I imagined myself as a mother, in my thoughts everything seemed to be much easier and simpler than it really was, I expected to get pregnant as soon as I wished, but it wasn’t that simple. The first pregnancy was smooth, but my daughter’s birth was very troubled. Joana was born in 2002 with a weight of 2930kg and 45cm, from a very peaceful cesarean delivery but she had already been born with congenital pneumonia due to a broken bag not treated with antibiotics even before delivery.

Dr. Alexis Hart

My name is Dr. Alexis Hart I am 38 years old, I am the mother of 3 beautiful children! Different ages, different phases 16 years, 12 years and 7 years. In love with motherhood since always, I found it difficult to make my dreams come true, and also some more after I was already a mother.Since I imagined myself as a mother, in my thoughts everything seemed to be much easier and simpler than it really was, I expected to get pregnant as soon as I wished, but it wasn’t that simple. The first pregnancy was smooth, but my daughter’s birth was very troubled. Joana was born in 2002 with a weight of 2930kg and 45cm, from a very peaceful cesarean delivery but she had already been born with congenital pneumonia due to a broken bag not treated with antibiotics even before delivery.

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