Although awareness of celiac disease, a digestive condition that interferes with the absorption of nutrients from food, has grown over the past decade, the ailment can be traced back to the 1st century. The Greek physician Aretaeus of Cappadocia (2nd century) wrote, “If [foods] pass through undigested and crude, and nothing ascends into the body, we call such persons coeliacs.” Aretaeus’s description went largely ignored until 1888, when the renowned English physician Samuel Gee (1839–1911) wrote about the condition.

Today, scientists know that celiac disease is a genetic autoimmune disorder that affects the digestive process. When someone with the condition consumes gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley, the immune system begins attacking the small intestine and the small protrusions, called villi, that line the interior are lost. Since these villi absorb nutrients from food and transfer them to the bloodstream, celiac disease can cause malnourishment. As a result, people with celiac disease often experience related conditions, such as osteoporosis, anemia, and fatigue. About one in four sufferers also has dermatitis herpetiformis, an itchy, blistering skin rash that occurs on the elbows, knees, and buttocks.

Although experts estimate that some 3 million people suffer from celiac disease, only 3 percent of them have ever been diagnosed. That’s because symptoms of the condition are often confused with those of other illnesses, such as irritable bowel syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome. Physicians first run blood tests to check for higher-than-normal levels of certain antibodies, a sign of an autoimmune disorder. If these screenings suggest celiac disease, a tissue sample of the small intestine is taken to check for damaged villi.

Unfortunately, there’s no cure for the condition. The only treatment is following a gluten-free diet, which means avoiding grains, pasta, cereals, and most processed foods. Because many food manufacturers are producing gluten-free foods made with potato, rice, soy, and buckwheat flour, among others, those with celiac disease can follow a balanced diet.

ADDITIONAL FACTS

  1. The word celiac is derived from the Greek koelia, meaning “abdomen.”
  2. Celiac disease runs in families: Research suggests that 4 to 12 percent of first-degree relatives of a person with the disease also have it.