First you must separate gluten intolerance into three distinct categories: Celiac Disease, Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity and a Wheat Allergy. It is also important to get a better understanding of gluten and how it can cause a negative chain reaction in your body.
Celiac disease symptoms occur when the proteins in gluten (glutenin and gliadin) trigger your immune system to overeact with strong and unusual anitbodies. Over time, such antibodies wear down the little hairs called villi which line the walls of your intestine (a process called villous atrophy). These finger-like tiny hairs grab and absorb nutrients as foods pass through your lower digestive tract. As celiac disease symptoms slowly destroy these villi, you become less and less able to process any nutrition from your food. This sets off a domino-effect of increasingly serious health problems.
To better understand exactly what constitutes gluten and why it is such a unique substance, I recommend reading my comprehensive gluten guide: What Is Gluten?
In a vast majority of cases, gluten intolerance symptoms will be systemic and will be a result of consuming gluten over a period of time. But symptoms of wheat intolerance will instead manifest themselves more like you perceive a typical allergy: quickly and with single exposure.
For example, if you eat a large, dense piece of gluten-rich bread and have immediate reactions, you are more likely experiencing wheat intolerance symptoms or a wheat allergy rather than symptoms of gluten intolerance which specifically represent celiac disease symptoms.
Read Gluten Intolerance Symptoms
With the gluten-free product industry expected to surpass 5 billion dollars in profit by 2015, the sirens of commerce have become a big part of the gluten-free diet fad. I suppose it isn’t a surprise that this has become a difficult matter, but I’m afraid many people forget the real suffering endure by people stuck between the marketing hype surrounding the gluten-free diet and the medical reality inherent in gluten intolerance… people stuck between anti-gluten fanaticism and gluten-free skepticism.
Celiac disease symptoms are real, and celiac disease continues to be terribly undiagnosed. And still even in the mainstream people don’t seem to really understand gluten itself (What Is Gluten?) or the varying ways people can suffer some degree of gluten intolerance.
While many muddle the matter with terms like gluten allergy symptoms, wheat allergy symptoms and non-celiac gluten sensitivity, the core issue of gluten intolerance requires a patient, nuanced understanding our current deeply polarized cultural divide struggles to appreciate. Read on to consider my take on trying to find a middle ground between fanaticism and skepticism.
Read Gluten-Free Diet Fad?
Why might you consider seeking gluten intolerance support through something like a gluten intolerance newsletter?
While finding gluten-free products is easier than it used to be, gluten still hides in more places than most people realize. In addition, the breadth of gluten intolerance variations can be confusing to even the most health savvy of people.
First of all, most people are confused by what is gluten, often referring to it as a protein or a grain. It fits neither description, and when you understand this you understand why this understanding is important to appreciating how pervasive gluten has become in our western diet.
Second of all, being able to identify and define the different conditions under the gluten intolerance umbrella will help you better care for yourself or your loved ones. While it is almost impossible to differentiate gluten allergy symptoms from the more specific and better defined celiac disease symptoms, the underlying conditions are different and understanding this difference will help you obtain both a more accurate diagnosis and a better treatment regiment.
Wheat allergy symptoms must also be considered, but you can’t consider them if you don’t understand how a food allergy is not the same as an autoimmune disease like celiac disease.
Simply put, my free Gluten Intolerance Newsletter shall be my best effort to help you enjoy the calm and confidence I have reached… without having to endure the years of confusion and frustration I experienced on my way to today.
If supportive lessons, fun recipes and up-to-date health news on celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, gluten intolerance and wheat allergies, sounds good to you, read on to learn more about my free gluten intolerance newsletter.
Read Gluten Intolerance Newsletter
In a modern, civilized society it is remarkable and confusing how often a serious disease goes unidentified and undiagnosed by medical doctors. Around one in 100 people suffer from celiac disease symptoms, yet a vast majority of those individuals don’t even know it. Sadly, a huge number of these individuals have visited their doctors to discuss problems as a result of an underlying case of celiac disease, yet still go away either undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.
Besides increasing celiac disease awareness among patients, family members, grocery stores and restaurants, we need our doctors to better appreciate how often gluten intolerance goes undiagnosed. Online we already battle confusing terms like wheat allergy symptoms and gluten allergy symptoms, but we at least should be able to rely on accurate help and support from our family doctors.
People like me can do their best to teach patients to appreciate what is gluten and how to live a healthy, happy gluten-free life, but we still need our family doctors to do a better job diagnosing celiac disease in the first place.
So how long do most people go undiagnosed after symptoms first arise? Sadly, this statistic is measured in several years, not a few months. Read on to learn the startling reality about how long the average celiac goes before having his or her symptoms accurately diagnosed.
Read Celiac Disease Symptoms Too Often Go Undiagnosed
When you consider gluten intolerance statistics, you may be startled to recognize how many more people around you probably suffer from some degree of gluten intolerance. Part of the problem is a lack of awareness and part of the problem may be the changing nature of the grains grown and processed in modern cultures. But part of the problem is also that celiac disease symptoms can include both silent and atypical symptoms. This means sufferers may experience symptoms most don’t associate with celiac disease or they may not experience any evident symptoms at all. Understanding more about what is gluten and how it can impact health is becoming more and more important.
To further complicate the matter, now researchers are realizing that there may be a gluten sensitivity that is not just a degree of celiac disease but rather a completely different medical manifestation. And gluten allergy symptoms further obfuscate the matter by blurring the lines between gluten intolerance and a wheat allergy.
Read on to learn current specific statistics associated with the gluten phenomenon and what it means for those people who are diagnosed with celiac disease.
Read Gluten Intolerance Statistics
A number of people have pointed out the following celiac video report from CNN.
Note: If you’re already pretty sure you or your loved one suffers from gluten intolerance, I strongly recommend: Complete Gluten Free Survival Kit
While I really appreciate the mainstream news media covering the serious issue of gluten intolerance symptoms, I want to note that some may find this report a little alarmist while others might find it vague.
And video is a good format for those who won’t read too much. If you have any friends or relatives who have yet to take the time to read about celiac disease, link them here to watch the video and get a nice summary on the matter. Of course, as usual, they remain vague about what is gluten.
I’m just glad to see celiac disease covered on CNN and celiac disease symptoms discussed in the media in general.
Read CNN Covers Celiac Disease
For a long time I was disappointed with how little coverage celiac disease symptoms and gluten intolerance receive in the mainstream media. So I was glad to find this article by Anna Seaton Huntington in the New York Times. As time goes on, however, we are seeing more and more coverage of this so things are changing for the better.
This article may sound very familiar to you if you or anyone you know suffers from gluten intolerance in any form.
About the only thing really missing is a better explanation for what gluten is, something many people don’t seem to really understand.
Read Celiac Disease Information Goes Mainstream
I haven’t been great about keeping up with my blog, but hopefully visitors have noticed all the work going into the rest of my site. Gluten Intolerance Symptoms has grown from a simple little site to an authoritative collection of detailed articles on understanding and living with gluten intolerance.
I’m also encouraging my visitors to give my favorite gluten-free living guide a shot. If you’re looking for a complete solution for embarking on your gluten-free journey with greater confidence and clarity, I strongly recommend: The Gluten-Free Survival Kit.
The front page has been expanded to address the controversy surrounding celiac disease and non-celiac gluten intolerance. I’ve also added a comprehensive answer for the question, What Is Gluten?, which many people surprisingly can’t answer with clarity and detail.
I’ve expanded and refined my gluten-free pantry. I hope this makes it easier for all of you to enjoy your favorite foods without suffering those all too familiar repercussions. I also added a recipe to my gluten-free bread recipes. Enjoy!
Read Gluten Intolerance Updates and Gluten Free Guides
While Gluten Intolerance Symptoms will provide you with the latest and most accurate information on determining whether or not eliminating gluten from your diet will improve your health, I am not a medical doctor and I will always advise you to seek professional counsel before making drastic changes to your diet or lifestyle.
Celiac Disease — the result of gluten intolerance — is difficult to diagnose and both failing to recognize it and assuming you have it without proper diagnosis can lead to a wide range of dangerous repercussions. Don’t just jump on a bandwagon because you start to experience the symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. And make sure you truly understand what is gluten before you start trying to eliminate gluten from your life.
Read Gluten Intolerance Symptoms Debuts!
