What Does a Gluten Free Diet Really Mean?
What is known about celiac disease
Celiac disease is known as an autoimmune genetic disorder. In people with this disease, eating gluten seems to create a severe reaction in the gut, resulting in the painful destruction of some of the small intestine’s villi or lining. An important distinction should be emphasized: gluten does not cause celiac disease, as researchers recently found a link in genetics that causes the onset of the disease.
Even so, gluten has been proven to be a trigger and should be avoided by everyone with the disease. If not, life-threatening results may occur, “The only treatment for celiac disease is to follow the gluten-free diet. When gluten is taken out of the diet, the small intestine heals and a return to full health can be expected. Long-term complications of undiagnosed celiac include malnutrition, lymphoma, osteoporosis, neurological complications and miscarriage” (Gluten Free Living).
