Friday, May 2, 2014

Celiac Disease Awareness Month - May 2, 2014

Each day this month, I will be posting something about Celiac Disease.

Day 2:

What happens when someone with celiac disease ingests gluten you ask?

I visited the National Institute of Health website again for the answer to that question:

When people with celiac disease eat foods or use products containing gluten, their immune system responds by damaging or destroying villi—the tiny, fingerlike protrusions lining the small intestine. Villi normally allow nutrients from food to be absorbed through the walls of the small intestine into the bloodstream. Without healthy villi, a person becomes malnourished, no matter how much food one eats.
Celiac disease is both a disease of malabsorption—meaning nutrients are not absorbed properly—and an abnormal immune reaction to gluten. Celiac disease is also known as celiac sprue, nontropical sprue, and gluten-sensitive enteropathy. Celiac disease is genetic, meaning it runs in families. Sometimes the disease is triggered—or becomes active for the first time—after surgery, pregnancy, childbirth, viral infection, or severe emotional stress.

How do you describe it when someone asks how gluten affects you?

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