5 Things People With Celiac Disease Need You to Understand

Perhaps you could tell us what the acronyms DH and TP are? I have no idea what you are trying to say.

DH is dermatitis herpetaformis and TP is toilet paper.

What is GMO?

GMO is "Genetically Modified Organism."

I am so glad to learn more. By choice I am gluten free due to the wheat today being GMO .

But ... wheat isn't genetically modified ... it has been hybridized beyond recognition, but is it not genetically modified like corn and soy and sugar beets.

Another outstanding piece of writing, Thanks Jefferson... I shared it on FB... my husband and I make sick "jokes" about me"getting over" being celiac .... but it is true, people do not understand it at all, and having people not gluten intolerant on a gluten-free diet, makes it hard. Thank you so much!

Hilary, you are SO right about "people not understanding it" but what's worse, in my opinion is the disservice brought on by "trend setters" that think they will lose weight on a gluten-free "diet"..yes, they think it's just the newest diet craze!, and because of that, people do not take celiac DISEASE seriously. This affects how we are treated in restaurants (as the waiters/waitresses and chefs even,may not take as many precautions), how we are treated with friends and relatives who just can't get it through their head that this is an autoimmune DISEASE!! Not a diet! I like that the word is finally getting out about gluten-free items and the products they sell are much better than they were even 5 years ago, but...the above mentioned gripe I think just sets us back a bit. It's bad enough that people don't understand celiac, or the popular phrase "I've never heard of celiac..what is that?" but to now be lumped in with the "gluten-free is a fad diet" crowd is a step back.

I am excited! I am excited to have found this web site, that is full of information that will help me understand my disease better and that informs me of the latest products and research in the celiac world. I am very excited about the explosion of over due diagnoses and products available to us. I was diagnosed twenty years ago and only someone in the same boat can understand and appreciate how truly far we have come.

I am so glad to learn more. By choice I am gluten free due to the wheat today being GMO .

Wheat is not GMO. It has been bred to have more gluten, but it is not genetically modified to be resistant to pesticides. There is quite a difference between natural breeding of plants and spicing in bacterial DNA.

I would add that having "no symptoms" is not an indicator of "no damage". We tend to think that if one doesn't react in a measurable way, you are ok. However, in the case of Celiac disease 60% of patients are "latent" in that their immune system is reacting but the patient doesn't have recognizable symptoms. Hence, the feeling that this isn't a serious condition . . .

I agree - this is a very important one to add!

I am so glad to learn more. By choice I am gluten free due to the wheat today being GMO .

Commercial wheat is not GMO. GMO wheat has not been approved for sale in the US. There is some GMO wheat being tested experimentally, but it is not legal to sell it. GMO means protein from a foreign organism has been inserted into the genetics of the plant.

However, wheat has been hydridized, and now has something like 42 chromosomes in it as compared to the the smaller number (16?) found in ancient wheat. Today's wheat is dramatically different than ancient wheat, but it is not GMO, yet. Also, glyphosate (Roundup) is sprayed on many plant crops, including wheat, about a week or so before harvest, to kill off the vegetation and make it easier to harvest the crop. This leaves residues of glyphosate on grain and legume crops when they're harvested.

I was 71 when I got diagnosed--went gluten free too late. I already had Hashimoto's thyroiditis and Sjogren's syndrome--both autoimmune diseases which might not be there if I had gone gluten-free years ago. So if you have some gut symptoms and your doc just passes it off as IBS or something else, ask him/her to specifically test you for celiac with a specific serology and maybe even get a biopsy or two.

Thank you for the article. I have no symptoms so it is hard even for me to explain why I don't eat gluten other than I think I might get stomach cancer or worse one day. I am one of the lucky ones who found out because of genetics. Otherwise, I would merrily eat loaf after loaf of bread. It's not such a hard diet if one simply eats well and avoids processed food altogether.

Now we are getting somewhere. I recently answered a survey and one part I answered to a question, gluten free products carry a lot of additives and derivatives and that is why you will never see these words on the gluten free packets "suitable for coeliacs."

But ... wheat isn't genetically modified ... it has been hybridized beyond recognition, but is it not genetically modified like corn and soy and sugar beets.

dee is correct. Wheat is hybridized beyond recognition, but not GMO.