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Confused About Genetic Testing

mat4mel

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mat4mel Apprentice
mat4mel
Posted

I am a bit confused about genetic testing. I have one child (almost 3 yrs old) that I suspect has Celiac; she has been gluten-free for 9 months-- she is better gluten-free but has other issues (she is not completely better-- she is having more testing done soon). In the meantime I had my other kids tested and they both had positive IgG but negative IgA. I put them all on the gluten-free diet for these 9 months. I expected my eldest child (7 yrs) to have a big growth spurt gluten-free-- because he is small for his age. But he has grown very little these past months. He never had symptoms and neither has my 4 yr old (who is of normal height and weight). I am feeling very guilty about keeping the older two gluten-free when I feel they probably do not have celiac. I am not one who thinks everybody in the world should be gluten-free. I keep wondering if genetic testing would help me figure out who to keep gluten-free. I will probably keep a gluten-free house while my 3 yr old is small but wouldn't be strict with my other kids when they went to friends houses or other places.

I read Danna Korn's book (sorry if I am misspelling her name)about Celiac kids and it sounded to me like genetic testing might be useful.. she said if you have one of the two genes there is only a 30% chance you WON'T develop Celiac... that means if you DO have one of the two genes, you have a 70% chance of having Celiac.. right? Or is not that simple? I know Enterolab tests for other genes-- is it possible to have Celiac and have one of these other genes? Somebody please explain this to me?

I am feeling somewhat desperate right now. This is all very difficult to sort out. I also have a 4 month old baby that will stay gluten free while she is a toddler (maybe longer)

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lovegrov Collaborator
lovegrov
Posted

The numbers I remember are that 30 percent of the population has one or more of the genes. Only 1 percent (or less) of the population develops celiac disease. And to confuse things even more, a tiny percentage of people with celiac disease or gluten intolerance don't have the genes.

richard

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