A recent article on CNN reflects a study that shows that the number of cases of Celiac disease is doubling every 15 years.
http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010 ... /?hpt=Sbin
"We provide evidence that [celiac disease] autoimmunity may develop at any age, even in the elderly," the authors concluded. "The sharp increase of CD prevalence observed in the US between the time window investigated in this study (1974 – 1989) and current time was apparently related to an increasing number of subjects that, in their adulthood, lost the immunological tolerance to gluten. The reasons for these changes are not clear but should be investigated among the many environmental factors favoring CD."
This is just the tip of the iceberg as it were, it would be interesting to see some stats on what the prevalence of gluten intolerance is.
--Joe
Tip of the Gluten Iceberg
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Huh? I didn't even realize that fact was ever in dispute. It sounds as though they were trying to reinvent the wheel. It's probably true that celiac disease is becoming more prevalent, as time passes, but the biggest reason why more cases are being diagnosed, as time passes, is because, (like MC), you can't find it if you don't look for it, and for centuries, doctors considered it a rare disease, so they didn't look for it. Doctors still have a long way to go, but they are slowly learning that they need to test for it."We provide evidence that [celiac disease] autoimmunity may develop at any age, even in the elderly,"
When I "went through the clinic" in the spring and early summer of 2000, to determine why I had "uncontrollable" diarrhea, my GI doc gave me every test he could think of, over a period of several months, but unfortunately, he never thought of celiac disease, (because it wasn't even on his radar, back then). In view of all my neurological issues, I'm at least 95% sure that I also have celiac disease, but I'll never know for sure, because I'm not about to do a gluten challenge at this stage of the game.
I have a hunch that Dr. Fine is "in the ballpark" with his observation that 35% of the general population show antibodies to gluten in stool samples. Those antibodies are there for a reason. From his website:Joe wrote:This is just the tip of the iceberg as it were, it would be interesting to see some stats on what the prevalence of gluten intolerance is.
http://www.finerhealth.com/Educational_ ... nsitivity/Gluten sensitivity implies that there is an ongoing immune reaction to gluten in the diet, usually detected as antibodies against a subprotein of gluten called gliadin. Although recently these antibodies were looked for only in the blood and are found in 12% of the general American public, my research has revealed that these antibodies can be detected in the stool in as many as 35% of what are otherwise normal people
Most people, (and some doctors), assume that if they don't have clinical symptoms, they don't have the disease. That's simply a naive form of denial. If your body is generating antibodies, you have the disease. It may not be fully-developed, or it might present in a "silent" form, but the antibodies are proof of an immune system reaction.
Thanks for the report,
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.