When the colon cannot stand bread: the Celiac
Under this descriptive title I found a very good publication about gluten intolerance (also called celiac disease). It is a chronic disease of the small intestine that is caused by gluten intolerance. The mucosa of the small intestine becomes inflamed. The incompatibility persists for life and can currently not be treated causally. The disease is basically a mixture of allergy and autoimmune disease. The rate in Germany is 1 in 500.

What is gluten?
Gluten is the so-called adhesive protein and mainly consists of proteins. It exists for example in rye, wheat and barley, but not in wild rice or potatoes. Combined with water, gluten forms an elastic dough with which a typical loaf can be formed.

Symptoms:
In children, the disease manifests 3 to 6 months after they have started to eat cereal products. Thus, a first peak of the disease appears between nine months and two years. Typical symptoms are failure to thrive, underweight, loss of appetite and a bloated stomach. A second peak appears in adulthood up to the fourth decade of life. It leads to weight loss, muscle weakness and diarrhea, and often also to bone and joint pain. However, there are also more low profile processes. The biggest problem for the treating physician is to keep celiac disease in mind – especially with atypical histories.

Treatment:
The only treatment consists in gluten-free diet. In everyday life, however, this is often difficult because gluten is hidden in many products. Wheat, rye, barley, oats, green rye, spell and all foods produced from it have to be avoided. Buckwheat is gluten-free. With a gluten-free diet, the symptoms improve, usually within a few weeks. At the beginning of the therapy, milk is often not tolerated; in the further course this gets better.