Wheat Intolerance

Is Celiac Disease Genetic?

Wheat Intolerance — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:10:59 +0000

Celiac sufferers have long wondered if their condition runs in families, placing their children at risk for the disease. Only in the last few years has it been practical to have genetic testing done… but is it worth it to do so?

Here’s the low-down:

95% of people who are positively diagnosed with celiac disease via alternate methods such as intestinal biopsy also test positive for a particular gene called H.L.A. DQ2. An additional 5% test positive for the gene H.L.A. DQ8. The practical upshot is, if you don’t have either of these genes, you really don’t have to worry about celiac disease.

However, just because you test positive on one or the other of these genes, it doesn’t mean that you have celiac disease. In fact, only about 2 or 3% of people with these genes will get celiac disease. In other words, not having these genes means you don’t have celiac disease. Having these genes means you have a 2-3% chance of having or getting celiac disease.

This means that the greatest value of genetic testing for celiac lies in cases where celiac disease is suspected, but diagnosis is inconclusive. By acting as a reliable indicator that a person does NOT have celiac disease, genetic testing can ease a patient’s mind, and aid in narrowing down the symptoms to other related conditions such as wheat allergy or wheat intolerance.

Since 60-65% of the population do not carry the genes, and therefore do not have celiac disease, genetic testing can greatly reduce the number of suspected celiac cases.

The bottom line? If you have no symptoms, genetic testing is of limited value. But if you do have symptoms and are struggling with an inconclusive diagnosis, genetic testing that is negative for H.L.A. DQ2 and DQ8 can put your mind at ease and free you to pursue other diagnoses such as wheat allergy or wheat intolerance.

More information:

Wheat Allergy Symptoms

Wheat Intolerance Symptoms

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Gluten-Free Q & A

Wheat Intolerance — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:54:59 +0000

The New York Times has a very nice Q&A style article on gluten-free living and celiac disease. Much of the information will also be of interest to those with wheat intolerance and wheat allergy symptoms.

Gluten Free for the Holidays, and Beyond

Dr. Sheila Crowe, a professor in the division of gastroenterology and hepatology in the department of medicine at the University of Virginia, recently joined the Consults blog to answer reader questions about celiac disease. Here, Dr. Crowe responds to questions about maintaining a gluten-free diet.

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What Are Wheat Allergy Symptoms?

Wheat Intolerance — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:29:59 +0000

Wheat allergy symptoms can be similar to other food allergy symptoms, including stomach pain, cramps, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. However, they may also resemble hay fever, with a runny nose, watery eyes, hives, itchy, flaky skin, or rashes. Another common and rather alarming complaint is arthritic joint pain.

At its most severe, wheat allergy can cause chest pain and anaphylaxis, a life-threatening condition in which the body’s allergic inflammatory response runs out of control.

Exercise, taking aspirin or NSAIDs (like ibuprofen or naproxen), and some food additives like MSG and Benzoate may make a wheat allergy attack worse. Attacks may also become worse over time, with repeated exposure.

Sufferers may break out in a rash or hives just from skin contact with wheat or flour, or start sneezing after breathing pollen from wheat plants. People with wheat allergy are also prone to migraines.

There is anecdotal (non-scientific) speculation that wheat allergy may be linked to autism, though, so far at least, scientific studies do not bear this out. Even so, many parents with autistic children have reported a reduction in digestive and behavioral problems after instituting a wheat and dairy-free diet.

If you think you or a loved one have wheat allergy symptoms, there are several methods for testing. These include skin-prick tests, blood tests, and elimination diets or food challenges, all of which will be covered in other articles.

Your doctor will be able to help you decide on the most appropriate approach.

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What Are Celiac/Gluten Allergy Symptoms?

Wheat Intolerance — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:31:59 +0000

The classic symptoms of celiac disease are bloating, diarrhea, and vomiting. Weight loss and fatigue are common, as is failure to thrive and grow normally in children. However, not everyone who has celiac disease or gluten allergy shows these symptoms. Many may only suffer from fatigue and anaemia, and some have no symptoms at all.

In the case of small children, a red flag is the onset of digestive difficulties and failure to thrive shortly after the introduction of wheat products into the diet. In adults, an often overlooked symptom is an extreme fondness for products containing wheat– someone with gluten allergy symptoms may lapse rhapsodic about the taste of a relatively bland food like bread or pasta, and miss it or even crave it if they don’t eat it every day.

This may seem odd (and a bit cruel), but it’s actually part of the body’s attempt to protect itself. When a person with celiac disease or gluten allergy eats wheat, it causes an immune response and painful inflammation in the gut. The body’s response to inflammation and pain is to release endorphins, which produce a barely-noticeable-but-definitely-there “buzz”, to cover the pain; the same sort of buzz that a hospital patient gets from a dose of morphine, or a drug addict from a shot of heroin.

So, just as the heroin user and the hospital patient may become addicted to opiates, the person with celiac or gluten allergy symptoms becomes addicted to the small “high” that follows a meal containing wheat. It’s completely unconscious, of course– if asked, the person will say that they simply love the taste of the bread, pasta, or whatever– but it can be a strong hint of some sort of wheat intolerance or gluten allergy.

If some or all of these symptoms sound familiar, there are a few different ways to proceed with getting a more accurate diagnosis. These include antibody testing, endoscopic analysis, genetic testing, elimination diets, and challenge tests, which will be discussed more fully in other articles.

Your doctor can help guide you in determining your next step.

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