celiac disease

celiac disease

No bread. No pasta. No cereal.

No candy. No beer. No gravy.

For a patient with celiac disease, the list of foods to avoid can seem overwhelming.

“Celiac disease is an auto-immune disease that is commonly misconstrued for a food allergy, a wheat allergy,” Kelley Dow, a registered dietitian with Self Regional Healthcare, said.

The Celiac Disease Awareness Campaign, part of the National Institutes of Health, estimates up to 1 percent of all Americans suffer from celiac disease, although many have never been diagnosed.

Dow said one problem with the disease is its diagnosis: symptoms vary from patient to patient. Standard symptoms include stomach cramping, unexplained weight loss or weight gain, diarrhea, bone or joint paint, infertility and fatigue, but the patient may have none of those.