All about coeliac disease

We want to help you to know as much as you can about coeliac disease, including information on its causes and health effects.

More information is being discovered all the time about this lifelong autoimmune condition, which affects at least one in a hundred people and can only be treated only by adopting a gluten-free diet.

What is coeliac disease?

Coeliac disease is an autoimmune condition related to gluten, a protein found in the cereals wheat, barley and rye. It is not an allergy. When a person has coeliac disease, the immune system mistakenly identifies substances found inside gluten as a threat to the body and attacks them. This damages the lining of the small intestine, and disrupts the body’s capacity to absorb nutrients from food.   

A person who has coeliac disease may experience symptoms including abdominal pain, bloating, malabsorption, diarrhoea or constipation and unintentional weight loss, among others. 

The only known treatment for coeliac disease is to stop eating gluten. A gluten-free diet will usually quickly end the symptoms associated with the disease.

What causes coeliac disease?

Coeliac disease seems to have a hereditary element, but it is not automatically passed on in families. Researchers believe that some environmental factors may also help to trigger the condition in a person who has a genetic disposition to it, but more research is required to fully understand the causes of coeliac disease.

Coeliac disease

However, if people with coeliac disease follow a strict gluten-free diet, the normal intestinal mucosa recovers and they can lead a symptom-free life. For this reason, a reliable medical diagnosis is very important. However, to ensure that the diagnosis is correct, it is important not to start on a gluten-free diet before the exam is performed. Otherwise, the results may be distorted. At the doctor's, patients with suspected coeliac disease are first given a blood test to detect antibodies specific to coeliac disease. In order to ensure that this test is meaningful, total immunoglobulin A (‘IgA’) is also determined. If antibodies are detected, a biopsy of the small intestine is performed to confirm the diagnosis. To this end, a tiny specimen of the mucosa is taken endoscopically and examined under a microscope. If abnormal changes to the intestinal mucosa are detected, the patient is diagnosed with coeliac disease.