Gluten: number of intolerances underestimated

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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You can find them in every supermarket: gluten-free pasta, beer and bread made from corn flour, rice, amaranth or quinoa. People with an intolerance to the adhesive protein gluten, which is found in most types of grain, benefit from this. A new study by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) shows that such celiac disease is far more common than previously assumed.

As part of the long-term KiGGS study, researchers examined blood samples from around 13,000 children and adolescents between the ages of one and 18 years. In particular, the researchers identified an autoantibody specific to celiac disease in order to find clues about the disease. Samples of the intestinal mucosa, which are usually necessary for a reliable diagnosis, were not taken.

Patients without a diagnosis

The evaluation showed that only a small proportion of the children who suffered from gluten intolerance had already received a corresponding diagnosis. The disease was already known to 0.07 percent of the children, but it must actually be assumed that 0.9 percent of children in this age group cannot tolerate gluten. For every known case of celiac disease, there are ten to eleven undetected cases.

Particularly tricky for children

Undetected celiac disease is particularly tricky for adolescents. Because in the case of severe courses, after consuming gluten, in addition to severe diarrhea and abdominal cramps, a long-term altered intestinal structure threatens. Due to the chronic inflammation in the digestive tract, the intestinal villi, which increase the surface area of ​​the intestine in healthy people, recede. As a result, the digested food can be absorbed more poorly - deficiency symptoms and growth disorders can be the result.

“Undiscovered celiac disease has negative consequences for the health and development of children. They tend to be lighter, smaller, and have lower bone density than healthy children, ”warns Dr. Stephanie Baas, medical advisor to the German Society for Celiac Disease. Because of the high proportion of undiagnosed patients, the Society is now appealing to medical professionals to give greater consideration to the diagnosis of celiac disease. The only way to get a grip on chronic intestinal inflammation is to consistently avoid gluten.

Unnecessary renunciation

But there is also the reverse case: Since the term gluten intolerance has been on everyone's lips, some people with digestive problems have completely unnecessarily avoided wheat, rye and oats. Because cramps and diarrhea can have many causes - from irritable bowel syndrome to stress or another food intolerance, for example to milk sugar (lactose) or fruit sugar (fructose). Even if you take the new figures into account, gluten intolerance is comparatively rare. (cf)

Tags:  diet dental care elderly care