A disease of a thousand faces!

It might be interesting to you to know that about 1% of Iran's population is suffering from celiac disease. This is while many people with celiac disease are not even aware of that, or are not properly diagnosed to see if they are affected by it; and sadly, it does not have a definitive cure!

In this disease, after consuming foods made from wheat, barley, and rye grains, or foods containing traces of such grains as wheat starch or malt extract, the most common symptoms in the patient are bloating and heartache.

Now what is the cause? These grains naturally contain a protein called gluten, which is mistakenly recognized as an enemy by the immune system of some people, and when the immune cells attack the gluten, this would cause damage to the small intestine and thereby destruction of its villi whose duty is to absorb nutrients from the ingested food. So, with the loss of intestinal villi, the absorption of vitamins and nutrients is reduced which in turn would cause anemia, fatigue, cancer, infertility and delayed puberty as well as short stature in children. Hence, this is the reason why it is also called the disease of a thousand faces.

Apart from the genetic background and the consumption of gluten-containing foods, giving complementary nutrients such as wheat cereal to a very young child, e.g. from the four months of age, alongside with other ailments such as the gastrointestinal infections and inappropriate use of antibiotics can increase the risk of celiac disease.