About Gluten Sensitivity/Intolerance
by Roxie Johnson
8/08

The medical community now realizes that there are some individuals who don't have celiac disease, don't have a wheat allergy, but do respond well to the gluten-free diet. This can be called gluten sensitivity or gluten intolerance. Although this problem is not fully understood at this time, the following is the current thoughts on gluten sensitivity:

• The symptoms are sometimes identical to a person with celiac disease.
  
• The response to the gluten-free diet can be identical to those with celiac disease.
  
• It is not an auto-immune disease like celiac disease, and therefore it is thought that the serious complications so often found in celiac disease do not occur in gluten-sensitive individuals. There is also not the concern of associated auto-immune diseases.
  
• A gluten-sensitive individual may do fine on a low-gluten diet. This is definitely not the case for someone with celiac disease, who must eliminate all gluten from their diet.
  
• There is no specific test as yet to determine if a person has gluten sensitivity besides noting the response to the gluten-free diet.
• A person suspecting a gluten sensitivity should not eliminate gluten from their diet until tested for celiac disease (first step is a simple blood test). The implications from celiac disease are serious and far-reaching, so it is important to eliminate that diagnosis.

A study about how people with verified mild enteropathy (but not diagnosable celiac disease) improved on a gluten-free diet is of definite interest. This study is discussed in an article about celiac research by a dietitian who specializes in celiac disease, Tricia Thompson.

The following provide further information on this subject:

An interview with Dr. Alessio Fasano, a leading celiac researcher at the University of Maryland.

A free downloadable publication from the Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG) called "Gluten Sensitivity".

A section on the American Celiac Organization website "Why is it important to know if you have celiac disease, versus wheat allergy or gluten intolerance?" (You must scan down on the page to get to that section)

An article in the NY Times on the current interest in the gluten sensitivity diagnosis.

A community lecture by Dr. Martin Kagnoff from the Warren Celiac Center in October 2008 on YouTube gives information about the difference between CD and gluten intolerance.