Celiac author shares gluten-free lifestyle tips

By Terri Coles

TORONTO (Reuters) - Two years ago, Shauna James Ahern's doctor told her she had a chronic disease. The author felt something unusual for someone who would soon have to completely alter her eating habits. She felt liberated.

The 41-year-old was diagnosed with celiac disease, a genetic auto-immune disorder. People with the disease have an intolerance for gluten -- a protein in wheat, rye and barley that is also found in spelt, durum seminolina, kamut, couscous, triticale and many processed foods. Ingredients like modified starches and MSG, as well as condiments like soy sauce, can all contain gluten.

When celiacs eat food containing the "edible glue," it triggers an immune response that damages the small finger-like villi in the intestinal wall, which absorb nutrients from food. When they are damaged, a person can become malnourished; some celiacs suffer from osteoporosis or iron deficiencies. The disease is treated by going on a gluten-free diet, which allows the small intestine to recover.

"There's such a power to knowing your own story," said Ahern, author of a blog and a book, both titled "Gluten-Free Girl."

"I'd been sick, off and on, all my life, and always wondered what it was, what's wrong with me. Knowing, finally, is such a liberation that I just embrace it all."

Celiac disease can first show up in childhood or adulthood. It's thought that the disease can be initially triggered by surgery, viruses, childbirth, pregnancy or severe stress. It is much better understood than in the past, said Dr. Peggy Marcon, a gastroenterologist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

When Marcon began her medical training, she was taught that 1 in 2,000 people were celiacs; now it's thought that 1 in 100 or 1 in 150 people are gluten-intolerant.

"Twenty years ago, people would have said celiac disease occurs in people from Western European ancestry," she said, "but we actually know it occurs across all ethnic groups." It was also thought of as a childhood disease that would be outgrown, but it's now known the disease can show up in adulthood and is chronic.