Pillwatch.com : Celiac Disease Treatment: Gluten-free Diet

Celiac Disease Treatment: Gluten-free Diet

Modern official medicine is quite an interesting thing: in our perception it is usually associated with pills and hospitals; in reality it sometimes manages to eliminate diseases without those trappings.

A good example is celiac disease: the only treatment for its sufferers is the gluten-free diet, which remains for the time being quite an effective option to improve the state of health of the vast majority of patients.

On one hand, it may seem rather a healthy way to eliminate the disorder, since there is no need to swallow piles of pills every few hours; on the other hand, it is quite a challenging task to remove a great deal of products out of one’s daily menu. Moreover, a sufferer has to say “good bye” to a number of foods for good and avoid them for the rest of his life. It is not an easy thing to do, isn’t it?

Since gluten in the consumed food is the trigger of celiac disease, it should be removed from the diet. Gluten is a type of protein found in such grains as wheat, barley, rye, and triticale. It would be easy to avoid these grains only; the trickiest thing is that an immense number of foods are produced using them or gluten they contain as additives. Here belong different stabilizers, thickeners, texture enhancers, emulsifiers, flavourings, etc. It is possible to say that almost all processed foods contain gluten. That is why it is so hard and challenging to follow a gluten-free diet.

There is, however, quite a helpful thing for celiac disease sufferers, who look for a way to avoid gluten-containing products: the majority of manufacturers tend to list gluten-containing additives in the product label. Thus, the first rule of the patients should become “Read the labels, no matter what you buy”.

There are controversial theories concerning the use of oats by celiac disease patients. Some studies prove they can also trigger disorder symptoms in predisposed people. Other trials confirm that only a small minority of celiac disease patients react to pure oats. In the majority of cases it is the contamination with gluten-containing foods which is to blame for the appearance of the health disorder symptoms.

Cross-contamination most often occurs during the processing in the manufacturing facilities. However, oats can be mixed with other grains during transportation, distribution, or packaging.

It is also necessary to remember that many drugs may contain gluten; thus a patient should consult a doctor before using any medications.

Nutrition experts and dietitians may help a person choose the products, educate about food additives, and give a reliable advice as for the brands, which have gluten-free foods in their assortment. Similarly, a table below was made to ease the life of celiac disease sufferers. It represents the basic information about the most common foods and products, which contain gluten or are gluten-free.

Food	Gluten-containing	Gluten-free
meats	all breaded or floured meats, pizza, ravioli, meat substitutes	fresh, frozen, canned meats; poultry, fish
dairy products	malted drinks, sour cream, yogurt	low-fat, skim, condensed, evaporated, whole, dry milk, all aged cheeses, buttermilk, cream, whipping cream
grains	wheat, barley, rye, breads made of these grains	rice, buckwheat, maize, millet, breads made of these grains
fruits	--	fresh, frozen, dry, or canned fruits, fruit juices
vegetables	those prepared with gluten-containing additives, breaded vegetables or those with sauces	fresh, frozen, canned vegetables, potato, yam
drinks	alcoholic drinks, beer, beverage mixes, chocolate drinks	tea, pure coffee and cocoa, fruit juices, all distilled forms of alcoholic drinks, mineral or carbonated water
oils and sauces	sauces made with flour, mayonnaise, salad dressings, soy sauce	butter, lard, margarine, vegetable oils
thickeners	wheat starch; wheat, rye, and barley flours	gelatin; potato, rice, soy, and corn flours
seasonings	curry powder, meat extracts, yeast extract, brewer’s yeast , synthetic pepper	salt, pepper, baking powder, soda, herbs, ginger, cinnamon
other products	malt vinegar	distilled white vinegar, eggs, all nuts and seeds, honey, jam, sugar

Ivanna

Your Feedback

Write us your experience or opinion that we may publish on this site:

	Tip for you : Sign-in with Your OpenID and post faster, easier and with easy access to all your past posts.
Your Nick: Spam Protection: Fill-in following 4-digit code:

Your message: [ HTML is not accepted ]