My sister just finished watching an episode of House, and emailed me asking me what the disease was where you are allergic to bread. This is a common misunderstanding of a disease called Celiac Disease.
We don't know what causes ceiliac disease, but the body forms a protein called an immunoglobulin (Ig) against gluten (a protein found in bread and many, many other foods). In individuals with Celiac disease, when they eat gluten products they have inflammation and irritation in the intestinal tract.
This leads to common symptoms of:
* bloating,
* diarrhea,
*constipation,
* anemia,
* abdominal pain, and
* failure to gain weight.
Luckily, these symptoms can be prevented by avoiding gluten- easier said then done!
I just received an email about a wonderful website called My Gluten Facts www.theglutensolution.com/beta for patients with Celiac Disease. This website is fantastic- easy to use, filled with information about many products that comes directly from the manufacture, and gluten free recipes. I couldn't resist sharing with you and hope it helps my patients with Celiac disease.
Another good source for information is the Celiac Disease Foundation www.celiac.org
Specifically in NYC, this is a great website of resturants that offer gluten free alternatives
www.glutenfreeresturants.org.
I hope you find these websites usesful.
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