Celiac Disease Know All About It

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Miss Universe 2021 Harnaaz Sandhu who has been on the receiving end of some nasty comments by netizens due to a slight weight gain recently shared with media that she’s suffering from celiac disease, an immune reaction to eating gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye.

Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu also shared that she has always felt confident in her skin and added, “I am one of the courageous and confident girls who believes even if I’m fat, even if I’m thin, it’s my body, I love myself.“
She said during a Chandigarh event “nobody knows about my celiac disease. That I can’t eat wheat flour and many other things.”

What is celiac disease?

Celiac disease is an outcome of over ingestion of gluten that causes damage to the intestine, and globally, affects 1 in 100 people.
The condition occurs when eating gluten triggers an immune response in your small intestine, which over time leads to damages to the linings and prevents it from absorbing some nutrients.

Intestinal damage often causes diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss, bloating and anemia, and can lead to serious complications.
In children, malabsorption can affect growth and development, besides causing the symptoms seen in adults.
Health experts have also pointed out that the condition is hereditary and people with a first-degree relative with celiac disease (parent, child, sibling) have a 1 in 10 chance of developing the condition.
According to Celiac Disease Foundation, it can develop at any age after people start eating foods or medicines that contain gluten. Left untreated, celiac disease can lead to additional serious health problems.

Healthcare professions have said that people with celiac disease have a two times greater risk of developing coronary artery disease, and a four times greater risk of developing small bowel cancers.
The treatment burden of celiac disease is comparable to end-stage renal disease, and the partner burden is comparable to caring for a patient with cancer.
Untreated celiac disease can lead to the development of other autoimmune disorders like Type I diabetes and multiple sclerosis (MS), and many other conditions, including dermatitis herpetiformis (an itchy skin rash), anemia, osteoporosis, infertility and miscarriage, neurological conditions like epilepsy and migraines, short stature, heart disease and intestinal cancers.

As per a study published in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, 15.2% of adults with celiac disease were overweight when they were diagnosed and 6.8% were obese. Together, these outnumbered the 17.3% who were underweight. It shows that it is not rare for a person with celiac disease to be overweight.

Currently, there is no permanent cure for the condition. According to the Celiac Disease Foundation, the only treatment for celiac disease is lifelong adherence to a strict gluten-free diet.

Although celiac disease is associated with losing weight and being thin as it damages the lining of the small intestine, causes malnutrition and malabsorption, the disorder may also lead to weight gain in some cases.