Gluten Intolerance is No Longer Considered a Caucasian's Disease

Celiac disease has long been traced to the European genes, and at some point, it was even labeled as "The disease of Caucasians." However, recent developments in research prove that gluten intolerance is no longer a northern European condition, and the disease is actually prevalent worldwide and not just in one area. Although some nationalities and ethnic groups vary in their predilection to the disease; African Americans, South-Indian Americans, and East Asians seem to have lower chances of contracting celiac. However, these findings still have important implications for the prevention and treatment of celiac disease.

Celiac patient’s diet and its known effects

What people know so far is that gluten intolerance is the body’s immune reaction to gluten consumption, which is contained in wheat, barley, and rye. Eating gluten triggers an immune system response in the small intestine, which eventually damages its lining (or villi). The damage then results in weight loss, bloating, anemia, diarrhea, fatigue, and other serious complications.

Due to the prevalence of the disease, several food companies have started to make gluten-free products, like a gluten-free pizza or cereal. Oats are naturally gluten-free too; thus, they are safe for most patients with celiac. However, when oats have been contaminated during production they become so much like the other gluten grains.

Furthermore, oats contain avenin, a type of protein that most celiac patients can consume. However, gluten-free and non-contaminated pure oats have also been shown to affect celiac patients, and this is one thing that makes the situation far more complicated. The cases are few, but it definitely shows that there is still so much to understand about the disease.

Celiac disease as a worldwide phenomenon

Gluten intolerance has become a cosmopolitan condition. Just as gluten-rich food is immensely common for consumption, celiac appears to have largely grown its scope as well. Recent studies have revealed higher-than-expected incidents of the disease in Asia, Middle East, and North Africa that are generally non-Caucasian countries.

In a 2016 study published in the Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology Journals, researchers examined small intestine biopsies of celiac patients between 2008 and 2015. They have analyzed the damage to the patient’s gut lining and compared them to the patients with various ethnic groups. The major findings are as follows:

1. It was found that North Indian (1.51%), Jewish (1.81%), and Middle Eastern (1.52%) patients had a similar celiac disease prevalence to that of Americans (1.74%).
2. Patients from Punjab, India had the highest frequency (3.08%) among all ethnicities and regions of their country.
3. Gluten intolerance was rarer among those who were of Hispanic (1.06%), East Asian (0.15%) and South American-Indians (0%) descent.

The most significant result presented in this study is probably that of the Punjab region in northern India. The region has greatly exceeded the numbers from all ethnic backgrounds, including the Americans who are of Caucasian descent. A similar finding was also found in another study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology. The prevalence of the disease is higher in the northern Indian regions (1.23%) as compared to the northeast (.87%) and the south (0.10%) regions.

Although the US has become a multi-ethnic society, this data strongly suggests that celiac disease has transformed from a prominent disease among white-people of European descent to a multicultural, worldwide phenomenon.