Below is an excerpt from an article posted by Daniel Norero at Biofortified.com.
“Have you ever seen the popular MyPlate? It is a simple graphic to indicate the type and amount of food needed for a balanced diet in humans. If you have seen it, you will notice that a large section of the plate includes foods derived from cereals and grains, which are a great source of carbohydrates, an important biomolecule that our body uses as a primary energy source for all cells. Wheat is one of the most important grains worldwide, and you probably eat it daily in foods such as bread, cookies, waffles, sweets, pastries in general, pasta and many other dishes.
“Now, can you imagine a disease that does not allow you to eat any food that is prepared with wheat? It would be very difficult for me, because in my country, Chile, we generally eat bread at breakfast, lunch and dinner, in fact, we are the world’s second largest consumer of bread after Germany. However, although it could be difficult to imagine, the inability to eat wheat exists and is called celiac disease. It is an autoimmune disease characterized by intolerance to gluten, a set of proteins called gliadins found in wheat as well as in rye, barley and oats. In celiac patients these proteins cause an inflammatory reaction in the mucosa of the small intestine, causing symptoms that include pain and discomfort in the digestive tract, constipation and chronic diarrhea, stunted growth (in children), anemia and fatigue. It can often lead to vitamin and nutrient deficiencies due to the decreased ability of the small intestine to properly absorb nutrients from food.
“Worldwide, celiac disease affects an average of 1 in 100 people to 1 in every 170 people. The only solution for people with the disease is to follow a strict gluten-free diet for life, which involves abstaining from food made with wheat (and the other grains with gluten) and replacing these usually with food made with rice or corn flour. This strict diet significantly increases spending on food because of the higher price of gluten-free products.”