In 1994 I was diagnosed with celiac disease, which led me to create Celiac.com in 1995. I created this site for a single purpose: To help as many people as possible with celiac disease get diagnosed so they can begin to live happy, healthy gluten-free lives. Celiac.com was the first site on the Internet dedicated solely to celiac disease, and since then it has become an invaluable resource to people worldwide who seek information about celiac disease and the gluten-free diet. In 1998 I created The Gluten-Free Mall, Your Special Diet Superstore! which was also another Internet first—it was the first gluten-free food site to offer a shopping cart-style interface, and the ability for people to order gluten-free products manufactured by many different companies at a single Web site.
I am also co-author of the book Cereal Killers, and founder and publisher of Journal of Gluten Sensitivity.
Psychosomatics 45:325-335, August 2004
Celiac.com 07/30/2004 - Past studies have reported a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms in adults with celiac disease, perhaps due to serotonergic dysfunction, and an increased prevalence of depressive and disruptive behavioral disorders in adolescence with the disease, especially before treatment. In an effort to further study any possible connections, researchers looked at 29 adolescents with celiac disease and 29 matched controls. The researchers used semi-structured psychiatric interviews and symptom measurement scales to examine all subjects. Their findings indicate that the subjects with celiac disease had significantly higher prevalence of major depressive disorder compared to the controls--31% versus 7%, and a significantly higher prevalence of disruptive behavior disorders--28% versus 3%. The researchers also found that most of the mental disorders occurred before the patients were diagnosed and treated with a gluten-free diet. The prevalence of current mental disorders was similar in both of the groups studied.