Are there really no East Asians with celiac/gluten-intolerance? +help with possible petition?

[calciyummm]

Hello! New user here. I was recently diagnosed with non-Celiac gluten-intolerance in college, which baffled a lot of doctors who tried diagnosing me since Celiac and such disorders are more common in Caucasians, and apparently not in East Asians. I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do since I can't really eat anything when I go home, and I feel bad breaking my parents' and grandparents' hearts since they can't feed me anymore, and if they do, they accidentally poison me. *sigh*

Are there any East Asian Celiacs/gluten-intolerant people or friends of these people out there who can commiserate with me?  

Also, I want to be able to start a petition or something to remove wheat from all of the Asian grocery products, not just soy sauce and oyster sauce. There are so many more products that my family uses like fermented bean paste, chili oil, sesame oil, and gochujang - to name a few. I don't know where to start though, or if this even is possible to do. Any help or suggestions?

[Ennis-TX]

I cook asian style stuff using coconut secret sauces like the teriyaki, garlic, and coconut aminos. I found Thai Kitchen Makes some curry paste...not japanese style but it works. I found some nice togarashi seasoning from The Spice house, and some sesame oil from various places that is gluten free, I use Nori from amazon in bulk that is fine, I also found some mirin and rice vinegar that was certified gluten free...I now use coconut or apple vinegar more though. Thai kitchen also makes a chili oil that is gluten free if I recall. OrganicVille makes various sauces that are gluten free.
Your mostly just changing brands but it is doable...I love japanese, thai, and asian cooking and stir fries are a staple at times.
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[ravenwoodglass]

Welcome to the board. I second the Thai Kitchen reccomedation. I use their products all the time. Their rice noodles are my go to noodles, especially the 'angel hair' variety. Celiac is not unknown in East Asian populations (it may at times be related to a rarer gene than what is most common in the caucasian population though so don't rely on just gene testing) and is becoming more commonly diagnosed as the diets become more 'Westernized'. Do be sure to encourage your first degree relatives, ie parents, siblings etc, to get tested. Celiac is strongly genetic.

[apprehensiveengineer]

I did a foray into the genetics of celiac disease after getting my HLA DQ screening done. It seems that the assumption that celiac disease is a "European disease" is more of an artefact of scientific racism/bias; white people have historically done most of the science (and still do to some extent), and so focus on their own populations a lot and so a confirmation bias exists. This has lead to the assumption that other ethnic groups are less susceptible.

More recent screening has revealed that celiac disease is actually similar in terms of frequency in North Africa, the middle east and Pakistan/northern India. The highest rate of celiac disease is actually the Sahrawi ethnic group (Africa)! The common thread linking all these regions is early historical adoption of wheat as a staple grain. Presumably, the gene and/or the disease played a useful role in evolution in wheat-based societies at some point.

Depending on what your specific ancestry is (East Asia is an ethnically diverse area), it's perfectly reasonable that you have celiac.

Articles talking about non-European celiac disease:

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[Riya]

Hi! I'm half east-asian! 

I'm not sure about where you live, but where I live, there are gluten free versions of all our favourite sauces! 

I'm sure you can find them as well, go to your local super market and check the gluten free aisle or perhaps the sauce aisle (that will require you to read all the bottles but some may be gluten free). Be careful in asian markets though, only buy what you know is naturally gluten free. The rest, I'd stay away from. I've been poisoned often enough as well.