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Irish Heritage And Celiac's


Queen Serenity

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darlindeb25 Collaborator

A little Irish, English, and German.


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  • Replies 187
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mle-ii Explorer

Mom's side: Norwegian, Irish (might be others, but this is the majority)

Dad's side: Swedish, Scottish, English, French, German (I'm sure there's more, but this is what I have thus far)

  • 4 weeks later...
Queen Serenity Newbie

Hi everyone!

Thanks for all of you responses! You have made this survey very interesting for me. We all have different backgrounds, and yet, we carry that "special" gene that causes Celiac's. Eleven years ago, I felt so isolated, because not many people even heard of it. Now, there are so many people aware, that even certain restaurants carry a special menu. I opened up this topic, just to see how many people shared the same kind of genetic background as myself. It's interesting that the majority that responded, still have some kind of Irish. But, it is equally interesting, that other countries of North Europe, also have it too. Please keep up with the survey. I enjoy reading all of the responses.

Vicki :)

2Boys4Me Enthusiast

Hmmm. I thought I'd answered this before, but I guess not.

Ty's got from my side: Irish (mostly) with a wee bit of Scottish and Welsh

from his dad: more Irish, bit of English and on his paternal grandfather's side they aren't sure if it's Czech or Hungarian. They lived in Czechoslovakia but spoke Hungarian.

We like to call ourselves Canadian though. B)

Guest ~jules~

Irish on both sides, a little welsh and french. Hmmm. interesting though...

queenofhearts Explorer
Hmmm. I thought I'd answered this before, but I guess not.

Ty's got from my side: Irish (mostly) with a wee bit of Scottish and Welsh

from his dad: more Irish, bit of English and on his paternal grandfather's side they aren't sure if it's Czech or Hungarian. They lived in Czechoslovakia but spoke Hungarian.

We like to call ourselves Canadian though. B)

I had a little deja vu too so I checked & there's another related thread:

Open Original Shared Link

I'm an English/Irish/Scottish/French mutt.

Leah

2Boys4Me Enthusiast
I had a little deja vu too so I checked & there's another related thread:

Open Original Shared Link

I'm an English/Irish/Scottish/French mutt.

Leah

A HA! I'm NOT crazy! Well, maybe just a little. :ph34r:


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Chrisser Explorer

This is interesting...

Irish on both sides...not sure where it comes in on my dad's side, but my maternal great-grandmother came to Ellis Island.

gfp Enthusiast
My IgG came back positive last week.

I'm part Irish and part Spanish (probably Mayan as well but not sure). I say I probably have about 25% Irish from my mother's side and 75% Spanish from my father's side.

Carol :unsure:

Rachel .... now there is two of us. I'm also part Spanish :)

Most people from the Southern counties of Ireland are also part Spanish if that means anything.

The fact is it doesn't mean anything because most Irish people also have scandanavian genes as well, not to mention that genetically the Irish and North African Berbers are also genetically very close.

Just to be clear, there is no such race as Italian or French or Swiss or German...

Perhaps Italian might be easiest to explain.

Firstly Italy did not exist ever as a country until 1861... but we are already getting way ahead of ourselves.

Early Italian settlers in the paleolithic could be said to be the first "Italians" ... one group were the Atlantans (the old name for ONE of the peoples of Euboea) an Ionic people. (and already very mixed up)

Evidence points to around the 8thC B.C. for the ionic colonisation of what is now Italy.

About the same time as Pygmalion was King of Tyre, shoshenk III was King of Egypt (pre pharonic era) and Assyria conquered Damascus and Samaria both eventually united under Nabkunasser (spell it as you will)

Traditionally the date is 734 BC two years after Hoshea became King of Isreal. and 4 years before he was defeated by Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria.

Meanwhile, further North ... the Villanovan culture was being superceded by the Etruscans and Romulus and Remus had founded Rome.

Meanwhile the Spartans had already founded Tarus (now Taranto) ... and the list goes on and on.

Under the Roman republic a certain amount of mixing was obviously going on... and genetically a huge amount of influx from the whole Roman empire. Much of southern Italy was still Greek in culture and even language, Naples was using Greek up to Napoleonic times. Spanish influence was also huge... and at this time the Spanish were a mainly Celtic race with the addition of phoenecian and catheginian influence, indeed prior to the Punic wars the Ebro maked the boundary between Carthaginian and Roman and the Cartheginins themselves having settled Carthage from phoenecia but also including tyre and others.

Post and late Empire ... Constantine was at least 50% Serbian, his mother being an inkeepers daughter from modern Niš. The genetics of his father Flavius Valerius Constantius .. being the matter of a reasonable amount of historical dispute ...

Common figures (and the Romans were very thorough at figures) show something like 40% of the population of the Roman "Italy" were slaves and of these over 90% would be non-Roman slaves. Equally many or most citizens were not Roman or even genetically from Italy. Most people may have heard of a Roman citizen called Saul for instance. This wasn't an odd event... any free man born in a colony was a citizen. A colony however was NOT just somewhere Rome ruled over, it was a special status.. colonies paid less tax and their citizens were according Roman citizenship.

.. if this wasn't enough the post Roman period brought an equal amount of genetic influx. The rather obvious germanic vandals and gothic tribes from Scandanavia in the first instance followed by Normans and Lombards (both again of Scandanavian origin) while meanwhile the city states of Genoa, Venice, Pisa and Florence were trading between the near east and Northern Europe, fighting amongst themselves and occaisionally against the Moors. Each progressive wave of moors brought forwards immigrants from the former Eastern Empire... from what is now Turkey, Cyprus and Greece. Each had a distinct and different dialect ... no closer to Modern Italian than catalunian or modern French.

Down south ... from 1494 the French king Charles VIII opened a series of invasions quickly added to by the Spanish until the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis in 1559 recognised Spain's soverenty over the Kingdom of Naples.

.. right up to the Peace of Utrecht (1713) ... when the Hapsburgs took power of State of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples leaving the centre of Italy to stagnate under the intellectual opression of Papal control.

Napoleon destroyed the Republic of Venice in 1799 ... and restored much of Italy to a non sectarian pro-Italian nationalist state. (the previous 200 yrs being vassal states of Spain and Austria) This is the first real time that Italy existed as an entity....

Every single European country (with the exception of Iceland if we wish to be inclusive) is every bit as mixed up.

Pick a country .. and follow its history ...pick out genetics and look.

IrishKelly Contributor

Totally Irish & Scottish (some french too) here!!

kathymacn Newbie
Hi everyone!

Thanks for all of you responses! You have made this survey very interesting for me. We all have different backgrounds, and yet, we carry that "special" gene that causes Celiac's. Eleven years ago, I felt so isolated, because not many people even heard of it. Now, there are so many people aware, that even certain restaurants carry a special menu. I opened up this topic, just to see how many people shared the same kind of genetic background as myself. It's interesting that the majority that responded, still have some kind of Irish. But, it is equally interesting, that other countries of North Europe, also have it too. Please keep up with the survey. I enjoy reading all of the responses.

Vicki :)

Father: 100% Irish

Mother: 100% Lithuanian

Two of father's siblings had "stomach problems"

Mother & many of her relatives had Rheumatoid Arthritis -- another autoimmune disease.

Don't know for sure where my celiac disease came from, probably the Irish but given the prevalance of the autoimmune RA possibly also from the Lithuanians.

barilla Explorer

My Dad's side is 100% Irish and my mother's side is 98% Irish and 2% German.

I have an Aunt and a Great Uncle who have/had celiac's on my dad's side.

gfp Enthusiast
Father: 100% Irish

Mother: 100% Lithuanian

Two of father's siblings had "stomach problems"

Mother & many of her relatives had Rheumatoid Arthritis -- another autoimmune disease.

Don't know for sure where my celiac disease came from, probably the Irish but given the prevalance of the autoimmune RA possibly also from the Lithuanians.

How can you say your father is 100% Irish? or your mother 100% Lithuanian?

What is Irish? Yoiu can only be Irish if you are born in Ireland.

Even if you have a family tree going back 2000 years this doesn't make you genetically 100% Irish...

FrostyFriday Rookie

Just going back a couple of hundred years, I am German, English, Swedish and Scottish. Seems to me that there is a definite German connection to celiac disease. If my memory is correct, when the German Protestants fled to England, some of them were sent on to Ireland.

Eesha Newbie
I am curious to know how Celiac's is related, in the majority, to people of an Irish background. Everyone I have spoken too, who have the disease, have some Irish background. I just want to know if there is a connection. If you have no Irish background, please let me know what nationalities you are. Thanks in advance, if you choose to take the survey.

Vicki :)

By reading most of the posts I guess Celiac must have originated in Ireland, but I'm 100% indian (from india, not native american) & have celiac. Unless i had an irish ancestor, which i doubt, there must have been a mutation or something. My mom has it & so does my grandma (mom's side of course). My great-grandpa most likely had it too & was supposed to be very "un"-indian looking. he had light eyes & pale skin & was most likely celiac (anemic & other symptoms). I don't know anything about his parents, but perhaps he had some irish in him, however i don't know if a gene would survive that long, & this story sounds like a stretch. Also, on my mother's side, everyone has very light skin. perhaps i have some european in me? i highly doubt it.

mle-ii Explorer

Though I'm sure it'd be difficult I wonder if anyone has tried following the gene back in time to see where it might have come from. My guess is that it probably came from multiple sources/locations.

I have some thoughts on why this gene survived in my blog from this site.

Mike

gfp Enthusiast
Though I'm sure it'd be difficult I wonder if anyone has tried following the gene back in time to see where it might have come from. My guess is that it probably came from multiple sources/locations.

I have some thoughts on why this gene survived in my blog from this site.

Mike

Well this certainly won't happen while people keep referring to themselves as a certain race ....just because they are told this.

Even today with contraception 1:25 children is not the child of their presumed father. I'm sure it was a lot more in the past. People are adamant the world over thay they are of a "pure race" wheras genetic testing shows this is almost non existant.

There is no Irish race.... you cannot be genetically Irish or Indian for that matter.

snowygiraffe Rookie

Maternal grandma -- Hungarian

Maternal grandpa -- Turkish

Paternal grandma--Irish

Paternal grandpa-- French

But I have no idea were we got celiac. My dads mom did have alot of digestive/health problems but so does my moms mom and my mom

mle-ii Explorer
Well this certainly won't happen while people keep referring to themselves as a certain race ....just because they are told this.

Even today with contraception 1:25 children is not the child of their presumed father. I'm sure it was a lot more in the past. People are adamant the world over thay they are of a "pure race" wheras genetic testing shows this is almost non existant.

There is no Irish race.... you cannot be genetically Irish or Indian for that matter.

Right, that's why I think it would be difficult. That and I agree with you about "Irish" or "Spanish" or whatever ethnic group. Hadn't thought about it too much until I started doing geneaology and seeing this for first hand.

I'm more interested in tracing the gene back than any specific ethnic group. Problem is that we need the genes of all those dead folks to do this right and I'm pretty sure that isn't going to happen. ;)

This gene has more to do with natural selection (I'm guessing) than being a group of folks with the same ethnicity (sp).

Mike

gfp Enthusiast
Right, that's why I think it would be difficult. That and I agree with you about "Irish" or "Spanish" or whatever ethnic group. Hadn't thought about it too much until I started doing geneaology and seeing this for first hand.

I'm more interested in tracing the gene back than any specific ethnic group. Problem is that we need the genes of all those dead folks to do this right and I'm pretty sure that isn't going to happen. ;)

This gene has more to do with natural selection (I'm guessing) than being a group of folks with the same ethnicity (sp).

Mike

Geneaology only tells half the story because it only shows what is told to the family or is written on a birth certificate whereas genetics have shown a significant percentage of women lie about the true father of their children.

Even in gross cases where the child is going to look nothing like the father for instance there is a huge difference in the incidence of Rh -ve in American 'blacks' (7%) than African (9 people in 10,000) and many of these people regard and believe themselves as 100% black! Obviously they are not...and we are only talking a few generations here and the fact that 45-50% of Europeans have a RHD silent allele. Of course the native Americans have a very low RHD so perhaps that might provide a clue or dilution at double strength however the Asian-Native American allele is different to the European one so if you can get the DNA then you can find out....

As mentioned in North Africa the Berbers are very proud of their pure blood yet it is virtually unknown to find one without significant Arab and East African blood.... and the North African Arabs are equally proud to be pure Arab ... and again its virtually unknown to find one without Berber and east African blood.

and finally.........

There is lots of DNA of dead folks ... don't worry.

munchkinette Collaborator

I get my gluten-intolerance from my grandmother's side. She is mostly Scottish and German. There might be a couple other things in there but they are minor.

(My dad's side is Scottish, Irish, French, German, Welsh, etc. but there isn't any gluten-intolerance there.)

IMResident Newbie

Most people here seem to be Irish/Swedish/German. I am 100% pure blooded Croatian .... are there any other Eastern Euros/Slavic people out there with celiac disease?

eLaurie Rookie

My maternal great grandfather was an Irish immigrant. Possible gluten related disorders in the family include two other women besides me with premature ovarian failure, numerous poopy/pooty people including my grandfather who died of GI cancer, an autistic nephew who has responded almost miraculously to the gluten free diet.

gfp Enthusiast
Most people here seem to be Irish/Swedish/German. I am 100% pure blooded Croatian .... are there any other Eastern Euros/Slavic people out there with celiac disease?

I find that hard to believe. A certain 'Serb' born in what is now Niš claimed to be Roman ... though his mother was a local 'Serbian' and the record on the parentage of his father are so heavily doctored as to make it impossible to know.

Have you got haplogroup R1a (Y-DNA) and haplogroup I (Y-DNA)? How about the broader J, E and G ?

See

Barac et al, "Y chromosomal heritage of Croatian population and its island isolates", European Journal of Human Genetics (2003) 11, 535-542

IMResident Newbie
I find that hard to believe. A certain 'Serb' born in what is now Niš claimed to be Roman ... though his mother was a local 'Serbian' and the record on the parentage of his father are so heavily doctored as to make it impossible to know.

Have you got haplogroup R1a (Y-DNA) and haplogroup I (Y-DNA)? How about the broader J, E and G ?

See

Barac et al, "Y chromosomal heritage of Croatian population and its island isolates", European Journal of Human Genetics (2003) 11, 535-542

I beg to differ, all my grandparents and great-grandparents on both my fathers and mothers side for 100% croatian, with maybe a little Hungarian contamination. ;) I am not sure about what those haplotypes mean, but I am sure I have the 100% Croatian haplotype. I think celiac is a lot less common in Croatian and Eastern European populations because all we eat is bread. Bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner..... I am sure we developed so kind of a tolerance to gluten over the centuries. When I went to Germany I was shocked at the rye bread that they eat. For me it just tasted terrible, but I am sure you can get used to it after a while. There's very little rice or corn in the diets of Slavs (actually corn is considered pig food) :)

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