Jump to content
  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.


  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):
  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Is It A Red Head Thing?


Rook's Mommy

Recommended Posts

Rook's Mommy Apprentice

My son is a red head. Since finding out about it I have meet people who have celiac and a good portion of the are red heads. So is my mother and niece who both have signs. It seems odd. Oh and the owner of the bakery I went to was a red head as well. :unsure:


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



angel-jd1 Community Regular

Many people who have red hair are of Irish descent. Celiac also ties into Irish heritage/genes. I guess that would be about the only correlation. As far as i know :D Good observation though.

-Jessica :rolleyes:

RiceAddict Rookie

Hair color is determined by genes. Red hair is a recessive gene, which is why it is less common. We are not Irish or Scottish but I am the ONLY person in my family with red hair. Also the only one with celiac, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. .

I sure hope my REAL parents are rich!

Aizlynn Rookie

I am a red head, but of Italian/German decent no potato blood in me. However, when I went to my first Gluten Intolerance Group meeting yesterday I did notice a a few red heads in the group.

GeoffCJ Enthusiast

I think the first responder is correct.

Celiac has the highest rates of incidence amongst people of Celtic descent (which includes Scots, not just Irish). These populations also have high rates of red hair.

I'm not a redhead, but my mom and sister both are! (Scottish)

Geoff

Rook's Mommy Apprentice

I that all makes a lot of sense. We are Irish!

Fiddle-Faddle Community Regular

I remember reading that among Asians in Asia, celiac disease is virtually unheard of, but among Asians living in America, the rate of celiac disease incidence increases with each generation (as their diet becomes more and more Westernized).

I am sorry that I can't remember where I read that, so I cannot present this as peer-reviewed science! But to connect it to this thread, the Asian-Americans who have celiac certainly don't have red hair or Irish heritage!

Still--we should do a poll on how many of us here have any Celtic ancestors.


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



cgilsing Enthusiast

I'm a redhead and so is my son.....but the red-headed side of the family is not the Celiac side! :lol: We are all Scottish/Irish/German though....

Ursa Major Collaborator

I'm a redhead. My mother, who I am sure had celiac disease, had brown hair, but her mother had red hair (and her mother died young of stomach cancer, probably not a coincidence).

No Irish heritage here, just German.

darlindeb25 Collaborator

Well, let me see if I can stump any of you. I am sure there is some Irish on my mom's side and yes, she is a true redhead. My sister and I both have red highlights in our hair, yet, our mom is not celiac, our father is and he was a brunette in his day, now mostly gray. My dad's family is English and German. Blows that theory huh!!!!! ;)

By the way--just wanted to add, my hair really is not as dark as in the pic here, that was Garnier Nutresse ;) , still is, but as close to my natural color as possible--chestnut!

Ann1231 Enthusiast

I'm a redhead and so was my grandmother on my Dad's side, which is where the celiac is dominant. We are of Irish and German heritage.

jayhawkmom Enthusiast

I'm a redhead - and I'm Irish/German. :)

Obviously.... since my children have my dna, they also share in my heritage. However, none of them have red hair, much to my dismay.

Both my boys have brown hair and my daughter is a blondie. I can see, in years to come, one of my kiddos will post here and say..... "hey, yea... my mom has red hair!!"

*giggle*

2kids4me Contributor

No redheads in this family or in relatives ..... blonde and chestnut brown dominate...

No Irish blood but Slovak and Scot and German add european diversity :)

Sandy

plantime Contributor

Celiac was passed down in my family through my maternal grandpa. He was French and Irish. He used to say he was "Black Irish" because his hair was jet-black until the day he died. Vydorscope's little boy, Timber, has the most gorgeous red curls!

lonewolf Collaborator

My son is a red-head and is gluten intolerant, but not officially Celiac. When he was a baby, the pediatrician told me that red-heads have a higher incidence of food and environmental allergies and to be watchful.

concerned-mom061 Rookie

I am of Irish decent. My mother had ared tent to her hair....and several of her sisters have red hair. My daughter is the first known case in the family.....and she has a red tint to her hair......but after her diagnosis..many of my mom's sisters are being tested, for they all have the symptoms. My mother died at 41 of natural causes.....but in the end she suffered from bloody stools, an extreme amount of weight gain, severe anemia, horrible arthiritis, and many other things.

My little brother also has red hair...and he exhibits many of the symptoms of an intolerance.

So...maybe you are onto something!

prinsessa Contributor

None of the people who I know that are Gluten intolerant have red hair. That doesn't mean that red heads aren't more likely to have gluten intolerant. I just don't know any that are.

mtdawber Apprentice

I'm the red head in my family... that's so funny... I've always been the one with iron deficiencies, bad skin and stomach problems... ha ha ha... no one else in my family shoes any signs of celiac! My dad was too (he passed several years ago) but he was always skinny as a rail - makes me wonder....

2boysmama Apprentice

I have strawberry blonde hair and so do both my boys - all three of us are gluten sensitive. My husband has brown hair but is Irish and is also GS. My mother has red hair and her father is directly from Ireland. My dad's side of the family (where I got my specific hair color) is Scottish/Welsh...so genetically-speaking I'm pretty much surrounded, I think ! :lol:

Lisa Mentor

Interesting topic and intriguing.

My Uncle and his daughter are red-headed. I have always had red highlights and of Austrian decent.

Red hair and odd body shape.......could this be an alien connection. :unsure:

  • 2 weeks later...
laurac Newbie

Well, funny thing-- my son and husband are both celiacs. Celiac comes from my husband's side of the family. There are a few others including his grandfather that have celiac disease. They are all 100% Italian. There is nothing else mixed in there.

ILOVEOMC Enthusiast

Yes, my son who has celiac is a redhead. I am also and my daughter but we don't have celiac. Good idea to bring up!

  • 6 years later...
0range Apprentice

Very old thread, but here's an interesting article about this! Open Original Shared Link

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Celiac.com:
    Join eNewsletter
    Donate

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):





    Celiac.com Sponsors (A17-M):




  • Recent Activity

    1. - RMJ replied to wellthatsfun's topic in Post Diagnosis, Recovery & Treatment of Celiac Disease
      3

      nothing has changed

    2. - asaT replied to wellthatsfun's topic in Post Diagnosis, Recovery & Treatment of Celiac Disease
      3

      nothing has changed

    3. - nanny marley replied to SilkieFairy's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      7

      IBS-D vs Celiac

    4. - asaT replied to Scott Adams's topic in Post Diagnosis, Recovery & Treatment of Celiac Disease
      45

      Supplements for those Diagnosed with Celiac Disease

    5. - par18 replied to Woodster991's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      9

      Is it gluten?

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):
  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      133,342
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748

    Muhammad
    Newest Member
    Muhammad
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):
  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.6k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):
  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • RMJ
      This may be the problem. Every time you eat gluten it is like giving a booster shot to your immune system, telling it to react and produce antibodies again.
    • asaT
      Scott, I am mostly asymptomatic. I was diagnosed based on high antibodies, low ferritin (3) and low vitamin D (10). I wasn't able to get in for the biopsy until 3 months after the blood test came back. I was supposed to keep eating gluten during this time. Well why would I continue doing something that I know to be harmful for 3 more months to just get this test? So I did quit gluten and had the biopsy. It was negative for celiacs. I continued gluten free with iron supps and my ferritin came back up to a reasonable, but not great level of around 30-35.  Could there be something else going on? Is there any reason why my antibodies would be high (>80) with a negative biopsy? could me intestines have healed that quickly (3 months)?  I'm having a hard time staying gluten free because I am asymptomatic and i'm wondering about that biopsy. I do have the celiacs gene, and all of the antibody tests have always come back high. I recently had them tested again. Still very high. I am gluten free mostly, but not totally. I will occasionally eat something with gluten, but try to keep to a minimum. It's really hard when the immediate consequences are nil.  with high antibodies, the gene, but a negative biopsy (after 3 months strict gluten-free), do i really have celiacs? please say no. lol. i think i know the answer.  Asa
    • nanny marley
      I have had a long year of testing unfortunately still not diagnosed , although one thing they definitely agree I'm gluten intolerant, the thing for me I have severe back troubles they wouldnt perform the tests and I couldn't have a full MRI because I'm allergic to the solution , we tryed believe me  I tryed lol , another was to have another blood test after consuming gluten but it makes me so bad I tryed it for only a week, and because I have a trapped sciatic nerve when I get bad bowels it sets that off terribly so I just take it on myself now , I eat a gluten free diet , I'm the best I've ever been , and if I slip I know it so for me i have my own diagnosis  and I act accordingly, sometimes it's not so straight forward for some of us , for the first time in years I can plan to go out , and I have been absorbing my food better , running to the toilet has become occasionally now instead of all the time , i hope you find a solution 🤗
    • asaT
      I was undiagnosed for decades. My ferritin when checked in 2003 was 3. It never went above 10 in the next 20 years. I was just told to "take iron". I finally requested the TTgIgA test in 2023 when I was well and truly done with the chronic fatigue and feeling awful. My numbers were off the charts on the whole panel.  they offered me an endoscopic biopsy 3 months later, but that i would need to continue eating gluten for it to be accurate. so i quit eating gluten and my intestine had healed by the time i had the biopsy (i'm guessing??). Why else would my TTgIgA be so high if not celiacs? Anyway, your ferritin will rise as your intestine heals and take HEME iron (brand 4 arrows). I took 20mg of this with vitamin c and lactoferrin and my ferritin went up, now sits around 35.  you will feel dramatically better getting your ferritin up, and you can do it orally with the right supplements. I wouldn't get an infusion, you will get as good or better results taking heme iron/vc/lf.  
    • par18
      Scott, I agree with everything you said except the term "false negative". It should be a "true negative" just plain negative. I actually looked up true/false negative/positive as it pertains to testing. The term "false negative" would be correct if you are positive (have anti-bodies) and the test did not pick them up. That would be a problem with the "test" itself. If you were gluten-free and got tested, you more than likely would test "true" negative or just negative. This means that the gluten-free diet is working and no anti-bodies should be present. I know it sounds confusing and if you don't agree feel free to respond. 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.