Asian Celiacs?

[stef-the-kicking-cuty]

Hi there,

i'm very concerned about a friends daughter. My friend is from India, also her husband and she has a son and a daughter. They all live here in the states, where we met. The daughter is now 5 years old and she is very whiney and hyperactive. And sometimes she is so itchy, that she scratches her skin bloody and then she whines even more. Sometimes she gets angry all of a sudden and has a real bad temper for a few seconds, before it's better again. Actually she's a cute kid, but oh can she be baaad...

But my problem actually now is. I told my friend about me being celiac and what that is. And that i have different other allergies, too. After i explained it to her she said, oh, i know that, the doctors told me, that my daughter shouldn't eat wheat also. So far so good, when i finally met her daughter, the little thing said to me (after she found out that i didn't eat bread): oh, i'm allergic to bread, too.

But a few hours later she ate some slices of bread and i said to the kid, I thought, you can't eat bread. My friend and her daughter looked at me, like i said something bad and she kept on eating without a comment. Well, i said to my friend, she should get her daughter tested for celiac and i suggested that, if it's celiac, that this is maybe the reason, why her daughter is itchy most of the time and has bad temper outburst and bad mood swings. And she has other allergies, too. Like nut allergy. But i heard, that celiac can cause a lot of other allergies, too. And i told her to go to a doctor who knows about celiac. Well, she went to her family doc and he told her not to be concerned, because she is asian and asian people will hardly ever get it. I just told her, that her family doc probably didn't have a clue. My family doc also asked me, if i'm from the middle east, because people from middle east (in his opinion) were more likely to get celiac. Well, i'm not, i'm as german as it gonna gets...

Then i went to an arts and crafts show with her to help her out a little (she's an artist) and then they had a gathering afterwards where they gave awards to different artists. Well, they had food there. Though i had my own food with me, i thought, the strawberries looked good. And i took one strawberry from the plate. But when i turned it around i saw there was dip on it and i said to my friend, if she wants to have the strawberry, because i can't eat it anymore. She made fun of me and said, what that little bit you can't eat? She's not getting it at all . And i try to explain her, that her daughter also might have it, but she's so ignorant. Is that true, that asian people hardly ever get it? Who can help or did anybody already hear about a case with asian celiacs? Please help me out here, so i can print this out and show her.

Stef

[Nin]

I have a friend, from Asia, who I work with who has had celiac all of her life she is now around age 50. She only finally figured out what her problem was about a year ago the same time I discovered I had celiac. So yes Asians do get it and this friend was not so fortunate to have been young when so much information was available, she had to suffer. Any young child today has far more available to deal with celiac. Not only can she avoid the health problems which may already be in progress but not visible, but she could also do much better in school if she is not being affected physically with these things. I would print out a few articles and give them to this lady and then consider your job done. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink. Too bad it is her daughter that will suffer at her ignorance.

Good Luck, Nin

[stef-the-kicking-cuty]

Hi Nin,

thanks for your respond. That's what i thought, too. I just have the feeling, that she doesn't realize how severe it is, and that makes me sad and frustrated. I will give her some things to read and maybe print my question and your answer out, too, if you don't mind. I know, i didn't write very friendly, but it also makes me mad, because i have the feeling she's just not interested. Like it goes into the left ear and out to the right and i can't help it. So thanks again.

Stef

[Eesha]

That's ridiculous. I'm indian & have celiac disease. Maybe its not that common in asians, but it definitely can happen.

[Nantzie]

My best friend is Hawaiian and Japanese, and a little bit of Portuguese. She has a lot of symptoms of celiac, to the point where she's getting tested (starting with genetics through Enterolab, then going from there). She was diagnosed with IBS when she was 15 or so. She's been having celiac type symptoms all that time. She's always tired too and takes a nap when she gets home from work most days. One of her sons almost flunked one of his classes last year. The one right after lunch of course. He said that he was tired and he had a hard time following the lessons.

So I think the race thing is just as relevent as a doctor saying a person can't have celiac because they haven't emaciated down to 87 pounds. It's just not a valid point. Especially when he won't even run the test because of it.

Nancy

[Nantzie]

I found a couple of references for you.

The first one is from the National Institutes of Health and says:

"Recent studies have shown that it may be more common in Africa, South America, and Asia than previously believed."

Open Original Shared Link

The second is from www.celiacdisease.net and references a fact sheet from the University of Chicago Celiac Center:

"Estimated prevalence for African-, Hispanic- and Asian-Americans: 1 in 236"

Open Original Shared Link

Speaking specifically to the prescence of celiac in people from India, here are some more sites:

Open Original Shared Link

On this one look at page 20 of the pdf

Open Original Shared Link

I've read other things also on there being lower incidences of celiac in certain areas of the world, but that once the traditional diet (very low gluten) was replaced with a more Western diet (just like McDonald's and Coca Cola are everywhere now, so is gluten), the incidence of celiac rose.

Nancy

[inquirer]

My husband is Iranian. He carries two gluten sensitivity genes which means both of his parents carry the gene and it runs strongly in his family. A doctor tried to convince my husband that he couldn't be gluten sensitive because people from his part of the world didn't have it. When I pointed out he had two gluten sensitivity genes the doctor became quiet. That area of the world is the original bread basket. I have a feeling alot of the "celiacs" already died out leaving more who are "just" gluten sensitive.

[2Boys4Me]

Here's another link for you to check out.

Open Original Shared Link

1: J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2006 Oct;21(10):1622-5. Links

Sood A,

Midha V,

Sood N,

Avasthi G,

Sehgal A.

Department of Medicine, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.

Celiac disease, as of today, is said to exist in almost all parts of the world, although it is rare among people of purely African-Caribbean, Japanese and Chinese background. The disease has also been considered uncommon in India until recently. Hospital records have revealed an increasing trend of the disease in predominantly wheat-eating areas of North India. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of celiac disease among school children in Punjab, North India. The study was carried out in the Ludhiana district of Punjab, Northern India. A total of 4347 children aged 3-17 years attending different schools were enrolled. A structured questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic data and symptoms and signs related to celiac disease and various sociodemographic factors. The screening for celiac disease for the suspected celiacs was done by testing for antitissue transglutaminase (anti-tTG) by indirect solid-phase immunometric assay (ELISA). All children with high anti-tTG whose parents consented underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy for small bowel biopsy from the second part of the duodenum. Histopathology was expressed according to the Marsh classification of 1992. Follow up was carried out among children who were put on a gluten-restricted diet, at monthly intervals for 3 months and every 3 months thereafter. The diagnosis of celiac disease was established on the basis of the revised European Society of Paediatric Gastroenterologists and Nutritionists (ESPGAN) criteria (confirmed cases). A total of 4347 school children (1967 girls, 2380 boys, age range 3-17 years) were screened for celiac disease. Out of these, 198 suspected children were identified for further evaluation. Twenty-one children tested positive for anti-tTG assay (10.6%, 95% confidence interval: 16.91-34.79). Seventeen of these 21 children agreed to undergo biopsy; of these, 14 had histological changes consistent with celiac disease and all these 14 children had clinical response to gluten restriction. Three children with high anti-tTG had normal mucosa on duodenal biopsy and were not labelled as being in the celiac disease group. In the final analysis the disease prevalence was one in 310 children.

This is the first study on celiac disease prevalence among school children from India. Although this disease frequency of one in 310 is thought to be an under-assessment, it clearly shows that celiac disease is not rare in wheat-eating areas of North India.

PMID: 16928227 [PubMed - in process]