Celiac Disease Or Gluten Intolerance

[Sharon Marie]

Are they different?

[Tim-n-VA]

You sometimes see posts here from people who think they are the same. My opinion is that Celiac is a medically well-defined (if not well diagnosed) condition and gluten intolerance is not well defined. The various uses of "gluten intolerance" that I've seen on this board sometimes does equal celiac but sometimes it is used as an umbrella term meaning roughly "something bad happens when I eat gluten".

It also depends why you want to know. If it is for dietary choices and feeling better, they are the same. If you are thinking that diseases occur in clusters and you want to know what else to be on the look-out for, it is important to know what is really happening in your body when you consume gluten.

[RiceGuy]

As I understand it, Celiac disease is when there is damage due to the immune response to the presents of gluten. Whereas gluten intolerance is when there are only non-damaging symptoms. If this is not correct, I'm sure someone will point to some authoritative reference. But IMO I doubt one can be gluten intolerant and never have any sort of damage in some way, even if it isn't the lining of the small intestine.

[trents]

That is a matter of controversy these days. The terminology seems to have evolved in the past several years as more has been learned about the toxic effect of gluten on the body. My impression is that the term Celiac disease is generally being used to refer to the damage that gluten does to the mucosa of the small bowel as demonstrated by biopsy and microscopic inspection, i.e., the smoothing or rounding off of the micro villi that in turn produces nutrient malabsorbtion. "Gluten intolerance", on the other hand (or so it seems to me), is being used these days in reference to a broader scope of pathologic reactions to gluten ingestion that may or may not show up in a biopsy/ micro analysis of the SB mucosa. "Gluten intolerance" has become the popular media term for all of this.

[Sharon Marie]

Thanks so much for explaining this. Last November my Dr. told me I have Celiac Disease. My villi were totally flattened and I was severely anemic. Disease just sounded so much worse then a gluten intolerance. So, the way I understand this, I can recover from Celiac Disease, but will always remain Gluten intolerant. That is, IF I can EVER quit making huge errors in my diet! Eating out seems to be my hugest hurtle!