Why Is It That Mostly Women Have Gluten Problems?

[jasonD2]

i barely hear of guys with celiac or gluten problems

[psawyer]

It isn't so. But what IS true is that women are much more likey to push and push and keep pushing to find out what is really wrong. Men are more likely to not see a doctor at all, or to accept "irritable bowel" as a "diagnosis." As a result many more women are aware, and thus talk about it.

[i-geek]

Maybe women are more likely to go to the doctor if they suspect something is wrong. I know it's like pulling teeth to get my husband to go even if there is something obviously wrong. And how many men are willing to openly discuss their health issues?

Also, from what I've observed from my father (who bloats up like crazy after eating pasta and who has a med cabinet well stocked with over-the-counter GI meds) and from other men, intense flatulence and bad headaches are considered a normal part of life. Plus, there's that whole macho burger-and-beer thing. A lot of people aren't willing to give up food culture even if they have to medicate themselves heavily just to function.

Finally, I know autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis tend to strike women more often than men. It's entirely possible that celiac disease is similar.

[kayo]

Women in general have more autoimmune illnesses than men. My understanding is that we have more life changing 'trigger' events that can kick off the genes into full blown symptoms such as puberty, childbirth and menopause.

[jackay]

Maybe women are more likely to go to the doctor if they suspect something is wrong. I know it's like pulling teeth to get my husband to go even if there is something obviously wrong. And how many men are willing to openly discuss their health issues?

Also, from what I've observed from my father (who bloats up like crazy after eating pasta and who has a med cabinet well stocked with over-the-counter GI meds) and from other men, intense flatulence and bad headaches are considered a normal part of life. Plus, there's that whole macho burger-and-beer thing. A lot of people aren't willing to give up food culture even if they have to medicate themselves heavily just to function.

Finally, I know autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis tend to strike women more often than men. It's entirely possible that celiac disease is similar.

My husband would rather take drugs than make any dietary change.

He just told me about a friend that has IBS and and autoimmune disorder that is affecting his eyes. I said he should probably give up drinking and my husband's response was that then he might as well die as he'd have nothing to live for. The man is happily married and has kids. He loves to hunt and fish. According to me, he has lots to live for besides drinking.

[Pac]

World gastroenterology organisation (WGO) writes in its 2007 guidelines that female to male ratio is 2:1 (can send a copy via email, but the whole report is too long to post it here)

I've read another article, about a month ago, ufortunately I didn't save that one. It was mostly about the 4x increase of prevalence of celiac in last 50 years, but it also said the female-male ratio is up to 3:1. Beside that it said that the incidence is highest among middle-aged people and advised geriatric practitioners to be more aware of celiac symptoms, since the disease can be developed at any age, not just in young people as is still common belief. I gonna try to dig up that article again, it was really interesting.

Here's part of the WGO guidline:

[Takala]

The inheritance is different.

Girls tend to get the genes predisposing them to gluten intolerance and celiac, if something goes awry.

Males tend to get more autism.

All of these auto immune diseases, diabetes, gluten intolerance, celiac, autism, are related, researchers are finding more and more links.

I don't know if the researchers are officially calling autism an auto immune disease yet, but they will be.

Now, my interpretation, as a layperson, is that we were surviving along just fine on various non wheat diets until wheat started to spread as a dietary staple food world wide. (Corn and potatoes the staple starches here, millet and sorghum in other places, rice in the East, taro root and bananas and coconut in the Pacific) And as civilization progressed, and we invented antibiotics and had widespread rural installation of electricity and refrigeration, since the 1930's- 1940's, that more of us were surviving to adulthood to either reproduce or to develop the full blown disease instead of dying in childhood of infection.

So more of us probably have the HLA DQ2, DQ8 genes associated with this, but who knows what the trigger is, may be environmental toxins which make people more susceptible to infections, viruses, or chemicals which screw up the thyroid, might be something like exposure in utero, who knows, but not everybody with the genes gets the diseases.

We get more auto immune diseases but we live longer. What a trade off.

[Jestgar]

Now, my interpretation, as a layperson.........

The inheritance is different.

Girls tend to get the genes predisposing them to gluten intolerance and celiac, if something goes awry.

Males tend to get more autism.

As a geneticist, I'm calling this statement untrue. We all get the same genes. The proportion of inheritance of polymorphisms within the genes is not different between males and females. The only possible difference (genetically) would come from the X chromosome, as females have two, and males have one.

There are immunity genes on the X chromosome. My personal favorite is Open Original Shared Link, which I wonder about having a connection to the increased autoimmunity in females, but have seen no studies on.

There are very few diseases/phenotypes that fall into the "one gene - one phenotype" model that prevailed in thinking for the longest time. The interactions of genes and proteins within our bodies is still far beyond our understanding, and blaming anything on 'genetics' just doesn't work.

[Takala]

...... "we all get the same genes ?"

Open Original Shared Link

[Jestgar]

I'm missing your point.