Non Celiac Disease

From Celiac Disease to general distaste, gluten-free diets are on the rise and it may seem to some that the appearance and prevalence of gluten-sensitivity is a modern phenomenon, cashing in on a Western trend without a real scientific base. It may surprise the cautious reader to discover that Celiac Disease is in fact one of the most common long-term diseases worldwide with a history likely dating back to at least the first and second centuries. This begs the question: what is celiac disease? Where does it come from, and how is it treated? What about non-celiac gluten sensitivity?
Celiac Disease
While the word “celiac” derives from the Ancient Greek word “koilia” meaning belly, the disease predominantly targets the small intestine. Celiac Disease (CD) is an autoimmune
Wheat quickly became popular and to this day remains the most produced crop worldwide. Despite this, people spread faster than gluten-related crops; wheat and barley consumption was dominant 10, 000 years ago in what is now the Middle-East, but did not spread Northwest to areas like Britain until approximately 2000 BCE. Evolutionary theory, would predict that if CD is determined genetically—which it is—then the Middle-East and other areas, which have consumed gluten for the longest time, should have largely eliminated the gene associated with CD. This is not the case though; in fact, Middle-Eastern countries have an ever higher prevalence of the CD-determining gene than Northern Europe does. This unexpected distribution is thought to be a result of one of two factors: that the gene that causes CD also protected against tooth decay and so survived regardless of the effects of CD, or that CD is the lingering remains of a function that protected the body from a consequence of switching to a wheat-based