Can Coeliac Disease be cured naturally?

Coeliac Disease is a condition in which the lining of the small intestine is damaged by gluten, a major protein found in many grains, particularly wheat. It has been known for about a century, usually in terms of a “clogged system” or in conjunction with diarrhoea and constipation. The disease was recognised in children in 1888, but it was not until 1940 that dietary gluten was proved responsible. Damage to the small intestine’s lining blocks food absorption into the bloodstream. It causes poor nutrition, as well as diarrhoea and abnormal bowel movements due to the spill-over of partly digested food. The essence of any treatment is to avoid gluten, i.e. all products based on wheat, oats barley, rye and triticale.

Major causes: Gluten

In spite of the fact that wheat contains gluten (the essential ingredient of glue paste), which is hard to digest and dangerous to health, science has been genetically changing its biological structure through hybridizing, in order to raise its gluten content. Gluten is a good binding agent in commercial breads and cakes, but is dangerous to the small intestinal tract. Eating gluten products coats the lining of the small intestinal tract, thereby blocking the nutrient uptake from the foods we eat.

What goes wrong?

People allergic to gluten are also susceptible to damage to the lining of the small intestine. Normally, food passes through the stomach into the small intestine, where the food is digested and absorbed, and then passed to the large intestine as waste mater. This material is finally forced as faeces (bowel movement) through the anus.

The small intestine is lined with billions of minute fingers called villi, which increase the area of the walls of the intestine, so that nutrient absorption is more efficient. By consuming gluten via wheat products, the villi are flattened down and pasted together. The natural absorption of nutrients is blocked, and in many cases, you are not feeding the body, regardless of what volumes of food you eat.

From: aboutkidshealth.ca

| Offensive smell

At the same time, some unabsorbed food passes into the large intestine and out in the bowel motions. This food os often fermented and putrefied by unfriendly bacteria living in the large intestine, and produces and offensive smell and lots of wind. The most obvious symptoms are foul-smelling faeces and bloated abdomen.

Coeliac can produce diarrhoea, irritability and pot belly, as well as poor weight and growth. Weight-loss is often evident around the buttocks and legs. The lack of nutrient up-take causes vitamin and mineral deficiencies which can lead to anaemia. If one needs a medical diagnosis, a gastroenterologist should be consulted Usually, a biopsy will determine if villi are incapacitated.

| Who is a likely to Coeliac Suferer?

Many infants are born with a predisposition to this dangerous condition. Some races have a particularly high incidence of coeliac, due to their cultural eating habits, which include an abundance of wheat, bread, rye, barley, oats and triticale. However, anyone may suffer some degree of coeliac. It may be genetically-based disease, because of the same eating habits passed down from mother to daughter, generation after generation.

Coeliac and Cancer

There appears to be an increased risk of cancer of the small intestine in untreated coeliac disease. Symptoms may develop early in infancy after the introduction of bread with gluten into the diet, or at any time in years or decades to come. A gluten-free diet must be maintained for a long healthy life.

Treatment

Any gluten will cause some damage, which becomes progressively worse with repeated exposure. Fortunately, the reverse is also true. Removal of gluten from the diet allows the lining of the intestine to return to normal in a few weeks. Put simply: all gluten based grains such as wheat, rye, oats, and products made from them, should be avoided.

To aid the healing process, it is important to take some fibre in the form of celery, raw vegetables and fruit. A good combination is raw bran mixed with acidophilus and bifidobacterium added to yogurt. Other ingredients could be added, if desired, such as ground flaxseed, lecithin granules, rice polishing and psyllium husks. It is also advisable to increase the hydrochloric acid in your stomach for better digestion, by drinking a glass of filtered water 15 minutes before you eat a meal, as well as to take digestive enzyme tablets. This will help your reduce and eliminate the excess wind.

Although a gluten-free diet is difficult to maintain. It is the best way to avoid this painful ailment. Maintaining a gluten-free diet is so rewarding that it truly makes you feel a new person, both physically and mentally.

Things to avoid

All wheat, rye, barley, oats, malts, and triticale products, and all breads and buns, cakes, pastries, muffins. They contain gluten and must be totally avoided.
Crumbed and battered foods, frankfurts, sausages, bacon, hot dogs pies, pizza, sandwiches, sausage rolls.
Alcohol, canned soups, coffee, msg, packet soups, porridge.

Essential Foods

Vegetables: Every type of vegetable including all leafy vegetables. Fresh green salads and coleslaws, yams and all root vegetables.

Capsicum, garlic, ginger, carrot, parsnip turnip, spinach, green sprouts, shallot, cucumber, parsley, potato, pumpkin, kohlrabi, celeriac root, leeks, chives, celery, cabbage, green beans, string beans, sweet potato, tomato, onion, watercress, lettuce, choke, Chinese vegetables, Brussels sprouts, broccoli.

Vegetables juices: Any green leafy vegetable juice, beet root, carrot, celery, tomato. Combine any of these juices with a little ginger or garlic. Fruit juices: Apple, apricot, black currant, cranberry, grape, grapefruit, lemon, lime, orange, passion fruit, pear, pineapple, guava, plum.

Fruits: All melons, all types of berries, apple, apricot, avocado, banana, cherry, custard apple, grape, guava, nectarine, orange, papaya, peach, pear, pineapple, strawberry, plum. DRIED FRUITS: Fig, date, prune, pear, pineapple, apricot, sultana, raisin.

Liquids: TEAS: Coriander, ginger, alfalfa, eyebright, rosehip, lemon grass, fenugreek, green tea. WATER: 1 glass of filtered water every hour during daylight is essential.

Other remedies

Spirulina, kelp, lecithin, brewer’s yeast, acidophilus yogurt, all rice, soya and millet products, arrowroot, buckwheat, corn and maize meal, legume products, polenta, potato, flour, tapioca and sago, chickpea flour, soy drinks, tofu, pysllium husks, fish and sea food.

Vitamins, Minerals and Herbs

VITAMINS: B2, B12, C, Multi vitamins MINERALS: Iron, Multi-minerals HERBS: Slippery elm, echinacea, ginger. DIGESTIVE ENZYMES: Bromelain, papaya enzymes, hydrochloric acid tablets (for over 40’s), lactobacillus acidophilus – bifidobacterium.