Loading ...May is Celiac Awareness month, and the States of North Carolina and New York even officially recognize this fact! As awareness for the disease and a gluten-free diet is on the rise, we at Custom Choice Cereal decided to share some interesting facts about the history of celiac disease.
Early Discovery
A celebrated physician of the 1st or 2nd century AD, Aretaeus of Cappadocia mentioned a malabsorptive syndrome that he named “Cœliac Affection” (after the Greek word “koiliakos” = abdominal). But celiac disease didn’t get much attention until Francis Adams presented his translation of Aretaeus’ work in 1865. Even after that it took more than 20 years for a first ‘modern day physician’ to recognize celiac disease.
Turn of the 19th/20th Century
The English paediatrician Samuel Gee was a smart man – he realized in 1887 that celiac patients need to avoid highly starched foods and stated “If the patient can be cured at all, it must be by means of diet”. In the United States, Sidney V. Haas successfully treated celiac children with his ‘banana diet’ in the 1920s.
Breakthrough and Modern Day
The breakthrough came when Dutch paediatrician Willem-Karel Dicke realized that the bread shortage of 1944 significantly reduced the death rate of celiac children from over 35% to zero and soared to previous levels once bread became available again. The final link between celiac disease and the protein gluten was made by a team of researchers from Birmingham in England, which resulted in biopsy as the predominant form of diagnosis. Celiac disease was identified as an autoimmune disease and linked to specific genes in the 1990s. We invite you to watch a few videos and read about modern day definitions of celiac disease.
Custom Choice Cereal is glad that we’ve come a long way. We encourage all of you to embrace this May as Celiac Awareness month. Maybe you can help someone you know and who has felt miserable for years find out the reason for their suffering and end it!
