A few months ago, I began to notice more and more ”gluten-free“ labels in the grocery store. Then, recently, I saw it on a ­restaurant menu.

I figured there were people who needed to know such a thing, just like people with particular allergies need to know when foods contain ingredients to which they are sensitive.

But I didn't really have a name for the disease that would require folks to avoid gluten. Now I know it is celiac disease.

But after talking to Jan Falwell, who suffered unknowingly with celiac disease most of her life, I soon learned there is far more to it.

Falwell thinks she's had the disease for more than 40 years, probably triggered by mononucleosis when she was 18.

”About 50 to 60 ­percent of the population has the gene“ that causes the ­ailment, she said, ”but there usually has to be a trigger like an operation or stress or pregnancy.“

One in 100 people has celiac disease, but it is ­underdiagnosed.

Falwell, 60, was fortunate to be diagnosed three years ago by an Irish physician practicing locally who ­recognized the symptoms because he was familiar with the disease.

The disease is ­diagnosed more frequently in Europe. Children in Italy must ­undergo a test for the ­disease before entering school, she said.

But in the United States, she said, doctors aren't taught how to recognize the symptoms. Plus, the ­symptoms are many, varying from one patient to another.

Where there is weight loss and diarrhea for one patient, another will have weight gain and constipation. Other symptoms are gas and bloating, fatigue, dryness throughout the body, weakness, headaches, vomiting and a failure to grow in children, to name a few.

Celiac disease is often misdiagnosed as food ­intolerance or irritable bowel syndrome. Doctors can order blood tests to check for certain antibodies that signal the disease, but Falwell said the disease usually is advanced by the time it can be detected in the blood. A positive blood test could then lead to an endoscopy and biopsy for confirmation.

Long-term health ­problems such as iron ­deficiency anemia, ­osteoporosis, ­vitamin ­deficiencies, intestinal ­cancers, and diabetes can result if left untreated.

”It wipes out the villi in the small intestines,“ Falwell said. ”Mine looks like flat linoleum instead of a shag rug.“

It is through the villi that the body absorbs nutrients. Once nutrients are no longer absorbed, myriad ­physical problems can occur. (For more information about the disease, go to www.celiac.org.)

Pharmaceutical ­companies are starting to show interest in the disease, and a new pill that helps prevent the leakage of gluten into the small intestines is being tested.

While it is difficult to live gluten-free, it can be done.

Falwell and others will demonstrate how to cook gluten-free at a workshop Thursday at the Fayette County Cooperative Extension Service. It is free and sponsored by Gluten Free Lexington, a celiac ­support group. Falwell will make her gluten-free bread, pizza crust and chips.

Once she was diagnosed, Falwell urged ­others to be tested as well.

”My husband has it, both my daughters, both grandsons, my son-in-law and his parents, and my mother-in-law have it,“ she said.

Falwell said the diagnosis can be devastating at first, but she and her family now have gluten-free homes.

But she has to be alert.

She was once waylaid by cross-contamination: The knife used to cut her baked potato had been used first to slice bread.

Falwell is determined to make all of us more aware of this disease.

”One in 100 is just the tip of the iceberg,“ she said.

Original article here.