Poor nutrition is a concern that affects many people, but did you know that as many as 1 in every 133 Americans (or 2 million in the continental United States) suffer from a special kind of nutritional disorder called celiac disease that can lead to a variety of other health problems?

Once thought to be a disease that affected only a rare few is now known to be much more common. And while that does not bode well for those that suffer from its effects, it has led to a greater understanding of celiac disease that is aiding (and will continue to do so) the treatment effort.

What Is Celiac Disease?

For those who have never heard of celiac disease, here is how it works: quite simply, celiac disease is a disorder of the digestive system that inflicts damage to the small intestine and prevents proper absorption of nutrients. People afflicted have a particularly difficult time digesting gluten, which is a protein in wheat, rye, and barley. More specifically, celiac disease damages the villi, or protrusions of the small intestine lining that aid in absorption. As a result, no matter how much an individual eats, he or she will remain malnourished.

What Triggers Celiac Disease?

While celiac disease is a genetic disorder, certain factors can trigger it. You can expect celiac disease to become active, if it runs in the family and is not immediately noticeable, after events such as surgery, infection, stress, pregnancy, or childbirth.

Children and adults can exhibit symptoms of the disease differently. In children, signs such as these could raise the flag:

• Chronic diarrhea
• Vomiting
• Constipation
• Excessive weight loss
• Abdominal bloating
• Abnormalities in stool, such as fattiness, unusually foul odors, or discoloration
• Adults may exhibit some of these signs, though it is far less common. Usually, celiac disease manifests itself in one or more of the following ways:
• Fatigue
• Arthritis
• Depression or anxiety
• Seizures
• Sores inside of mouth
• Skin rashes
• Numbness of the feet and hands
• Osteoporosis
• Pain in bones or joints
• Unexplained iron deficiencies in blood (or anemia)

Keep in mind these symptoms are not automatic indicators you carry the disease. Awareness of family medical history is extremely helpful, and consultation with your doctor is essential. It is important for you to realize that celiac disease does not have to rule your life. There are treatments available, but you must take advantage of them. Oftentimes, a gluten-free diet helps you to live a normal life, free of the long-term effects, such as type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and autoimmune thyroid and liver diseases.

But it is just as important for you to realize that celiac disease is a condition, which can lead to more harmful long-term effects. By knowing the limits of your body, and the proper nutritional information for how to deal with celiac disease, you place yourself at less risk. For more information on understanding celiac disease, visit our website, where you will find more details on what is celiac disease: how it affects you, how you can specifically fight back, and what to expect in both short and long terms.

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To learn What is Celiac Disease, visit www.WhatIsCeliacDisease.com.

Celiac disease is a digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. People who have celiac disease cannot tolerate a protein called gluten, found in wheat, rye, and barley. Gluten is found mainly in foods but may also be found in products we use every day, such as stamp and envelope adhesive, medicines, and vitamins.

Celiac disease runs in the family. You inherited the tendency to get this disease from your parents. If 1 member of your family has celiac disease, about 1 out of 10 other members of your family is likely to have it. You may have this tendency for a while without getting sick. Then something like severe stress, physical injury, infection, childbirth or surgery can “turn on” your celiac disease.

Celiac disease affects each person differently. Symptoms may occur in the digestive system, or in other parts of the body. One person might have diarrhea and abdominal pain, while another person may be irritable or depressed. Irritability is one of the most common symptoms in children. Some people have no symptoms.

Celiac disease is a digestive condition triggered by consumption of the protein gluten, which is found in bread, pasta, cookies, pizza crust and many other foods containing wheat, barley or rye. Oats may contain gluten as well. When a person with celiac disease eats foods containing gluten, an immune reaction occurs in the small intestine, resulting in damage to the surface of the small intestine and an inability to absorb certain nutrients from food.

The body’s inability to absorb nutrients can also mean that young people with untreated celiac disease may not grow properly and may have weight loss and fatigue. In addition, people who have celiac disease may be prone to developing other diseases, such as thyroid disease, type 1 diabetes, and gastrointestinal cancer.

Normally, the body’s immune system is designed to protect it from foreign invaders. When people with celiac disease eat foods containing gluten, their immune system forms antibodies to gluten which then attack the intestinal lining. This causes inflammation in the intestines and damages the villi, the hair-like structures on the lining of the small intestine. Nutrients from food are absorbed by the villi. If the villi are damaged, the person cannot absorb nutrients and ends up malnourished, no matter how much he or she eats.

Celiac Disease may appear at any time in a person’s life. The disease can be triggered for the first time after surgery, viral infection, severe emotional stress, pregnancy or childbirth. CD is a multi-system, multi-symptom disorder. Celiac Disease symptoms are extremely varied, can often mimic other bowel disorders and are not always gastrointestinal.

Celiac disease is an autoimmune medical condition
in which damage to the epithelia (inner lining) of the small intestine occurs following ingestion of a substance called gluten. Gluten is a grain protein used in food processing because it binds, stabilizes, and prevents crumbling. The gluten protein in wheat has a portion called gliadin, which is toxic to people with celiac disease. Barley, rye, and triticale also contain proteins toxic to celiac patients.

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Many years ago, Turbin found herself experiencing many painful symptoms and without any answer to what the source was or how to treat it. Desperate for knowledge about her condition, she decided to do her own research. Soon, it became clear to her that the answer was an allergy to gluten. Even clearer was how little doctors knew about celiac disease and the vast numbers of people suffering without a diagnosis and treatment.

With the growing popularity of her Danny the Dragon series, Turbin decided to launch the soon-to-be released Danny the Dragon CD, containing a reading of “Danny Meets Jimmy”, the first book in her children’s series, by a talented vocal artist followed by a compilation of ten original classic songs by up-and-coming composers. Previously, she had been keeping her fans in a state of anticipation when she said on her Danny the Dragon website that the proceeds of this project were going to go toward a cause which was “near and dear” to her heart in her research and humanitarian efforts and that she would announce the cause later. She has now announced that the proceeds will go to the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University Medical Center.



An estimated 300 million Americans have celiac disease and only three percent of them know it. When Turbin isn’t working on the latest installment of her Danny the Dragon series or the Danny the Dragon Cookbook, she’s working hard to change this statistic by raising awareness and support for this disease, which affects more people twice as many of those who suffer from Crohn’s disease, ulceric colitis, and cystic fibrosis combined.

Although the amount of research on celiac disease is growing, it depends entirely on the generosity of private benefactors for its funding. Without these charitable donations, there would be no way to continue this research and the efforts to raise awareness. Out of the estimated fifty autoimmune diseases that have been discovered by doctors, it is the only one which isn’t supported in its research by the U.S. government.

The Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University Medical Center, headed by Dr. Peter Green, MD, is one of the major research centers around studying and bringing awareness to celiac disease. It is one-hundred percent focused on studying celiac disease and carries out research connecting it with various other diseases which it is believed to lead to if left untreated. Its goal is to change the lives of celiac disease sufferers for the better around the world, a goal which it is actively achieving, little by little, every day.

Turbin highly encourages celiac researchers and supporters to engage in whatever creative efforts they can to raise awareness and funding and predicts that her announcement may start a new trend among artists in the celiac community. With the support of centers such as Columbia University’s Celiac Disease Center with the release of the Danny the Dragon CD, we can look forward to seeing similar funding projects launched and also to seeing the fruits of these proceeds reaped with increased awareness of celiac disease, which has the potential to change the lives of millions of people for the better.



For more information on eating and living gluten free, visit http://GlutenFreeHelp.info. For more information on Tina Turbin, visit http://TinaTurbin.com.Tina Turbin (http://TinaTurbin.com) is a published children’s author, writer, researcher, humanitarian and mom. Through her work with children and adults, Tina’s research led her topics in celiac disease, gluten and nutrition, leading to her extensive interviews, and revelations in this field. Her web site, http://GlutenFreeHelp.info, is just one of her ways to help improve the quality of lives and health for others.

Related Articles – tina turbin, celiac disease, autoimmune disorder, Columbia University Medical Center, danny the dragon,

Celiac is an auto-immune disease because it causes damage to our body’s own immune system. About 3 million Americans are estimated to be suffering from the gluten allergy or celiac disease. Many more suffer from relatively milder gluten sensitivity.

Celiac disease creates problems in your villi (lining of your small intestine) when you consume gluten. Gluten is generally found in wheat, rye, barley. Gluten can be considered as ‘poison’ for the people with celiac disease. Naturally, they have to be on a gluten-free diet for the rest of their life.

Even though celiac patients are on gluten-free diet, they may acquire depression due to their difficulties in adjusting to the disease and the diet followed by them. It’s quite natural that if a person is told not to eat some foods for the rest of his life, he/she gets upset and disturbed even with that idea! And then the changes in his/her diet may cause many nutritional imbalances, leading to depressed state of mind.

One of the wrongly diagnosed symptoms of celiac disease is depression. That happens because celiac disease targets your small intestine where the nutrients of your food are absorbed. If you have celiac disease, gluten from your diet acts as a barrier between your food and your body. It seals the villi on your small intestine which absorbs nutrients. When you do not get essential nutrients required by your body, or your brain, you will gradually begin to exhibit imbalances in mental health. Also, gluten is considered an “excitable amino acid” which can make many people feel anxious or “excited” when gluten gets digested.

The effects of celiac depression are devastating. Starting from problems with your sleep they can go up to thoughts of suicide. And the solution is simple – strict gluten free diet.



Many people with celiac disease are not aware of serious consequences of gluten intake. They try to avoid apparent gluten containing products, but usually caught in cross contamination problems. Many foods available in the supermarket like peanut butter, chicken broth, flavored coffee and similar may contain gluten. Sometimes there is a sudden change in the labels and people are used to accept things on the basis of their previous knowledge. Consumption of these ‘contaminated’ products leads to depression attacks.

What begins in your gut appears to move throughout your body, affecting the functioning of the body and your brain. There are many antidepressants in the market and many therapies are forwarded to wiping out depression. But the first solution for majority of depressed celiacs appears to be strictly gluten-free diet!

Note: This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice.

Celiac Depression can affect every aspect of your life – your physical health, your sleep, your eating habits, your job, and your relationships with friends and family. Get a full report on causes, symptoms and techniques to wipe out celiac depression at Celiac Depression