A Cure for Celiac Disease?
Currently, the only cure for Celiac Disease is a lifelong gluten free diet. That may change someday if Dr. Alessio Fasano has his way. Fasano, head of the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research, recently promised that researchers are “darn close” to finding a cure. According to Dr. Fasano, researchers are focused on a feature of autoimmune diseases called leaky gut, a situation in which molecules that cause the disease can break through the barrier of the gastrointestinal tract. “Fixing the barrier dysfunction is what we are focused on,” said Dr. Fasano.
According to Alba Therapeutics Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company in Baltimore, Maryland, Celiac Disease is “one of the few autoimmune diseases in which all the elements of autoimmunity are understood.” In other words, researchers already know what causes the disease, how the disease works, and the specific genes associated with the disease. Alba Therapeutics is also focusing on a product that will control the gastrointestinal barrier leak, or “tight junction dysfunction.”
Despite our optimism and excitement about one day having a cure, it’s worth noting that that “darn close” may be a relative statement. Once a potentially effective cure is identified, it will need to successfully pass through years of clinical trials and receive FDA approval before it’s made available to the public. For now, while we await the outcome of these promising developments, it is still necessary for all of us with Celiac Disease to continue following a strict, gluten free diet.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
There has been a treatment for Celiac Disease for more than 50 years. It is call the “Specific Carbohydrate Diet” or SCD. It was developed by Dr Sidney Haas. It was designed to heal the digestive system by only allowing meat, vegetables, fruit, nuts and homemade yogurt (this is very easy to do). No corn, soy, wheat, or other grains, no sugar (honey is allowed), etc. My family and my sister’s family are starting it now and we are already seeing improvements (we have been GF for about a year already – it helped, but not enough). My nephew is 3 and celiac or highly sensitive to gluten (horrible skin rash and asthma). My other nephew is 5 with mild skin rashs from gluten. My eldest daughter is 10 and gets skin rashes when she eats gluten. My eldest son is almost 13 and has autistic symptoms, so he has been dairy free for 2 years (He was getting “high” from the partially digested milk.I had to figure this out myself as his doctor thinks he is “fine”). My asthma flares up and my scalp itches when I eat gluten. My youngest son, aged 6, becomes hyper and violent when he eats sugar and carbohydrates.
With all of these family members and assorted symptoms, going GF helped to stop further problems, but it cured nothing. We needed a cure, so we searched for answers for months until I came across the book “Breaking the Vicious Cycle”. We have only been on the diet for 2 weeks now, but I am already impressed. My 3 skinny children are gaining weight, while my husband and I are losing weight – without trying. The allergy shiners under the kids eyes have totally faded away (removing gluten reduced them). Their skin color looks healthier. We plan to continue the diet for 12 months and then see how well each person can tolerate gluten again.
Although the diet seems very restrictive, it is very healthy. It takes a bit more effort to make meals, it isn’t much more difficult than going GF. Let’s face the facts – the typical American diet is garbage and it is slowing killing us all. Our health is in our own hands. Most doctors don’t have a clue about food and how it affects our health, so it is up to us to take charge of the situation and “cure” this health epidemic through healthy food, not pills.