Who Really Shouldn't Eat Gluten

The Wall Street Journal had a great article last week about non-Celiac gluten insensitivities.  According to the article, some gastroenterologists say that for every patient with celiac disease, they see six to eight who have the same symptoms, but without biopsy results and intestinal imagaes needed to confirm celiac.

You would be amazed how many people have come to me since my Celiac diagnosis in October to ask what my symptoms were because they think they might want to be tested but are concerned about the tests that are required.  It seems like the best way to do this is to simply cut out gluten and see how your body reacts, but I give the same advice given by Dr. Murray of the Mayo Clinic:

Experts urge people who suspect they have problems with gluten to be tested for celiac disease before going gluten-free on their own. Otherwise, with no gluten to react to, their blood tests will show false negatives. 

"This is the single biggest problem I see, and I see it every day in practice," says Joseph Murray, a celiac expert at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Yes, it's expensive (I think I paid about $1500 out of my HSA for all of the tests/office visits), but the article rightly reminds of the importance of finding out for sure as "those with celiac disease need to be on a strict gluten-free diet for the rest of their lives, or risk long-term complications including osteoporosis, infertility and some cancers."