Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease that can occur in genetically predisposed people in whom the ingestion of gluten results in damage to the small intestine.
It is estimated to affect one in 100 people worldwide. However, many of them go undiagnosed and are at risk of long-term complications.
The disease is more frequent in the female gender (1.5 to 2 times more than in males), in populations of Indo-European origin, and in some at-risk groups.
When people with celiac disease ingest gluten (a protein found in some grains such as wheat, rye, and barley), an abnormal immune response is triggered in their bodies, which damages the villi of the small intestine-extroversions of the intestinal mucosa that allow for increased organ surface area, which is useful for increasing the absorption of nutrients ingested with food. When the villi are damaged, nutrients therefore cannot be properly absorbed by the body.
