When you attend Celiac events, are there are overwhelming number of women there compared to men? According to a post at Newswise, Celiac Disease affects twice as many woman.

Many people haven’t ever heard of celiac disease, but for the millions of people unable to eat bread, cookies, pizza crust and pasta, it’s a reality they have to live with every day. Celiac disease is an autoimmune digestive disorder that wreaks havoc on the body’s intestines when foods containing gluten are consumed. It affects roughly twice as many women as men. In the United States, it affects two million people or about one in 133 people.

It may seem like an easy condition to manage, but gluten is a protein found in many grains and is in a multitude of foods that include wheat, rye, barley or oats. When foods with gluten are digested, an immune reaction is triggered that damages the surface of the small intestine, resulting in the body’s inability to absorb needed vitamins and nutrients from food.

The other problem is that celiac disease is difficult to diagnose. “In the United States, many cases remain undiagnosed because symptoms vary from person to person and because physicians have not been adequately trained in what to look for,” reports Alessio Fasano, M.D., professor of pediatrics, medicine and physiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore and director of its Center for Celiac Research, in the center’s newsletter.

Celiac disease can develop at any time in a person’s life. It is more common in Caucasian people and those of European descent. If a family member has the disease, the risk for other members increases, as well. Celiac disease is associated with other autoimmune conditions, including lupus, Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, colitis and thyroid disease.

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If there is one thing that I’ve learned from both my experiences and my exposure to others with this disease, it is that everyone has very different symptoms. This is what makes it so difficult for doctors to correctly diagnose people with Celiac Disease.

With that said, there are some common symptoms that people with Celiac Disease often have when not following a gluten free diet. Some common Celiac Disease symptoms include:

• Diarrhea
• Weight Loss (Stunted growth in children)
• Fatigue

Note: Although Celiac is a bowel disease, symptoms may not include bowel discomfort.