Anyone with Celiac disease knows that getting glutened is the opposite of fun. But sometimes the effects of Celiac disease can be linked to other serious conditions - and sometimes those conditions can make someone more susceptible to developing Celiac. Here are just a few of the diseases and disorders associated with Celiac.
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Asthma
Since Celiac disease is autoimmune, it causes your body to be generally weakened. That’s where the vulnerability to asthma can come in. Studies have shown that people with Celiac tend to be more likely to develop asthma, likely due to their weakened immune systems after getting glutened.
Diabetes
The link here is similar to the link to asthma - however, it only applies to type 1 diabetes since type 2 isn’t genetic. The symptoms of Celiac and type 1 diabetes are strikingly similar, so it’s much more likely for someone with one to develop the other. Sidenote: it’s also easy for Celiac disease to be missed in someone with diabetes, so it’s recommended to be tested for both.
Anemia
As you probably know, getting glutened means serious damage to the small intestine. When the small intestine is damaged, it’s way harder for crucial nutrients (like iron) to be absorbed into the body, which can lead to an iron deficiency.
Migraines
While the specific mechanism behind why Celiac disease causes migraines, it’s been proven that people with Celiac disease are far more likely to experience migraines than people without. It’s been postulated that the inflammatory response to gluten is simply extending beyond the gut and reaching the brain, causing the migraines.
Crohn’s Disease
While there hasn’t been an official scientific conclusion about what the connection is between Crohn’s disease and Celiac disease, it’s been proven that Crohn’s is far more common in people with Celiac disease. This is another disease that presents with very similar symptoms to Celiac disease, and it’s often recommended that people with Crohn’s try a gluten-free diet.
Depression
While it’s not uncommon for the stress of maintaining a gluten-free diet can affect your emotional state, there’s actually science behind the idea that the inability to absorb certain nutrients (which can be caused when the small intestine is damaged by gluten) and also allow other substances to get into the bloodstream, which could affect brain functions and lead to depression.
