> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.foodconsumer.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Scientists Find Culprits that Cause Celiac Disease - URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/scientists_find_culprits_that_cause_celiac_disease_072220100258/ - Published: 2010-07-22T15:52:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-20T15:45:24.000Z - Description: Researchers at Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute say they have identified the specific gluten fragments that trigger celiac disease, after more than 200 patients ate bread, rye muffins or barley and gave blood tested against thousands of fragments. - Author: Rachel Stockton - Tags: Other Diseases, Avoiding Illness, Celiac Disease, #vivvo-import Scientists at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Victoria, Australia believe they have discovered the precise cause of Celiac disease. The Mayo Clinic describes Celiac disease as “a digestive condition triggered by consumption of the protein gluten, which is found in bread, pasta, cookies, pizza crust and many other foods containing wheat, barley or rye. If you have celiac disease and eat foods containing gluten, an immune reaction occurs in your small intestine, causing damage to the surface of your small intestine and an inability to absorb certain nutrients.” Over time, the decreased absorption of nutrients that occurs with celiac disease can cause vitamin deficiencies that deprive your brain, peripheral nervous system, bones, liver and other organs of vital nourishment, and can lead to other illnesses and stunted growth in children. Gluten's role in celiac disease was discovered 60 years ago, but it has not been clear until now what specific gluten fragments trigger this immune reaction. "You can't come up with rational approaches to dealing with celiac disease, neither diagnosis, treatment or prevention, unless you know what's causing the disease," said study author Bob Anderson, a celiac disease researcher at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Victoria, Australia. "This is the beginning of a much more informed rational approach to dealing with immune and allergic disease by knowing exactly what it is that's driving the disease response.” More than 200 celiac disease patients recruited by Anderson, and fellow researchers, ate servings of bread, rye muffins or boiled barley for three days. Six days after the experiment started, the researchers drew blood samples which were tested to see how strongly immune cells in the blood reacted to more than 2,700 different gluten peptides. Ninety of the peptides elicited some response, and three in particular generated the biggest reaction. "These three components account for the majority of the immune response to gluten," Anderson said. Believing these findings to be a significant step forward, Anderson adds, "There's really been not that much done on defining which peptides people with celiac disease do and do not respond to, especially for the peptides in rye and barley gluten.” Daniel Leffler, director of clinical research at the Celiac Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA, comments that “Researchers had hypothesized that the immune response seen in celiac patients was only to a few peptides, and this is the first real data to support this idea. "It really does make our understanding of potential ways to target those therapeutically much easier." There is evidence suggesting the immune system can change its response to gluten. Researchers believe that exposing patients to small amounts of the three peptides may increase their tolerance to gluten. A clinical trial involving 34 patients who were injected with the three peptides, has been performed, but the data has not yet been analyzed. In the last 60 years, the number of people diagnosed with celiac disease in the US has increased 500%. "Something is changing in the environment, the genes haven't changed, but the way that the immune system is handling gluten is obviously changing, Anderson said. "I guess we're optimistic that you can reverse whatever the environment is doing to cause the increase in celiac disease by deliberate approaches to strengthen the tolerance of the immune response with these peptides." Symptoms of Celiac Disease may include: \*Diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloating, irritability or depression, anemia, stomach upset, joint pain, muscle cramps, skin rash, mouth sores, dental and bone disorders and tingling in the legs and feet. Symptoms of malabsorption resulting from the disease include: \*Weight loss, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, gas, bloating, general weakness and fatigue, foul-smelling or grayish stools that may be fatty or oily, osteoporosis, anemia and stunted growth in children. Risk factors for Celiac Disease: \*Type 1 diabetes \*Autoimmune thyroid disease \*Down syndrome \*Microscopic colitis, particularly collagenous colitis \*Genes HLA-DQ2 and DQ8 \*Immediate family member affected raises up to 15% No treatment can cure celiac disease. However, you can effectively manage celiac disease through changing your diet. Once gluten is removed from your diet, inflammation in your small intestine will begin to subside, usually within several weeks, and you may start to feel better in just a few days. \* Avoid these foods unless they're labeled as gluten-free or made with corn, rice, soy or other gluten-free grains: \*Breads, cereals, crackers, pasta, cookies, cakes, pies, gravies, sauces \* Food additives containing gluten, such as malt flavoring, modified food starch and others. \*Hidden gluten sources include medications and vitamins that use gluten as a binding agent, lipstick, postage stamps. Laura Lamp King