May is Celiac Disease Awareness Month, and this month focuses on raising public awareness about this disease—a disease that is diagnosed in 200,000 cases a year and affects over 3 million Americans. What is Celiac disease?

This condition is actually an immune response to eating gluten that creates inflammation in the small intestine and ends up damaging it. This condition can also prevent the person from absorbing some nutrients, as well as cause other medical conditions.

One of the primary symptoms of this condition is diarrhea, but that symptom can also be accompanied by other symptoms that include fatigue, gas, bloating, anemia, and even osteoporosis.

The History of Celiac Disease Awareness Month

Even though we were unable to uncover the origins of this awareness month, we were able to find out that it began to be observed sometime around 2009-2010. Since its creation, Celiac Disease Awareness Month has continued to raise public awareness about this disease and to help people seek the treatment they need.

Interesting Facts About Celiac Disease

We wanted to include some facts about Celiac disease in this article, so we did some research and came up with a whole list of facts that we wanted to share. Unfortunately, we just don’t have the space to share everything we learned about it, so we cherry-picked the facts that we thought were the most important. With that being said, below are the facts about Celiac disease we would like to now share.

• Celiac is a chronic autoimmune disorder.
• About 1% of the world’s population has this disease.
• Over 3 million Americans are affected by this disease.
• People who have a close relative with Celiac disease have a 10% chance of developing it themselves.
• Celiac can have a detrimental effect on every major system of the body.
• The only treatment for this disease is to stick to a lifelong gluten-free diet.
• Unfortunately, about a third of people with this disease don’t respond to a gluten-free diet.
• Celiac disease can lead to intestinal cancers, type 1 diabetes, thyroid disease, MS, anemia, infertility, miscarriage, and epilepsy.
• An accurate Celiac disease diagnosis can be delayed by as much as a decade.
• Approximately 60% of children and 40% of adults with Celiac disease are asymptomatic.
• People can develop Celiac disease at any age.
• People who are recently diagnosed with Celiac may be deficient in iron, calcium, zinc, magnesium, niacin, B-vitamins, and vitamin D.
• The later the diagnosis of Celiac disease, the greater the chance that the affected person will develop another autoimmune disorder.

Observing Celiac Disease Awareness Month

The primary way a person is going to want to observe this month is by learning more about Celiac disease, its symptoms, and the treatments available for it.

It’s also a good month for people who have Celiac disease to share gluten-free recipes and cooking tips with their friends and family members or through the Internet using the hashtag #CeliacDiseaseAwarenessMonth.