What is the difference between a gluten intolerance and Coeliac disease?

Choosing to cut out gluten from your diet isn’t uncommon. The range of gluten-free products at supermarkets and health food shops means you’re never short of options, while most restaurants offer meals that are suitable for wheat-free diets. But what makes people want to avoid gluten altogether? Is it down to the results of a food intolerance test, or could a gluten allergy be responsible? In light of Coeliac Awareness Week, we look at the difference between gluten intolerance and Coeliac disease and how they can both affect your health.

Difference between Coeliac Disease and Gluten Intolerance

Gluten is a dietary protein found in wheat, barley and rye. If you have a gluten intolerance or coeliac disease, your body will have a reaction if you consume an item containing this compound. However, the reason behind the response will be different and depend on the condition you have.

What are the symptoms of coeliac disease?

Coeliac disease is an autoimmune condition, so your immune system will attack healthy tissue when you eat gluten because it mistakenly sees it as a threat. This causes damage to the lining of the small intestine and disturbs the body’s ability to absorb nutrients from food. The symptoms that are triggered as a result include stomach pains, bloating and indigestion, as well as nausea and diarrhoea.

What are the symptoms of gluten intolerance?

Although a gluten intolerance presents similar physical symptoms to coeliac disease, antibodies are not produced, and there is no internal damage to the gut. If you take a food intolerance test and it shows your body is reactive to gluten, it means you will have difficulty digesting foods that contain this component, but the condition is less serious, and your symptoms won’t be as severe.   

Living with coeliac disease

If you have coeliac disease, the symptoms that occur will be acute, come on very quickly after consuming gluten and make you feel very unwell. As well as suffering from digestive problems, gluten allergy sufferers can experience more general symptoms, including tiredness due to malnutrition, an itchy rash and nerve damage. Coeliacs are also more likely to suffer long-term health problems such as osteoporosis, anaemia, and fertility problems if left untreated. It’s, therefore, essential to find out if you have an allergy if you regularly feel unwell after eating food containing gluten to avoid any future complications.

Because eating even a small amount of gluten can cause the onset of symptoms, cross-contamination must be avoided during storing, preparing and cooking food. Crumbs from bread that creep into the butter, for example, could make a coeliac unwell if they accidentally eat some, so caution must be always taken in the kitchen.

Living with a gluten intolerance

If you’re gluten intolerant, the symptoms you experience are likely to be similar to those associated with coeliac disease, but they won’t be as severe or cause long-term health issues. The body’s response to gluten also tends to be more gradual and will not be caused by inadequate storage or cross-contamination of kitchen utensils, so less diligence is needed.

You’ll also be able to eat a small amount of gluten without feeling seriously unwell, whereas coeliacs need to remove it from their diet completely. What’s more, if you are intolerant to gluten, it can be quite difficult to identify a link between the food you eat and the symptoms you experience because they can occur hours or even days later.

Take a food intolerance test to improve your health and modify your diet

Taking a food intolerance test is one of the easiest ways to find out whether your body has difficulty digesting certain items. If you want an in-depth gluten intolerance assessment, we have specific tests that focus on gluten products such as brown bread, pasta, and rye. Your sensitivities will be scored at 85% and higher, which is the critical point at which most physical symptoms present themselves.

We also offer tests that check your body’s reactivity against 900 food and non-food items, so if you want a full intolerance MOT, we can help with that too. Your results will be emailed to you within 72 hours of your test and submission form arriving at our lab. Once you know whether you’re intolerant to certain ingredients, you can reassess your diet and eliminate the identified foods from your meals.

What happens if you have symptoms of intolerance which are severe?

It’s important to remember that if your symptoms are severe, come on quickly or persist, you should seek medical advice and make an appointment with your GP.

If you have any questions about the tests we provide, please email [email protected] or fill out the contact form on our website.