Friday 7 April 2017

Virus that can cause Celiac disease


The latest issue of the journal Science (1) has an interesting research paper published. Researchers Bouziat et al. have discovered that the seemingly innocuous and common gut infecting reovirus has the potential to cause Celiac disease in people. People who develop celiac disease will have a life-long intolerance to wheat, rye and barley.

The researchers discovered that a reovirus infection (which is quite common) triggers an immune response in people (that's the job of the immune system) and when this immune response happens in the presence of gluten, the immune system loses its tolerance to gluten. Once tolerance to gluten is lost, the presence of gluten in our food can keep the immune system activated, every time a person consumes products containing gluten.

So what does it means to us? In a previous post, we had told you that herbicide used in agriculture can cause celiac disease (2), similarly, reovirus is a newly discovered trigger for celiac disease. Celiac disease can happen at any age and many times people do not realise it until a substantial damage is done. Discoveries like these are adding to mounting evidence that it is time we relook what we are eating and make an earnest change in it, for the better of our own long-term health.

Meanwhile, we had some amazing Paddu's for breakfast. Made from Little Millet and fermented overnight, we just loved the crunchy crust and the springy crumb.


1. http://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6333/44
2. https://glutenfreeingoa.blogspot.in/2017/03/celiac-disease-in-fish.html

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