Before you actually figure whether you do suffer from an allergy and what the source is, dealing with the reactions can be quite frustrating. The good thing with most allergies is that once you do figure out what it is that triggers your body’s reaction, then you are halfway there to solving the problem. The factors that cause allergic reactions are as diverse as allergies themselves. However, by far the most common item that we do associate with allergies is food. People are allergic to eating fish, eggs, chicken, red meat or even certain types of fruits. The reaction itself is never standard. Sometimes the symptom will feature a sudden outbreak of rashes all over the body while in other instances the allergy victim will feel asphyxiated. One food allergy that is increasingly being discussed today is gluten food allergy.

Gluten is a protein component found in a number of grain foods. Among the food crops that contain gluten are barley, rye and wheat. This means that it is present in bread, cakes, pasta, biscuits, French fries, cooking oil, soups, sauces and several cereals too. Mustard, mayonnaise and malt vinegar also contain gluten. Even alcoholic beverages like malt beer and whisky have it. In fact, so much of what one would consider as ordinary day-to-day meals contains gluten. Which begs the question that if gluten is so widespread, why don’t so many people display gluten allergy? Well unlike other types of food allergy symptoms that are often almost instantaneous after one takes the meal, the effects of gluten food allergy take a longer time to show. It took doctors quite some time before they relate the effects of the allergy to the food eaten.

Actually, there has been a lot of debate on whether the effects of gluten can really be classified as an allergy. A good proportion of health scientists do not consider the effects of gluten as an allergy in the strictest sense of the word. In fact, the term most used to describe the effects of gluten is coeliac disease. It is a hereditary condition.

Looking at the signs of gluten food allergy or celiac disease gives an idea as to why the condition can take a while to detect. In allergic persons, the gluten acts on and destroys the villi in the small intestines over time. The villi are the tiny, finger like projections in the intestines that are responsible for the absorption of nutrients. Since there are numerous villi that line the wall of the intestine through its length, the effects of gluten action does not become noticeable until after a number of years when often, functionality has been seriously impaired. It is at this point that the victim starts to suffer from malnutrition due to the body’s inability to absorb the nutrients it needs, regardless of how balanced one’s diet is.

Some of the earlier tell tale signs of gluten food allergy include weight loss, slow physical growth, poor appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, mouth ulcers and general body weakness. In the long term, the person starts to suffer from chronic anemia, bone cancer, bowel cancer, diabetes, liver disease or osteoporosis. Other resultant illnesses include nervous disorders, gallbladder and pancreas malfunction and reproductive system problems.

The best solution to combating celiac disease is avoiding meals that contain gluten. Many manufacturers today produce gluten free food thus availing to consumers an alternative and wide variety to choose from.