Celiac Disease is an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine that occurs in genetically predisposed people of all ages from middle infancy onward. Symptoms include chronic diarrhea, failure to thrive (in children), and fatigue, but these may be absent, and symptoms in other organ systems have been described.
Increasingly, diagnoses are being made in asymptomatic persons as a result of increased screening;[2] the condition is thought to affect between 1 in 1,750 and 1 in 105 people in the United States.[3] Coeliac disease is caused by a reaction to gliadin, a prolamin (gluten protein) found in wheat, and similar proteins found in the crops of the tribe Triticeae (which includes other common grains such as barley and rye).[4]