Celiac Disease and Nutritional Deficiencies
When you are given the diagnosis of Celiac’s disease, or if your child has been diagnosed, at first it can sound overwhelming. There is so much that needs to be done and often a lot of rearranging is needed to keep the one person in the household safe from the symptoms of the disease. Combined with the fact that there are no prescriptions to treat the condition, only medicines that alleviate some of the symptoms after an outbreak has taken place.
The best defense against getting sick and living a healthy, normal life with Celiac’s disease is by taking care of your body with proper nutrition, while including supplements to fill in the gaps.
Understanding Celiac’s Disease
Caused by an immune deficiency within the body, suffers from Celiac disease will find that they have an allergic reaction when they consume wheat, barley or rye. This is because they lack the normal ability to process the protein found within these grains. The reaction is slight at first, beginning in the small intestine. However, if exposed over time, the tissue lining becomes inflamed, which causes malabsorption.
The immune system is often in overdrive, trying to repair the damage that gluten causes to the system. This can open the door to other disorders popping up, which is common with disorders that affect the immune system.
Those with Celiac’s disease may be at risk for the following due to poor nutrient absorption:
- Cancer
- Infertility issues
- Disrupted menstrual cycle
- Susceptibility to sickness (like flu and common cold)
- Developing additional allergies
- Fatigue and lethargy
- Poor reaction to stress
- Thinning hair, brittle nails or flaky skin
These are just some of the problems that can develop alongside Celiac’s disease, which is why it is so important to manage your symptoms, avoid gluten and to take additional supplements to enhance normal body system functions.
Celiac disease affects both children and adults. However those young and old can have visceral reactions to the ailment. It can cause immediate pain and discomfort, which is exacerbated by eating. In time, Celiac disease wears down the body causing damage to the nervous, skeletal, endocrine and cardiovascular systems. Specifically the stomach, brain and bones often take the most damage.
It is important to discuss your daily requirements with your doctor. They may direct you to take additional nutritional supplements for Celiac diseases based on the complications of your condition.
If you are already have a diagnosis for this disease, or know someone that does, you’ll know that there are a few prescription medications that can help. However, this condition is largely one that causes the sufferer to be vigilant about what they eat and proactive about getting adequate levels of nutrients to stay healthy. On top of that, taking supplements can help you combat Celiacs and live as normally as possible.
Take a Closer Look at Celiac Supplements
Designing a supplement plan for Celiac’s disease is not always an easy task. While the disease has some common symptoms, because everyone is different, this condition often affects people differently.
One person may want to focus on immunity supplements, because they have bleeding or healing issues most often. Others may want to include other options that treat their issues because other symptoms of the disease present more aggressively in their body. This person may need less immunity but more skin and itching supplements, to combat the epidermis being the main focal point of the disease if they are those that also get skin infections any time gluten is introduced into their diet.
Almost all patients with Celiac’s disease will benefit from multivitamins that help the body meet base needed nutrients, stomach supplements and skin, hair or nail supplements due to lack of nutrient absorption that is often present with Celiac’s disease.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the most beneficial choices on the market today. Find solutions that help with your symptoms and then have a frank discussion with your doctor about including Celiac supplements into your diet.
Supplements to Aid Digestion and the Strengthen Intestinal Tracts
One of the main complaints from sufferers of Celiacs is that they have pain in their abdomen, often caused by the digestion process being altered as the intestines become more inflamed. Gluten is the number one suspect when your intestines flare up and once it is introduced into the body, it will cause a chain reaction. Additionally, these reactions are what stop the body from absorbing nutrients and increase toxin levels in the body.
Luckily, there are a number of stomach aiding supplements for Celiac’s that can be taken in order to combat these symptoms, and hopefully prevent them from reoccurring.
Learn to Love Licorice
Many people don’t like the strong flavor of licorice, but they can’t deny that it helps aid tummy problems. It can be taken in pill form to reduce the flavor. Often it is also added to tea, which helps aid digestion and enables healing to happen in the digestion tract.
Appreciate Apples
Eating apples is beneficial to Celiacs because they contain pectin. You can also get this compound as a supplement to help the Celiac body remove unwanted toxins from the body. Often, when the digestive tracts is inflamed, this will lead to toxin build ups. Apple pectin is high in soluble fiber, which reacts chemically when swallowed. When combined with water it forms into a gel that also attaches to toxins in the body, to help them be flushed out.
Get the Garlic
Garlic is a known natural antibiotic that is great for your body. It helps you to fend off bacteria and can help to balance out the stomach. More importantly, it helps with healing and infection, which can be present if you have ingested gluten. It’s a good idea to add garlic to your diet and include an additional supplement for your Celiac’s regimen.
Be a Probiotic Professional
While probiotics won’t ward off a flare up if gluten is introduced into the system, they can lessen the response that your body has.
Probiotics balance out the good bacteria in your gut, which can often be a problem for Celiac patients. When the good bacteria is cultured, it allows your body to defend against harmful bacteria, aids in the digestion process and is helpful for maintaining a healthy environment in your stomach. This is passed through the rest of the digestive tract, promoting health to the intestines. If you are in a flare up, this can promote healing.
When introduced under normal stomach conditions, it can help to prevent future damage. It is a good idea to take these regularly so that you maintain health and don’t compromise your system.
Take Turmeric
Turmeric is a spice that is found commonly in the grocery store. For about five bucks you can get a month long relief from inflammation. The spice can be added as a supplement for Celiac symptoms such as bloating, pain and poor digestion. The easiest way to consume it is by mixing it in with tea when the water is boiling hot. Turmeric is hard to break down in water and requires high temperatures.
Multivitamins and Additional Vitamins and Minerals
As you may know, stomach supplements such as licorice and mint can help the symptoms of most stomach problems. However, they can also be beneficial supplements for celiac disease as well. Additionally, you may want to consider looking into herbal treatments that can help itching, as the skin is often affected.
It is also recommended to take nutritional supplements such as a daily multivitamin that can help you increase the levels of the following in your body:
- B Complex Vitamins
- Folate
- Iron
- Magnesium
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin D
- Vitamin K
- Zinc
These vitamins and minerals are essential to your body being able to process nutrients, and more importantly, can help with symptoms of Celiacs disease. They are some of the more common deficiencies in the body when a person is suffering from this condition. For this reason, your doctor may require you to take additional sources of these vitamins and minerals so that you can supplement the nutrient gaps that Celiac disease often causes.
Let’s take a look at how each of these essential vitamins and minerals that can be included in your Celiac disease supplement regime.
B Complex Vitamins
B complex vitamins consist of a number of B vitamins which together can give you energy and improve how your body processes nutrients. They are vital for certain body system processes and can help fight symptoms of Celiac’s disease such as fatigue and lack of mental clarity.
Folate and Iron
Listed together because the two go hand in hand, both folate and iron aid the blood and circulatory system within the body. They are both required to heal and are required so that your blood can clot. With Celiac’s disease, you can have inflammation and pain. Both of these can be combatted by proper folate and iron levels. They also help to speed up healing and fight lethargy.
Magnesium and Vitamin D
These two are together because among other benefits to the body, they work together supplement muscles. They are important in the retraction and relaxation process, which can mean good things for those with Celiac’s disease, since the condition can include painful spasming of the colon, intestines and bowels. Relaxing the muscles and having them contract at appropriate times can cut down on pain for the patient.
Vitamin D is also vital to the role of reducing inflammation. If you experience painful stomach cramping or spasming, your primary care provider may place you on supplements for Celiac’s disease that include these two key ingredients.
Vitamin A
Aside from a commonly deficient vitamin in the body because it is not absorbed properly in a person who has Celiac’s disease, there is also another reason that you may need to take additional vitamin A as a supplement. Vitamin A specifically can harm sufferers of Celiac’s disease because one of the main side effects is poor digestion. This is something to be avoided when you have a condition that already causes pain in the stomach and abdomen region.
The good news is that for this supplement you can take Vitamin A or you can take Beta-Carotene. Many vegetables known to be good for the eyes are high in this (think orange fruits and veggies like pumpkins and carrots). You can take either Vitamin A or increase Beta-Carotene to help supplement digestion problems when suffering from Celiac’s disease.
Vitamin K
Many suffers of Celiac’s have a hard time with bleeding and bruising. This is especially true if you continue to eat food with gluten in it, as it will continue to cause inflammation and possibly bleeding internally from the lining of your intestines. This is often exacerbated by a Vitamin K deficiency. If you notice that you bruise easily, have blood in your stools or notice cuts not scabbing over quickly, it’s likely a good time to talk to your doctor about a Vitamin K supplement for Celiac symptoms.
Zinc
Celiac’s disease requires you to be hypervigilant about your health and immune responses. Zinc is a core mineral that can help with this, it is also one of the minerals that patients with Celiac’s normally have. Additionally, since the body is often lacking in the amount of zinc that a normal person would need, if you begin to notice zinc deficiency triggers or have disorders that can be also aggravated by low zinc levels (such as diabetes) these are other reasons to ensure that you have adequate levels of zinc when considering your supplement needs for Celiac’s disease.
Be Vigilant About Gluten
With Celiac’s disease, you have an additional step to take whenever eating any food. While labeling is getting better as awareness for the condition grows and as people become more educated about their food sources, gluten can still hide in a number of places. Be sure to scour the ingredient label of your multivitamin, to ensure that there are no added or hidden gluten.
Continuing to eat foods with gluten once you are diagnosed with Celiac’s disease can be a painful mistake. The body can react in a number of ways and it doesn’t take long for most people to feel the effects physically. As gluten is continuously introduced into the body, the damage to tissue will continue to increase. With too much damage, it can be almost impossible for some people to heal fully.
Don’t Forget Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Omega-3 fatty acids help in two main ways when you have Celiac’s. You can find them as a supplement in pill form or by eating flaxseed or meats like dairy, fish and nuts.
First, it helps to heal the body and can prevent further damage to the system when gluten is presented. It can reduce the immune response and help the healing process.
Second, Omega-3 fatty acids are known for fighting cancer. Since many sufferers from Celiac’s are prone to cancer due to nutritional deficiencies, this is a good supplement idea for Celiac’s to prevent getting sick with something else down the line.
Get The Supplements That You Need For Celiac’s Disease
You will want to discuss your vitamin and mineral intake for Celiac’s disease with your primary care provider to be sure that a general multivitamin will do enough for your condition. In certain cases, your doctor may recommend you to take an additional supplement for your stomach condition because you require more than what a typical multivitamin will require.