Celiac Disease: What Is a Gluten-Free Diet?
If you have celiac disease, removing gluten from your diet will control symptoms, heal existing damage to the small intestine, and prevent further damage over time.
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Transcript
DR. RODGERS: If you have celiac disease, you need to eliminate foods with gluten from your diet.
Hi, I’m Dr. Griffin Rodgers, Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at NIH.
A gluten-free diet means not eating foods that contain gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. If you have celiac disease, removing gluten from your diet will control symptoms, heal existing damage to the small intestine, and prevent further damage over time.
Your doctor may suggest that you work with a dietitian to create a gluten-free diet plan. The dietitian can help you understand how to read food labels and identify gluten-containing foods at the grocery store or eating out.
The good news is that there are many healthy, gluten-free foods available, and most people recover completely on a gluten-free diet.
For more information, follow us @NIDDKgov. This is Dr. Griffin Rodgers.