The History of Celiac Disease

Between 9,000 and 4,000 BC, in the age when glaciers melted and the earth warmed, nomadic hunter-gatherers settled down to more agrarian pursuits and began to cultivate wheat as a source of food. The establishment of this behavior, as it spread from Southeast Asia throughout Europe, is considered to have contributed greatly to mankind’s early success.

The adoption of these new foods, however, was difficult for some. For these individuals and their descendants, genetic susceptibility and the presence of wheat in the diet caused an inflammatory response in the intestines that lead to malnutrition that would prove fatal for some.

In the second century AD, a Greek physician known as Aretaeus of Cappadocia wrote what is thought to be an early description of this illness.  In this account, he referred to a condition involving a number of signs and symptoms, including bellyache that afflicted some children of his time. Some 1,700 years later, these writings were translated into English, and the Greek word for “bellyache” was anglicized to “Celiac,” which has since been used to describe the condition. Today, we know that Celiac Disease is an intestinal disorder that affects susceptible individuals when they are exposed to certain cereal grains in their diet.

Celiac Disease has long since been considered a relatively rare disease. Through the use of improved testing methods and increased awareness, however, it is now considered to be one of the most common lifelong diseases.  It is estimated that up to 1% of individuals who are of European descent have an intolerance to the grains of wheat, barley, and rye, and as many as 3 million people in the United States may be affected, or 1 in every 133 Americans.

For more information about Celiac Disease, check out our Celiac Disease FAQ.