Celiac Disease is Under Diagnosed in US, Australia & UK - Perhaps Its Time to Eat Gluten Free

Level of undiagnosed "Celiac Disease" people inperform 26 searches each per month each!
AmericaAs the 1 in 100 statistic takes into account celiac
One references estimates that "1 in 133 people inbabies, the elderly and people who do not use the
the US have celiac disease" It also cites a studyinternet (but have access) the number of celiacs
that was conducted to "assess the number ofactually searching is less than those diagnosed. So
undiagnosed cases of celiac disease due to a lackthe ones that actually search perform an even
of awareness and inadequate training amonghigher search than the average estimated. But 26
primary care physicians. Researchers found thatsearches per month (or higher) by celiacs is most
when doctors tested all of their patients withlikely unrealistically high. It is more likely that this
symptoms associated with celiac disease thenumber is reduced by the searches performed by
diagnostic rate increases 32- to 43-fold" (ref 6).gluten free businesses and gluten intolerant people.
"The projected number of people in the UnitedAt the Melbourne gluten free shown in October
States with celiac disease could be as high as2008 approximately 10,000 people attended over
three million, yet only a small fraction of thesethree days. Yet from the above estimates, only
cases has been correctly diagnosed and treated".about 8,000 people in Melbourne are diagnosed
(ref 6)celiacs. Empirically (from our stand at the show) it
Another article written in 2004 suggests that theis likely that family members without CD and
average time from symptoms to diagnosis in'gluten intolerant' people may have made up to
America was ten years. It cites variances in the80% of the visitors to the show. If this is the
number of celiacs (diagnosed and undiagnosed) incase, then the number of diagnosed celiac people
difference countries - Italy celiac disease isonline searches each month should be reduced by
suggested to be as 1 in 250 people, while Irelandabout 80% to account for gluten intolerant people
only 1 in 300 people. However it is "estimated thatand business searches. This reduces diagnosed
only one in 4,700 people in America are actuallyceliac to 26 x 20% = 5.2 searches per month.
diagnosed with celiac disease. Yet according toUsing Google data estimates the Australian
evidence researched by the NIH report,adjusted celiac searches per month at 4.2
prevalence may be as high as 1 in 105 people!"(refsearchers per month. When the e-demand of
7). This would suggest that five years ago thatvarious countries is compared to a country's 'GDP
only 2.2% of celiacs were diagnosed in America.per person' a logarithmic relationship exists
This lower level of diagnosis could be the reasonbetween demand and wealth. Higher wealth also
that in a previous articles on the gluten freemost likely being associated with higher diagnosis.
pages site estimated adjusted celiac searches inUK level of un-diagnosed Celiac disease
America at 2.7 searches per celiac per month -In the GFP Global Matrix article, The UK was
much less than Australia's value of 4.2.estimated to have a celiac search value of 2.2
Level of Diagnosis in Australiasearches per celiac per month, which while lower
In Australia the celiac society states that 1% ofthan America and Australia is still well ahead of
the population has celiac disease. Although theyGermany (0.3), France (0.8) and Italy (0.9).One
suggest that only 20% of these people havereference estimates that "at least 1 in 100 people
been diagnosed. (ref 1). The Australianin the UK suffers from celiac disease. However,
Gastroenterology institute states that in Australiaonly 12.5% of people with the disease are actually
the diagnosis level is somewhere between one inbeing correctly diagnosed. Recent research
500 to one in 2000 people (ref 4). Taking theshowed that the average length of time taken
higher level of 20% diagnosis, this means that infor someone to be diagnosed with celiac disease
Australia (population 21,550,000, Jan 2009) thatfrom the onset of their symptoms is 13 years.
215,000 people are most likely celiac but 170,000(ref 8)
people don't know it. Note that gluten intolerantAll of these facts suggest a massive global
people may increase the amount of peopleunder-diagnosis of celiac disease. Other original
seeking Gluten Free solutions by a factor of threearticles on this site suggest that the long term
or four times the Total Celiac values.symptoms of this disease greatly distroy the
In December 2008, the top 200 search terms onquality of life for those who acquire it. Fast and
Google Australia, related to gluten free productsaccurate diagnosis is critical, and if you suspect
was 470,000 searches. With 79% internet usagethat you suffer from some of the symptoms,
and 65% Google share, this converts to andiagnosing or ruling out the disease is vital. Please
estimated 911,000 searches per month. If theresee our article on Symptoms and our article on
are only 35,000 diagnosed celiacs (20% of totalDiagnosis options if you believe you may need
celiacs) in Australia this would mean that theyhelp.