Sarah Keogh

Now, you can have a non-celiac gluten intolerance.

It's a very definite thing.

But for celiac, it's definitely not a lifestyle choice.

And I can tell you hand on heart, all of the members of the Celiac Society would only love to be able to sit down and have a pizza or bread or go out to a restaurant.

and not worry about what has touched their food on the way in and out, they would be thrilled and delighted.

So, you know, I think they deserve a huge dose of understanding.

It doesn't seem to matter when

way or the other.

Now, some people will have non-celiac gluten intolerance, which seems to be a different reaction to gluten and often comes with some other allergies and things like that as well.

But what I find is most people that I work with who would say, oh, I'm non-celiac gluten intolerant.

What happened was when they were tested for celiac, they weren't eating gluten.

And you absolutely have to be eating gluten for at least six weeks before you have the celiac test.

Otherwise, it does come back negative.

So if anyone is listening and thinking they're celiac, don't say to yourself, I'll cut out the gluten and see how I feel.

Don't do that.

Straight to that, you never cut out the gluten until you've had the celiac test.

So what I would find if I can, we often do a thing called a gluten challenge, where if someone is able to bring the gluten back in for six weeks, then test.

And I find most of the time my non-celiac gluten intolerant patients turn out to be celiac.

Now, not always.

We've definitely got what I will call very genuine people who do need to avoid gluten, even though it's not celiac.