@Alien It's estimated that gluten intolerance has a high prevalence in the European pupulation with one or two cases for every one hundred people in the most affected countries. However, Gluten enteropathy or Celiac disease, is a different, more serious pathology, and one's immune system will attack itself -the gut- whenever gluten is ingested,
but has a lower prevalence, albeit it has been rising steadly. Indeed there are other sauces but when eating out in a
Restaurants it's common when one orders your typical fried meat and rice dish, that a staggering majority will be cooked with black soy sauce, which can be easily verified by noticing the resulting dark meat color,
it is a hidden source of gluten that needs attention.
Diagnosis of gluten intolerance is observational, celiac involves more elaborate testing and-or biopsies.
How prevalent is it, why is its prevalence rising, and are there grades of seriousness of celiac disease? As for gluten intolerance, isn't it a matter of degree or relative commonness, as is, for example, lactose intolerance in China (note the popularity of ice cream, etc.)? Why does gluten intolerance seem to favor 'the European population' and are you talking about geography or genetics?
Americans seem to have disease fads. Epstein-Barr about 30 years ago. Doctors used to give allergy shots to kids and I am not sure why.
I am lactose intolerant but in China only had a problem with breads from Wicker Basket. Chinese ice cream was no problem. Actually, I had no clue about lactose intolerance until the doctor diagnosed it.
The gluten thing boggles me. My daughter-in-law seems to think it is the cause of everything but she does not have celiac.
My lactose intolerance began when I was a little over 40. Does celiac develop later in life?
Good questions, Geezer. I agree that Americans, in particular, seem to have disease fads. I do not doubt the existence of either gluten intolerance or celiac disease, but I do question the reasons for their current popularity and, in many, average cases, the seriousness with which they are taken.