Like many sectors, COVID-19 has hit medical research hard, with charities including those tackling celiac disease struggling to survive. You may be wondering why funding research into celiac disease is so important when we’re already able to diagnose this disease, and we know it can be treated with a gluten-free diet. The simple answer is that although advising patients to eat a gluten-free diet does help with the symptoms of celiac disease, it doesn’t solve the problem.
Keep reading below to find out more about this issue:
The Effects of Celiac Disease on Patients
Celiac disease affects a growing number of individuals worldwide. People with celiac disease suffer on a daily basis. For some individuals, celiac disease can irrevocably change their lives. Research has shown that it can cause debilitating complications, particularly if not detected early. These complications include things like osteoporosis, autoimmune conditions, and small bowel cancer.
Why is Research into Celiac Disease Crucial?
Sadly, little has changed since the discovery of the link between gluten and celiac disease over 60 years ago. Today, sticking to a gluten-free diet is still the only treatment, but unfortunately, this treatment doesn’t work for everyone. And as more disturbing aspects of this disease begin to emerge, it’s becoming critical to find answers through research.
Currently, funding research into celiac disease is disproportionally small compared to funding for other medical conditions. This does not reflect the impact this disease has on people’s lives. With more and more people being diagnosed with this terrible disease each year, Yasith Weerasuriya believes that it’s critical that more money is put into researching this condition.
How Research into Celiac Disease Can Help
Through funded research, charities can work to improve the diagnosis of this terrible condition. This can include the development of more comprehensive and less invasive tests. Not only that, but research can also help to find better treatments for this condition. This will have a huge impact on the lives of individuals living with celiac disease.
Celiac disease remains a challenging condition for patients. This is mainly because medical professionals are still unclear on how to treat this uncomfortable condition effectively. Thanks to this, more research is needed into this area. Let’s hope that we see some breakthroughs in how to manage this condition in the future.
