How likely is it that you have celiac disease?

Celiac disease is surprisingly a somewhat common disease, yet since we still know so little about it, it usually goes undiagnosed.  This article will examine where around the world this disease is most prevalent.  It used to be that celiac was considered a “Northern European” disease mostly found in people of Finnish, Swedish, German, and British descent.  However, it is becoming very prevalent in some other areas of the world, so this is no longer considered a Northern European disease.

One surprising thing is that celiac disease is on the rise in the western world, particularly in the U.S.  This is due to genetic as well as environmental factors.  Some researchers are examining if this rise is linked to the way we process our food and the ingredients that make it up.

The good news is that celiac is not something that you can “catch” or develop, it is a genetic disease.  The tricky thing is that most people do not know they have it, and it has previously gone undiagnosed until a later age.  This means that a person could have been living with it and not know.  Also, while a person can have the gene, the disease may not be “triggered” until a certain point in their life when they find out they have it.  For all these reasons, it is best to just get tested for it by a doctor if it runs in your family or you may have it due to symptoms or other concerns.

So, where in the world do we see the most cases of celiac?

1. Finland 1 in 60

2. Algeria 1 in 70

3. Turkey 1 in 77

4. Sweden, Australia, UK 1 in 100

5. Iran 1 in 104

6.  Ireland 1 in 120

7. Denmark 1 in 130

8. Switzerland 1 in 132

9. US and Canada 1 in 133

10. Israel and Saudi Arabia 1 in 157

11. Argentina 1 in 167

12. Italy and Netherlands 1 in 184

13. Spain 1 in 200

14. Brazil 1 in 273

15. France 1 in 300

16. India 1 in 310

17. Germany 1 in 500

Predominately, the disease is still prevalent in most of Northern Europe but is also surprisingly becoming common in Italy (who knew with all that bread and pasta!) as well as Northern Africa and the Middle East.

Sources: 1, 2

Chloe Dyer

About Chloe Dyer

Chloe graduated from UMaine Orono with a BA in Mass Communication and a minor in Political Science. In addition to writing for the BDN, she has been Editor in Chief of Her Campus UMaine, Contributing Editor of Odyssey UMaine, and a Staff Writer for The Maine Campus . She has known about her Celiac Disease for about two years and has been eating gluten free as well as sometimes dairy free. She is from Chebeague Island, Maine, where she grew up, but has also lived in Cleveland, Ohio, and Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria in addition to Orono.