It’s September 13 and it’s National Celiac Awareness Day in the U.S. — in honor of Dr. Samuel Gee, a British physician who was the first to find a relationship between celiac disease and diet. He once said, “if the patient can be cured at all, it must be by means of diet.” In 1888, he even published the first modern description of coeliac disease (celiac disease was mentioned much earlier by Arataeus of Cappadocia in ancient Greece).
Considering celiac disease was first mentioned over 2,000 years ago and very accurately described by Dr. Gee close to 120 years ago, I have to say that I’m curious as to why in 2010, celiac disease is such a mystery to most general practitioners and pediatricians. Why is it is so under diagnosed? I have so many theories on this, I wouldn’t even know where to start. Hopefully, a day like today will help spread awareness of celiac disease just a little more and help more people whose health is not so good get a proper diagnosis and start down a road to recovery.
Today would be a good day to do your part and mention celiac disease to a friend, a neighbor, or a co-worker and explain to them what it is and what a wonderful life changing event a celiac disease diagnosis really is. It’s a gift of life that should be cherished and something that opens your eyes to the importance of good wholesome food (and no I’m not talking about all of the gluten-free baked goodies that are constantly shown on the Celiac Handbook Facebook page :)
While National Celiac Awareness Day is in honor of Dr. Samuel Gee’s birthday, we should also give thanks to Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska for sponsoring the resolution that made this day a reality back in 2006. Let’s hope that this day really does bring more awareness and in turns helps a lot more people find a relatively simple solution to big problems in their own lives.
Anyhow, Happy National Celiac Awareness Day.
