http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?D...Pubmed_RVDocSum

Found this article and I thought it was thought provoking. Finland probably has the highest incidence of celiac disease in the world, and the authors are implying that the rise in their diagnoses are not due only to better detection.....but also environmental issues?? Wish I could pull up the full article.
It does seem that with increased incidence in many third world countries........maybe the Vikings went more places than we originally thought!!!
And that increased processed foods in those areas are increasing the incidence/diagnoses of celiac(my opinion).

One of my Irish friends says that in Ireland (tho' I don't know if it's urban-myth or backed by medical opinion) that the high rate of celiac disease is attributed to the Great Hunger. Maybe people with the celiac disease genes were more apt to survive the famine? She didn't say what the reasoning was. If I get a chance, I'll ask her the next time I see her.

http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/13/2153.asp

I hope this works! I am trying to send a full article about world incidence of celiac disease and it's very surprising! I was trying for the Irish connection, but it must be more fable than fact. That a subset of Africans are the highest in the world(>5%) is amazing. And all that wheat that is sent over for food!!!!!!!!!!

here's a thought i had: what's being done for all those people in third world countries, who are unable to get the glutenfree food they need?

It is interesting to speculate what may be going on in Finland. Does anyone know if their diet has changed in recent years? There may be some triggering factor, but I don't know what it might be.

About the other article, it is also interesting, although I don't know what to make of the stats. I always thought that the places that had had wheat the longest had less celiac. Either celiac doesn't kill people before they can reproduce, the associated genes provide some health benefit, or the new higher-gluten wheat is bothering everybody.

Interesting article, thanks for sharing.

Michelle

For many years, Finland has had (by far) the highest per capita percentage of type one diabetics, as well. We know of the clustering of autoimmune disorders, so I guess this isn't so surprising...

Very interesting, I was suprised to learn that celiac disease is more in women than men. Thanks for sharing that.
Yellow Rose

From the little research I've done (before I just decided I needed to do SOMETHING constructive today ... just after this post ), the only thing that jumps out at me about Finland is that it has one of the highest dairy consumption levels in the world. Early exposure to cow's milk has been linked to type 1 diabetes. I've also heard about dairy causing intestinal bleeding. A trigger for celiac?

My research has been rather brief, though. It is interesting to think about what could have changed. But I guess I can't justify any more time on this board today

Yes, endocrinologists have known about the conspicuous number-one ratings of diabetics and milk drinkers in Finland for a while...My endo advised me to keep milk out of both of my kids' diets until they were two or so (I am type one). I have always believed that milk is bad for most of humanity, and that it's essentially not there for our consumption. So a trigger for diabetes...I'm sure. Celiac?...why not?