Gluten-free diet

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine (intestine damage due to gluten), and has recently been one of the most frequent diseases of alimentary tract both in children as well as adults.

 

Recognizing Celiac Disease

Celiac disease can be displayed with numerous symptoms, from abdominal bloating, chronic diarrhea, foul-smelling, loose and foamy stools, anaemia, weight loss to mood swings and poor concentration. Most patients, sadly, have atypical or weakly displayed symptoms and therefore live their entire life without ever realizing about their disease. The presence of anti-gliadin antibodies can be detected with the celiac disease quick test (the result is known within a few minutes).

Living with Celiac Disease

The only proved successful treatment of the celiac disease is a strict life-long gluten-free diet. A patient with celiac disease must exclude all foodstuffs that contain gluten from their diet (wheat, spelt, rye, khorasan wheat, barley) as well as all products which contain these cereals in their composition. Thus the small intestine mucosal inflammation stabilizes and the mucosa normalizes.

Gluten-free products

The easiest way is to buy a product which is claimed gluten-free. In this case, it is clearly labelled on the product to be gluten-free and you will notice a crossed grain symbol. This means the product is produced in conditions where the gluten contamination is excluded, and each series is controlled on presence/absence of gluten.

Perutnina Ptuj has been cooperating with Slovensko društvo za celiakijo (Slovenian Celiac Disease Organization) and together we have designed a gluten-free line of products and gained the gluten-free label.