Health Journal: Deciphering the Ailments Tied to Gluten - Health Blog - WSJ

Researchers are making slow progress in understanding the numerous ailments that a growing number of people suffer after eating foods with gluten, a protein found in wheat.

As the Health Journal column reports, a group of 15 experts from seven countries took a step forward this week, proposing a new classification and diagnosing system to help doctors and patients figure out what’s a wheat allergy, what’s celiac disease and what falls under a new category of ills lumped together as “gluten sensitivity.”

Another international team aims to clear up the confusion caused by experts around the world using different terminology for gluten-related problems; celiac disease alone has been called sprue, gluten-sensitive enteropathy and gluten intolerance. Their consensus paper will be published soon in the journal Gut.