The standard definition of coeliac disease is an intestinal disorder caused by an intolerance to gluten, a protein present in wheat, oats, rye and barley and their grain relatives.  Controversy surrounds the real cause of coeliac disease.  It was only recently that the gluten-free diet was pronounced effective in the treatment of coeliac disease, yet only 30% of individuals with coeliac disease get better on such a diet.  70% of people with coeliac disease will experience only partial improvement from a gluten free diet. 

 

Coeliac disease responds much better to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) or GAPS diet. Dr Valentine Haas, well known in the 1940’s for his treatment of coeliac disease and other inflammatory bowel diseases, discovered it was not gluten that caused coeliac disease.  He found that specific types of difficult to breakdown carbohydrates and sugars caused overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria and yeasts and created inflammation in gut leading to an inability to digest gluten.  Hence the SCD is free of gluten and the difficult to digest complex disaccharides and polysaccharides (types of sugar).