I reside in Ontario but grew up with my family in England.My family believed themselves to be true English.Recently we found out that we are of Irish decent through my fathers side the same side that has passed on Celiacs to me.There is some belief that Celiacs originate from Ireland.Whats your background?

Well I AM of Irish descent, but celiac can happen to ppl of any race.
Of course, the chances are higher for those of western euro blood - or is it northwestern?

P.S. It's Celiac, not Celiacs.

Hi 'C's mum',
Well My father was English, my mother was Irish, I was born in Scotland
I married a German girl who's brother was also Coeliac/Celiac so where do you go from there!
.
Ireland is supposed to have the highest prevalance of Coeliac Disease in the world,
maybe they should have stayed off the bread and stuck to the Potatoes!
.
My profile and the blog on My Web Space gives all my background details.
.
I don't think it's down to our forefarthers home country or race,
I believe if you have the pre-disposition to Celiac it's not a matter of How but When!.
.
There's a lot said about introducing babies to 'wheat' too early (ie. before 6 months)
.
Mothers unknowingly giving their babies their first taste of 'Gluten'
by either blending regular food for baby without realising that the 'gravy or sauce'
may have used 'wheat' flour to thicken it, or maybe when they are 'teething' giving them
a 'Crust ' of bread to chew on?.
Let's face it most people on this forum have Celiac, it's not going to go away,
so we have to do the best we can and every little bit of help and comfort goes a long way!
.
I'm kinda getting off-topic here so I leave it at that.
.
Best Regards,
David

I'm Italian on both sides

Pretty much true.... however Americans always seem to think there is such a thing as Irish or German etc. when most Europeans realise they are all mixed up.

I think it goes back to when their family emigrated and they presume they must have a 100% pure blood line prior to that date or something??? Most of the 'incidence' differences are just down to the fact once it becomes prevalent more people are tested and doctors become more aware. Italy has a fairly consistent 1:200 incidence despite the huge genetic differences between North and South. (the only real genetic link being the Scandanavian one from the Lomards and Normans)...

Its funny for us Eurpeans to think that someone with blond hair and blue eyes from Lombardy is genetically closer to someone with very dark skin and afro hair from Sicily... not to mention Italy didn't exist as a country until Garibaldi in 1878... or that a Hindi family living in Rome (perhaps for over 2000 yrs) are somehow closer than a Austrian to some Italian genotype???

My family is predominently German.

Irish, Scottish & Dutch (and a little English -- I guess that's why I sometimes argue with myself )

I'm German, Irish, Danish and Swiss. I think members on both sides of my family have celiac disease.

Slovenian

I'm Irish, English, Scottish, and German.

German

We're a big mix, too. German, English, Native American, French Canadian- does that count?

I'm Irish, Polish, NA, french Canadian, and English.

Irish descent on Dad's side, English on Mum's

Irish with a little English thrown in for good measure.

Ed in MD

I am thinking that it doesn't really matter where you come from anymore. I think it may be more prevalent in certain areas, but is being found in outer areas too. I read celiac is now found in some of the areas where we supply rice and flours to those who do not normally have these foods and now they are developing the disease too. I think at first we thought it was more Irish and Greeks maybe, only because they are the leaders in finding the disease. The United States was way behind other countries in diagnosing celiac disease.

When my group, the Suffolk County Celiac Support Group, from Long Island, NY, had their vendor fair, the largest vendor fair ever held anywhere, there were people there from all walks of life. I talked to so many different nationalities, I was so surprised. We come from everywhere, we are all colors, we speak all languages, we are all heights, we have all different hair colors, long hair, short hair, bald, we are in wheelchairs, some of us are very young, some are very old, and everywhere inbetween.

My background is German, English, American, and maybe some Irish. My mom is a hot tempered redhead!!!

We all have gluten in common. We want it out of our lives. Whether we are celiac, gluten intolerant, or gluten sensititive, we want gluten freedom.

Irish and German here!

Hungarian mostly.

I am English and Irish with a touch of French Canadian and First Nations.

I have Irish, English, German, American Native can't remember the tribe, and of course Texan

donna

Maternal: english (mostly)


Paternal: French Candian and Irish



They are now says also for peanuts not to let your child have this for 3 years!

I think im the oddball in this group, im spanish and little indian.

my step-son is
german, polish, spanish and a something else, i cant think right now.

paul

I'm English, Irish, Russian, Scotch-Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Swedish, and Native American, a real mutt.

Irish, English, Scottish, and my dad says a little bit of native american...but im not so sure about that.

I'd recommend the book "Guns, Germs and Steel". It's super super long, but there's a great chapter about the beginnings of agriculture and which grains were "chosen" to domesticate. It gives a lot of insight into gluten and which ethnic groups are most affected by celiac even though gluten is never specifically mentioned.

Agriculture began in the fertile crescent/Mesopotamia region. The people who are descended from this area have less issues with gluten because they've had more generations to develop the ability to digest gluten. Places where these grains were more recently introduced like Ireland have higher incidences of celiac.

Grains with bigger seeds were the ones that were developed for agriculture. There's some interesting stuff about genetics here - in the wild a desirable trait is grains that drop off the stalk so the seeds disperse. In agriculture, seeds that remain on the stalk are the ones that are picked and planted the next year so domestic grain is not dramatically different than the stuff found in the wild. Wild wheat is also much lower in gluten content, so the recent high-gluten wheats may have added to the incidence of celiac.

Oh, and I'm English by the way

I really don't know what all I have in me I know I am a American and a Texas I keep telling my Mom which is 93 that I am going to have do a DNA test to see if I am really her's. I have alway told her they must have given her the wrong baby at the hospital she they did'nt. I am the only one out of 7 kids to have all these problems and I am the only one to have RH Negative blood so what do you all thank I have 2 kids grown and they both had RH Negative blood have not been tested for celiac. My daughter has colitis and Haushmotos disease I really think she has celiac but she says no .

I am Irish, German, French, Scottish, English, Native American-cherokee, and Dutch. Im sure there are others but these are the ones confirmed through tracing our family history. Im definitely a mix I also have rosacea which is suppose to come from Scottish or Irish descent.

Mom-American (English/Irish/Native American)
Dad- Dutch American (First generation)

Always such good information from Steve! but somehow it made my brain hurt......


I am one-quarter Norwegian, and the rest English, Welsh, Irish, Scottish, and a tiny smattering of French (descendant of Huguenots).

Two summers ago I went to the Celiac conference at Stanford, and there were between 500 - 600 people in attendance. I had never, in all my life, seen such a HUGE group of "white" people - and I do mean WHITE (extremely fair-skinned group)! Here in Central California we have a huge population of southeast Asians and Mexicans - I am pretty sure whites are the minority now - so I was quite startled to see such gathering of what appeared to be nearly 100 percent caucasians.....

As far as I can research back, I'm Irish nearly 100% (I guess I'm considered 'black Irish' or so I'm told...dad's side. Mom is a freckled redhead), DH is English and French. We haven't done the gene testing, so we don't know who donated to our DD.

My husband, the celiac member of our family, is mostly Irish.

On my mothers side, Croatian, on my fathers side a mixture of Irish, English and maybe scottish
Cathy

I am born and raised in Sweden. I have done some family tree research and have found nothing but Swedish people so far.

Maternal: 1/2 Italian, almost 1/2 German and a bit of Swedish.

Paternal: almost 1/2 German, 1/4 English, 1/4 French and a bit of American (Creek) Indian.

Fair skinned, green eyed, blond here. Red-headed, freckled Italian Mom and Dark Brown hair & eyed German Dad.

I am not of Irish decent, My grandparents, on my dad's side, immigrated from Slovania(I think that is how it is spelled, slavic?)...That is the side of the family that handed down the celiac. They also didnt pass on a full set of teeth...two of my adult teeth never formed as a child? I am not a gross person with no teeth, it is only genetics...lol

Just wanted to say Hi, My grandparents are Croation, and a few other things, on my dads side, and i have mutt from my moms side.

I'm Irish (from the North) on my mother's side, and South African (of British and Russion decent) on my father's side.

I've heard there's also a lot of celiacs in Finland. Something to do with pale skin?

Not only are there lots of Celiacs, there are GLUTEN-FREE BIG MACS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The reason that there are so many celiacs from Finland and Northern Ireland may be because these areas were not introduced to Roman grain until recent times.

I'm English/Irish (the Irish part,we think) on my Mom's side and French/Romanian on my dad's side.

Italian on my Mom's side....Irish on my Dad's. Nobody else in my family has Celiac except me....and probably my Dad's whole family...........but ALL of them passed away before they reached 50...my Dad passed at 42

I am Scotch/Irish

My Mom used to say we were Heinz 57! But that meant essentially northern and western Europe, including Irish, but also English, German, and Swiss on her side, and Norwegian and Welsh in my Dad's side.

Norwegian and German from the side that I got Celiac and Greek on the other.

Irish & English here... I think it is the Vikings that spread the genes around to the Northern Europeans. Also, all you Irish need to educate yourself about Hemochromatosis. Which is what they call the Celtic Curse. But I think the celtic curse also includes the celiac genes, I think you will agree when you read all the illnesses that go with the celtic curse.

I really do not think that the human body is made to eat grains, much less the gene altered wheat that we have today...

I'm full Native America, Navajo to be exact. I have yet to meet another Navajo Celiac.




Gluten free 11/07.

Larissa

Another first for this list, I'm Jewish - which is kinda a 'breed' if not a nationality. I'm also blonde and very fair, which is unusual for jews. My mom's mom's family was from austria, my mom's dad and my dad's mom from russia, and my dad's dad from rumania. My father had the awful stomach symptoms i have, and died of cancer, and my mom's mom had tons of food allergies. OH, and both grandfathers were blonde lol!

Wheeee! This is fun! I see lots of the fair skinned types here. but not all of us are such. My Dad's family is Cherokee/Scottish. I resemble that side of the family (in looks, not their health!) Very dark hair, dark dark brown eyes, skin more olive colored (turn bronze in the sun).
My mom's side however is English/Irish. I'm convinced that she has Celiac, but won't get tested. (Sigh).
Thanks for the fun topic and for sharing.

I guess I am another first for this list. I am Belarusian (Belarus is a small country bordering with Russia, Poland and Ukraine and was part of ex-USSR). My dad's family probably has some Polish roots, my mom is Belarusian. I suspect I get it from my mom's side. It is hard to say as in Belarus / Russia nobody knows about this disease. I immigrated to Canada almost 8 years ago, got diagnosed just last week. It would be very hard for celiac to live in Russia / Belarus, I am so glad I am here:-)

My father was Dutch and my mother is half German and half Seminole Indian.

Someone mentioned still having baby teeth. I'm 35 and still have 3 baby teeth because my real teeth never developed so there was nothing to push my baby teeth out. I just had the 4th replaced with an implant. I also am missing my wisdom teeth. It's really neat to see my baby teeth on x-rays because the roots are so tiny compared to my other teeth. My teeth are the same size as the regular teeth. It's a hereditary condition and usually referred to as having congenitally missing teeth and having fewer than 6 missing teeth is called Hypodontia. I get it from my mother who is also missing all of those teeth. As far as I know it is not related to celiac disease but I wouldn't be surprised to find out there was a connection somewhere.