Ep 71 Type I Diabetes and Celiac Disease
May is Celiac Awareness Month and I am pleased to be collaborating with the Canadian Celiac Association to produce podcasts to support their theme of “Beyond the Gut”. This episode is a discussion with Registered Dietitian Esther Assor who works with the Endocrinology Program at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
Esther and I discuss the prevalence of celiac disease in children with Type I diabetes, how it effects those individuals and what makes them both the same as, and different from other celiac patients. For more information on celiac disease and the gluten free diet please check out the CCA website at www.celiac.ca.
Sue’s Websites and Social Media –
Podcast https://acanadianceliacpodcast.libsyn.com
Podcast Blog – https://www.acanadianceliacblog.com
Facebook – @acanadianceliacpodcast
Twitter – CeliacPodcastCA
Email – acdnceliacpodcast@gmail.com
Baking Website – https://www.suesglutenfreebaking.com
Instagram – @suesgfbaking
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUVGfpD4eJwwSc_YjkGagza06yYe3ApzL
(search Sues Gluten Free Baking)
Email – sue@suesglutenfreebaking.com
Other Podcast – Gluten Free Weigh In – https://glutenfreeweighin.libsyn.com
My Thoughts –
It was a couple of years after my diagnosis of celiac disease when I first met someone with both celiac and type I diabetes. I was at a dinner, which I had organized for a celiac group where I lived. I forget now, but it must have been a special occasion because this was a fancy restaurant.
I was completely taken aback when the woman beside me, who I knew was celiac, said excuse me, reached under the table, pulled back the table cloth and stabbed her thigh with a needle. I hadn’t known she was diabetic and was not prepared for this at dinner.
I have often thought of this woman and how my struggles with celiac disease and the gluten free diet were simple compared to her negotiating gluten free and type I diabetes. In the podcast Esther explained how, nowadays, with so much more gluten free food on the market there is more choice for us. If there are other concerns, other allergies, or conditions at least now we can choose from the larger variety of products available. The woman I sat beside at dinner did not have the options for gluten free food that we have today. Food labelling and blood monitoring is better than it was years ago. Life for someone with type I diabetes and celiac disease is better than it has been, but I think back to one of the last things Esther said in our interview “there’s a lot to learn”. It will be people like Esther, and her colleagues who will keep investigating, performing studies and counselling patients, that will be at the forefront of a better quality of life for those with both type I diabetes and celiac disease. Thank you, Esther!