4 If you go into your local grocery store, you are bound to find a host of glute

Question

4 If you go into your local grocery store, you are bound to find a host of gluten-free products made with synthetic proteins instead of the natural wheat-based protein gluten. About 1 to 3 percent of the population is sensitive to gluten. The most severe form of gluten intolerance is the autoimmune disease celiac disease (note that it is not caused by gluten, and you cannot get it from eating gluten). In individuals with celiac disease, the immune response to gluten antigens causes the flattening of the villi in the small intestine. How would this affect the ability of the small intestine to function? Predict the symptoms you would expect to see from celiac disease.

Explanation / Answer

Villi present in the small intestine serve the purpose of increasing the surface area of the intestine many folds for better and efficient absorption of nutrients from the gut and aid in assimilation. If however, the villi becomes flat, then the extra surface area it was providing to the small intestine will be reduced and thereby the efficiency of absorption of nutrients by small intestine will be reduced (due to less surface area available for absorbing the nutrients).

As a result the digestion process as wel as the nutrients'assimilation will be affected and a person may experience indigestion, vommiting, diarrhoea, malnutrition, slow growth, weight loss, pain in abdomen, and other problems related to digestive tract and malnutrition.

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