Coeliac disease is a serious sensitivity to gluten, which is a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. Eat gluten, and your immune system goes on the attack so that your small intestine has difficulty absorbing nutrients from the foods you eat.

In children, symptoms may include abdominal pain and bloating, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, and weight loss. Symptoms in adults can also include anemia, fatigue, bone loss, depression, and seizures.

Yet some people may not have any symptoms. The only treatment for coeliac disease is to completely avoid eating gluten. Common alternatives to gluten include brown rice, quinoa, lentils, soy flour, corn flour, and amaranth.

A healthy, gluten-free diet should help control your symptoms, but you may also find reducing some lifestyle habits also improve your general health:

• lose weight if you're overweight
• reduce your alcohol intake
• stop smoking
• get more active

• Coeliac UK
• Gluten-free recipes
• Patient webinars coeliac disease has videos
• NHS coeliac disease