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I thought I had summarized this over a year ago, but apparently I never did
post the summary. I originally sent out a post (24-JUL-2001) requesting any
information people could give me about people with biopsy-diagnosed celiac
disease that were performing athletically at high levels. As I said, I
"don't want to make CD an excuse" not to excell, and reach for the stars. I
think I replied to some people individually, but not to the list, so here is
my summary FINALLY:
 
I received 58 responses in all. Thank you all for your words of
encouragement. There were a few international level athletes, but not many.
Lots of college and High School stars. Then again, this is a small sample. I
had to disqualify some replies from people who thought they might be Celiac,
but were not medically diagnosed, or whom sent replies containing viruses,
which I didn't want to open. 
 
Here are the sports mentioned:
1) All the usual sports swimming, skiing, biking running,
tennis,basketball,baseball,soccer, track, etc.. at high school and some at
college levels
2) Lots of arobics instructors, weight trainers, etc...
3) Someone who won some medals at the Senior Olympics in swimming
4) Marathoners and Triathletes
5) Someone who bikes 3000 miles a year
6) Someone who competed in the World Traithalon championships
7) Equestrian sports
8) Broomball
9) A couple of competitive gymnasts (one required growth hormone supplement)
10) Diving
11) Dancing
 
General themes, also mentioned in the emails:
1) Almost everybody identified the need to be 100% GF, and many said that
while trace contaminations may not always cause full-blown CD flare-ups,
they sometimes exhibited as poorer performance.
2) Some expressed dietary inconvenience when doing activities that require
otherwise special diets (extreme endurance and strength stuff), or people
with other dietary problems (diabetics, lactose-intolerance, etc...).
Difficulty getting enough calories for some.
3) Several people mentioned a little more difficuly keeping muscle tone.
People who had adult onset noticed this change from their youth, but this
could simply be due to age also. However, there were no bodybuilders
(competing ones) that replied, and very few strength athletes, more
endurance stuff. Makes me tend to think there is something to this. 
3) Some problems with bone density (stress fractures etc..). There was not
much mention of high impact sports at all mentioned (a couple of hockey
players in junior levels, one broomball player, no football, and no
high-level martial artists). 
 
I know some of the conclusions I am suggesting in the last section are
questionable, and may not be an issue for some people. Everybody has to
decide for themselves, but these may be things to pay carefull attention to
when starting up a new activity, or if you have these kinds of problems.. 
 
Other thoughts, about CD, diabetes, and athleticism that I have dug up:
I know there are many diabetics(for the rest of this discussion I am only
referring to type 1 Diabetes Mellitus) that compete at international levels,
in both endurance and strength events, in fact, there is some evidence that
there are more diabetics amongst elite athletes, than the general
population. Whether this comes from stressing their bodies, which in-turn
brings out the genetic pre-disposition more often, or whether diabetics have
inate qualities that help them athletically is not yet known. I did come
across a research study recently, that suggested people with shorter thighs
(as compared to their overall height) were much more prone to diabetes (type
1). You should have no problem finding more info on this on the www if you
are interested. Also, having an anatomical short leg (one leg shorter that
the other) is fairly rare, but occurs more often with people with type I
diabetes (mellitus).  I have a short leg, but no diabetes. Why am I talking
about diabetes you might ask ? As you probably know, type I diabetes and CD
are very strongly linked, and the gene markers are very close to each other
on the DNA. Therefore, those of us that have CD genes, are likely to have
some of the same qualities as diabetics (type 1). It would be nice to have
direct information on Celiacs, but since diagnosis in the past was poor,
much of this is not known. I believe by looking at qualities of people with
diabetes mellitus, we might gain some insight into Celiacs. I am led to
wonder if the leg length issues noticed in diabetics might not be from CD
malnutrition effects. My grandfather, who I am fairly sure had CD and was
the source of mine (he definetely had type 1 diabetes, as did his sister),
was an amazing man. He worked as a cowboy moving cattle from Texas to
southern Alberta, and rode in the cavalry in both world wars. He survived
unimaginable physical hardships, but of course did die young (in his early
40s). I myself have found that although my many physical/medical
peculiarities, I did possess some surprising strength and endurance. I
believe there are positive characteristics for those of us born with the CD
genetic makeup, and we shouldn't always look at our CD as a disease, but
rather just a physiological difference. We are fortunate to be aware of it,
and to know what we need to do in order to be strong.
 
Shoot for the stars !

 


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