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As an archaeologist, I can't resist responding to this query.  Put simply,
the areas in Europe which have the highest apparent incidence of cd are
those areas which grain agriculture reached last.  Ireland was a largely
pastoral economy (ie based on herding animals) long after
gluten-containing grain agriculture was introduced.  Presumably, the
genetic predisposition for cd would not have been a disadvantage in hunting
and gathering economies, or in pastoral economies.  It is only in groups
where the gluten-containing grains were staple foods that cd would have been
selected against, thus reducing the incidence in people who trace their
roots back to the areas where wheat etc. have been cultivated the longest.

Laura Johnson-Kelly
Curator, Anthropology Collections
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY, USA
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In message Mon, 8 May 1995 15:41:04 -0400,
  Jeff Overton <[log in to unmask]>  writes:

> I too am wondering why if anyone knows the connection between the Irish
> and Celiac Disease. Why 1 in 200 there versus 1 in 2000 in  Canada. Is
> it dietary or strictly genetic. Anyone done any research on this?

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Ithaca, NY, USA