Ilya wrote:

>People with Celiac desease (sensitivity
>to gluten) have all sorts of digestive problems. Their intestines
>are covered with a layer of mucosa as a protection from gluten.
>Many nutrients do not get absorbed as they should (B-12 is one
>example).

Celiacs do have a malabsorption problem, but it has nothing to do with a
layer of mucosa as protection. The mucosa is a word for the wall of the
small intestine. It is lined with villi (finger like projections) and they
have micro-villi (hair like projections on the villi). These increase the
surface area available to absorb the food to the surface area of a football
field. In celiac disease the villi are fattened, which dramatically reduces
the surface area, which dramatically reduces what is absorbed.

Don.