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Date: | Wed, 28 May 1997 22:42:23 -0400 |
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I've never heard that Celiac Disease is in any way prominent among Jews;
and have never known a Jew with Celiac Disease; in fact, in the flesh
I've only known one person who was gluten intolerant, and he was Gentile
(Scotch Irish ancestry, if I remember correctly). Since I am Jewish, I
would expect to know at least one or two Jews with Celiac Disease over my
life if it were more common than usual.
I do suffer from Crohn's Colitis. Crohn's Disease and the rather similar
Ulcerative Colitis are reputed to be unusually high among Jews. And in
fact, I know several Jews with one or the other, and overall there does
seem to be a high percentage of Jews with Inflammatory Bowel Disease
(the general name for the two). But statistical studies have shown that
this is more a myth than a reality: IBD is not really more common among
Jews than Gentiles, or at least the rate among Jews has fallen to match
that of Gentiles. So I would suggest taking these claims of a disorder
being higher among one ethnicity than another with a grain of salt. It
may be merely impressions of incidence rather than actual statistics.
Jeffrey Smith [log in to unmask]
As the lily among thorns is tinged with red and white, so the Community
of Israel is visited now with justice and now with mercy; as the lily
possesses thirteen leaves, so the Community of Israel is vouchsafed
thirteen categories of mercy which surround it on every side.--Zohar
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