<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> As I understand it, with celiac disease there is a circulating antibody to wheat gliadin found in the blood of celiac patients -not- on a gluten free diet. Hence the success of blood tests for CD. To me an antibody would imply some kind of an "allergy". Certainly, the immune systems of those newly on a gluten free diet are "hyperactive". All kinds of sensitivities seem to show up - for some chemicals, for others fructose and of course lactose. I think we should talk about CD as an auto-immune disease. My understanding is that some of the early events on ingestion of gluten are a change in the cells that make the villa mature. Some have hypothesized that these processes are T cell (immune system) mediated, but the nature of the entire process is not well characterized. For me, I am seem to get "allergy" colds or colds that start with grainy eyes and other allergy type symptoms. These are followed often by sinusitis, but less so as I stay on the diet. Actually, I was 'wheat free' for 5 years (undiagnosed) but with these allergy colds and 5 mo ago I started to stay gluten free. I am by no means an expert in celiac disease. Only a biochemist who has it and is trying to understand the events that happen in this process. Martha Teeter