The Everyday Wheat-Free & Gluten-Free Cookbook : Grub Street : 9781898697909 : 1898697906 : 30 Jun 1998 : Coeliacs are people who suffer from a sensitive reaction to gluten, which is the protein found in wheat and rye. Similar substances are found in barley and oats. Since gluten damages the lining of the small intestine of coeliacs, it makes their ability to absorb adequate nutrients from food difficult, which results in severe illness resembling malnutrition. Coeliacs may be acutely ill with weight loss, tiredness, lethargy and breathlessness. The only treatment which can rectify a coeliac condition is a gluten-free diet. A coeliac must not eat any food which contains flour or wheat, barley or rye in any form. Ths means excluding bread, biscuits, crispbreads, cakes, pastry, pasta, breadcrumbs, semolina and food cooked in batter. Flour is also an ingredient in many tinned, packaged and processed foods as well as ready meals. A gluten-free diet can therefore pose major difficulties for