Top endurance athlete gets behind Coeliac Awareness Week May 19 - 25
Study shows coeliac disease far more common than thought.
Top New Zealand endurance and multisport athlete, Fleur Pawsey, is joining Kiwi celebrities, health and fitness and nutrition experts and every day New Zealanders to get behind this year’s Coeliac Awareness Week to share their experiences and knowledge and encourage greater understanding of the disease.
Coeliac disease is a permanent, autoimmune disorder caused by an intolerance to gluten - found in wheat, barley, oats and rye - and causes the body to produce antibodies which damage the lining of the small bowel and make it impossible for the body to absorb vitamins, minerals and other nutrients from food.
A recent Australian population study has revealed that coeliac disease is 40% more prevalent in Australian women and 20% more prevalent in Australian men than previously thought.[1]
New Zealand-born and trained gastroenterologist Dr Bob Anderson was involved in the research and says that based on this Australian study, and assuming the prevalence of coeliac disease is similar in New Zealand, then it would be expected that almost 65,000 Kiwis may have the disease.[2]
Conducted in 2013 the study supports research from around the world that coeliac disease is becoming increasingly common even above the rise due to greater awareness and better testing for the disease.
Endurance and multisport athlete, Fleur Pawsey (34) has coeliac disease and has just completed the gruelling multi-day, non-stop GODZone Adventure race in Kaikoura.
“At the start of my multisport career I battled severe fatigue and anemia and never realised it was caused by my digestive tract and the foods I was eating,” says Fleur.
“I just assumed it was part of being a multisport athlete and increasing my training load and it wasn’t until a friend persuaded me to give blood that I eventually found out I had coeliac disease.
“My blood results showed severe anemia and luckily I had struck a forward thinking GP who suspected something was not right and ran tests for coeliacs disease,” she says.
“Thirteen years of gluten free living later, I have proven that being a coeliac need not limit an endurance athlete.
“ I have raced for days on end in expedition style adventure races, been fortunate to compete around the world, I’ve come a long way from the anaemic and undernourished amateur I was eight years prior to diagnosis,” says Fleur.
Coeliac New Zealand’s Coeliac Awareness Week kicks off on May 19 this year with the aim of increasing understanding of the disease among New Zealanders and also among the medical fraternity.
General Manager of Coeliac New Zealand, Sue Clay, says that so many new cases of coeliac disease go unnoticed each year because the symptoms and diagnosis of the disease are not clear cut.
“Thousands of people go to their GP each year because they feel sick and tired,” says Sue.
“Being sick and tired are symptoms of so many conditions as well as of our ever-increasing, busy lifestyles.
“However, if someone has been this way for a long time and is plain sick and tired of feeling sick and tired then they should ask their GP for further investigations to be done,” Sue says.
Auckland and Cantabrian volunteers who have been medically-confirmed with coeliac disease are currently participating in clinical studies into a new vaccine, Nexvac2, which aims to restore tolerance to gluten.
“The long and the short of it is, that in the medical world globally there is, and will be, a lot more focus on coeliac disease, which we welcome with open arms,” says Sue.
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