Every tribal newspaper I’ve ever read (and I used to read them frequently when I was practicing law in tribal courts) has included one or more articles on diabetes. Native people are disproportionately impacted by the disease, and an article in the most recent issue of the University of Washington’s alumni magazine, Columns, suggests that it may be because of the diet of commodity food introduced with the reservation system:

Native Americans may be particularly vulnerable to diabetes because their exposure to these foods is still so recent (they may be particularly susceptible to alcoholism for the same reason)

The same explanation — that wheat is a relatively recent addition to the human diet, and not everyone can digest it well — is often offered for the existence of celiac disease, the intolerance for gluten that can have debilitating medical consequences. Gluten-free Girl Shauna says that 1% of Americans have celiac, and most don’t know it. (read this: Do you have celiac?)

So here’s my question: Is celiac more common among Native people? I would imagine that it is, and that it is dramatically under-diagnosed.