The Gluten-Free (GF) Diet: The GF diet is the prescribed medical treatment for gluten intolerance diseases such as celiac disease (CD) and dermatitis herpetiformis (DH). An immune system response to eating gluten (storage proteins gliadin and prolamine) results in damage to the small intestine of people with gluten intolerance. The GF diet is a life long commitment and should not be started before being properly diagnosed with CD/DH. Starting the diet without complete testing is not recommended and makes diagnosis later more difficult.

Tests to confirm CD could be negative if a person were on the GF diet for very long. A valid test would require reintroducing gluten (a gluten challenge) before testing. Celiac disease is an inherited autoimmune disease and confirmation of CD will help future generations be aware of the risk of CD within the family.