Coeliac UK is a UK charity for people with

coeliac disease Coeliac disease (British English) or celiac disease (American English) is a long-term autoimmune disorder, primarily affecting the small intestine. Patients develop intolerance to gluten, which is present in foods such as wheat, rye, spelt ...

- a condition estimated to affect 1 out of every 100 people and to be twice as common in women as in men - and the skin manifestation of the condition,

dermatitis herpetiformis Dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) is a chronic autoimmune blistering skin condition, characterised by intensely itchy blisters filled with a watery fluid. DH is a cutaneous manifestation of coeliac disease, although the exact causal mechanism is not ...

(DH).

History

Founded in 1968 by

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

founder

Peter Benenson Peter Benenson (born Peter James Henry Solomon; 31 July 1921 – 25 February 2005) was a British barrister, human rights activist and the founder of the human rights group Amnesty International (AI); a global movement of more than 10 million pe ...

, and Elizabeth Segall, Coeliac UK (originally called The Coeliac Society) launched the first symbol that acknowledged and advertised that a product contained no

gluten Gluten is a structural protein naturally found in certain Cereal, cereal grains. The term ''gluten'' usually refers to the elastic network of a wheat grain's proteins, gliadin and glutenin primarily, that forms readily with the addition of water ...

, namely the Crossed Grain symbol. Noted clinician Sir

Christopher Booth Sir Christopher Charles Booth (22 June 1924 – 13 July 2012) was an English clinician and medical historian, characterised as "one of the great characters of British medicine". Booth was born in 1924 in Farnham, Surrey. His father Lionel Booth ...

was a founding member. The charity renamed itself Coeliac UK in 2001 and has since established the All Party Parliamentary Group on coeliac disease and DH and worked with the

Food Standards Agency The Food Standards Agency is a non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for protecting public health in relation to food in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is led by a board appoin ...

to introduce a new law that governed the labelling of gluten-free food. English actress

Caroline Quentin Caroline Quentin (born Caroline Amanda Jane Jones; 11 July 1960) is an English actress, broadcaster and television presenter. Quentin became known for her television appearances, portraying Dorothy in ''Men Behaving Badly'' (1992–1998), Maddie ...

is the current patron of the charity.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Food policy in the United Kingdom Health charities in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1968