Some of the coeliac gene variants are shared with other autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and others. So some of the disease mechanisms may be shared between all these diseases.

The most important coeliac genes, HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8 are not very useful to diagnose people for coeliac disease, but are only used to exclude a coeliac disease diagnosis. The other genes all play a much smaller role in coeliac disease, so including these genes one by one in tests is unlikely to help in identifying susceptible people. However, genetics is moving fast and new methods are being developed that use the complete genetics of an individual to predict how much risk they have for certain diseases. This is something we are also working on and we hope that this may give us a better predictive power to see who is susceptible and who is not in the future.

Right now, we don’t know which microbiota have an effect on your chances of getting coeliac disease. However, we and others are actively trying to find the bacteria that have an effect. When we know that, we might be able to give probiotics that help protect you against coeliac disease when you have a high genetic risk and have family members with coeliac disease. To us, that would be the ultimate treatment, prevention is always better than a cure and probiotics is generally considered to be a mild intervention. However, this is unfortunately not possible yet, and may take years to develop.

Gluten free staple foods are available on prescription in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Gluten free bread and flour mixes are available in some areas in England so check availability here. In areas of England where access to gluten free food on prescription has been restricted, it is unlikely that local policies will be reviewed at this present time. However, we are aware of a small number of people having had support on prescription reinstated at the GP’s clinical  discretion.  

If you're struggling to find gluten free products at your supermarket, we advise you to:

• ask your store manager what time they receive their gluten free deliveries and go to the store then
• try local convenience stores 
• try mail order companies to see if you can get food delivered
• try local suppliers who might be better stocked in their produce.

Genetics, so what you inherit from your father and give to your children, only accounts for some of the risk of getting coeliac disease. So even in monozygotic twins that have identical DNA, one may develop coeliac disease and the other not. Your family members have far less shared DNA, than in the case of identical twins, so the chances of getting coeliac disease in family members may differ based on their genetic background. Moreover, other factors that are not in the DNA are also thought to play a big role in getting the disease.

These factors are not very well known yet, but we think that some virus infections or the gut microbiota may play a role. We need to learn a lot more about these factors from our DNA and our surroundings to be able to understand why one family member gets coeliac disease and the other does not, but we are working on it!

There are several options available for you to get to the event:

CAR - The stadium is easily accessible by car from the M4 and has plenty of free parking available in the stadium car park.

BUS - There are regular buses (No.95) from Cardiff City Centre stopping outside ASDA (opposite the venue).

TRAIN - The Cardiff City Stadium is just a short walk (5 minutes) from Ninian Park Station, with regular trains from Cardiff City Centre.

Yes, we will be scanning tickets on the door and those without tickets will be asked to join a registration queue, which may delay your entry to the event.

Tickets can be printed or displayed on your smartphone.

You can register on the day, however, this will be at a separate desk to the left of the main entrance.

We advise those planning to attend, to register in advance to facilitate faster entry to the event.