Mind & Body · Saturday, 19 September 2026

01 Briefing what happened

Coeliac disease is the gut's defences attacking wheat, and most people who have it have never been tested

In coeliac disease, pieces of gluten the stomach cannot break down set off an immune attack on the gut lining. New UK rules from July 2026 let some adults skip the biopsy, but an estimated 75% to 83% of people with the disease have never been diagnosed.

1 in 100

people have coeliac disease, and it has become more common in recent decades

The share is higher in close relatives of someone with it and in some other immune diseases. [3]

75-83%

of people with coeliac disease have never been diagnosed, by one estimate

Waiting for symptoms to prompt a test misses many cases, because the signs vary so widely. [3]

3-6 g a day

of gluten for at least six weeks, the UK's new rule before testing someone who has already cut it out

A slice of wheat bread often holds 3 to 5 g. A review in the Canadian Medical Association Journal advises 6 to 10 g a day. [1][9]

10x

the top of the normal antibody range: above it, some adults can now be diagnosed without a biopsy

The UK calls this route optional, to be chosen together with the patient. [1]

The lead story — what happened

Coeliac disease affects about 1 in 100 people. In them, the immune system attacks the lining of the small intestine whenever they eat gluten. [3][9]
Gluten is a group of proteins in wheat, barley and rye. Its pieces are rich in one building block, proline, so stomach enzymes cannot cut them up completely. [3]
An enzyme in the gut wall, called TG2, changes the leftover pieces so they fit tightly onto two gene-made display molecules, HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8. Immune cells read that as an alarm. [3][4]
The alarm switches on killer immune cells that sit inside the gut lining, and they kill the lining's own cells. [4][12] The tiny folds that absorb food, called villi, wear flat. [11]
A 2025 lab study grew human gut tissue and found rare gatekeeper cells, called M cells, that pick up gluten and show it to immune cells themselves. [5]
About 30 to 40 in every 100 people carry the gene types the disease needs, and only about 3 in 100 of those carriers develop it. [6]
Its signs vary from diarrhoea and weight loss to anaemia, thin bones, tiredness or nothing at all, which is one reason it goes unnoticed. [9]
An estimated 75% to 83% of people with coeliac disease have never been diagnosed. [7] One study found two-thirds of children with it undiagnosed. [6]
In July 2026 the British Society of Gastroenterology, the UK's society of gut doctors, updated its adult rules for the first time since 2014. Its first rule is that the blood test is done while the person still eats gluten. [1]
The reason is that the antibodies the test looks for usually fade on a gluten-free diet, so a person who has already cut gluten can test negative while having the disease. [2][9]
Adults with symptoms whose antibody level is at least 10 times the top of the normal range may now be diagnosed without a biopsy, a tissue sample taken through a camera tube. [1][2] Only a minority have levels that high, so most still need one. [3]
A strict gluten-free diet for life is still the only treatment, and 30% to 40% of patients keep symptoms or gut damage despite saying they follow it. [1][8] Enzyme pills that cut up gluten are in trials, and none is approved. [3]

3 of 100

3 in 100 carriers get it

Each dot is one person who carries the gene types coeliac disease needs. Only the 3 filled dots go on to develop it.

Who is involved

The British Society of Gastroenterology

the UK's professional society of gut doctors; its July 2026 rules set how UK adults are tested and followed up
The European Society for the Study of Coeliac Disease

a society of coeliac specialists across Europe; it brought in the no-biopsy route for adults in 2025
Italy's government

made coeliac and type 1 diabetes screening of children law in September 2023, so children are tested before symptoms

How it unfolded

1996 The British Society of Gastroenterology publishes its first adult coeliac guidelines. [1]
2014 It updates them. [1]
Sep 2023 Italy writes screening of children for coeliac disease and type 1 diabetes into law. [6]
2025 The European coeliac society allows diagnosis without biopsy in some adults. [2]
Jul 2026 The UK society publishes new adult rules, with the same optional route. [1]

Where this points

The next thing to watch is how many UK adults now reach a diagnosis without a biopsy, and how many undiagnosed children Italy's screening of children finds. [1][6]

What is pushing on the whole day

The bar and the word are our reading of how hard each one is pushing today. The arrow is where it is heading. The evidence is in the stories below.

Illness found only when tested High↑

England's health agency said its Lyme count moves with awareness and testing. [13] In Slovenia a tick germ showed up in 2 of 337 feverish adults tested by gene reading. [17] New mothers helped to a family doctor got twice as many mood checks. [21]

Ticks reaching new places Building↑

Lyme-carrying ticks turned up in a North Carolina town where the disease was not thought settled. [15] A rarer Lyme germ was found in New York for the first time. [16] US tick-bite emergency visits hit a nine-year seasonal high. [14]

Treatments that did no better than the dummy High→

Two virtual reality programmes for back pain did no better than flat videos. [26] The diabetes drug metformin did no better than a placebo against later illness. [19] Rest rules after spine surgery made no difference at a year. [27]

Blood sugar and body fat behind other illness Building↑

About 1 in 7 people admitted with a blood-sugar crisis also got an inflamed pancreas. [35] People with diabetes, high blood pressure and smoking had about 13 fewer years free of dementia. [20] Fatty liver showed up in 39% of pancreatitis patients. [36]

The rest of the day

34 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

02
Lyme disease cases in England rose 22%

The UK Health Security Agency counted 1,168 laboratory-confirmed Lyme disease cases in England in 2025, up from 959 in 2024. [13] Lyme disease is a bacterial infection passed on by tick bites, and it can cause a bullseye rash, fever and joint pain. [13] The 2025 figure is close to 2023's 1,151. [13] The agency said yearly counts vary with awareness, testing and the weather that sends people outdoors. [13] Moderna and a Pfizer-Valneva partnership are both testing new vaccines. [13]

20231,151 cases
2024959 cases
20251,168 cases
Lab-confirmed Lyme cases in England each year. 2025 is well above 2024 but close to 2023.

Why it matters — A rise in a count can mean more illness or more testing, and the agency named both as reasons counts move. [13] There is no human Lyme vaccine on sale, and the only earlier one was withdrawn in the US in 2002. [13]
03
US tick-bite emergency visits at a nine-year seasonal high

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the national public-health agency, said emergency room visits for tick bites were higher than usual in spring 2026. [14] In every region except the south-central US, weekly rates were the highest for that time of year since 2017. [14] Its tracker counts people who go to an emergency room with a bite. [14] Taking an attached tick off within 24 hours can help prevent Lyme disease, the agency said. [14]

Why it matters — Tick bites can pass on Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and alpha-gal syndrome, a meat allergy, the agency notes. [14] More bites puts more people at risk of all three.
04
Lyme-carrying ticks found in western North Carolina

Researchers collected ticks every month at 22 homes in Biltmore Forest, North Carolina, between November 2024 and August 2025. [15] Of 373 ticks, 287 were blacklegged ticks, the kind that spreads Lyme disease. [15] Of 48 adult blacklegged ticks, 19, or 39.6%, carried the Lyme germ. [15] Two other tick-borne germs turned up too. [15] Southern Appalachia is a region where Lyme is emerging but not yet counted as settled. [15]

Why it matters — The study started because residents worried about more tick illness. [15] It shows the germs moving south into places where doctors may not yet think of Lyme.
05
A rarer Lyme germ found in New York

In July 2025 a resident of Herkimer County, New York, tested positive for Borrelia mayonii, a less common cause of Lyme disease. [16] It had only been reported in Minnesota and Wisconsin before. [16] State scientists then collected ticks near the home and found the germ in 9 of 229 adult ticks there. [16] Of 1,309 ticks from 23 other New York counties, none carried it. [16] The patient was treated with an antibiotic and fully recovered. [16]

Why it matters — One lab result led to a search of 1,518 ticks, and the search found the germ only on one property. It shows how a first case can depend on one laboratory running the right test. [16]
06
A tick germ found only by searching for it

Doctors in Slovenia tested 337 adults with an unexplained fever using gene-reading methods, and found Borrelia miyamotoi in two of them. [17] It is a relative of the Lyme germ, first described in Japan in 1995 and first found in people in Russia in 2011. [17] Both patients had recent tick bites and a mild illness that passed on its own. [17] No blood test for it is sold commercially, which makes studies hard to compare. [17]

Why it matters — Without a test on the shelf, a germ like this is recorded only where researchers look for it. The authors want doctors to consider it in fever after a tick bite. [17]
07
Lyme disease in the eye, 38 cases

A review of 27 published reports from 1988 to 2025 collected 38 cases of Lyme disease affecting the eye. [18] The commonest form, in 45%, was uveitis, a swelling inside the eye. [18] Others were swelling of the nerve behind the eye and weakness of the nerves that move it. [18] Only five cases had laboratory proof of the germ, and not all met the CDC's case definition. [18]

Why it matters — The authors say doctors may overlook eye signs of Lyme disease. [18] They ask for laboratory proof so that cases can be counted with confidence. [18]
08
A diet and exercise programme cut later illness; metformin did not

The US Diabetes Prevention Program randomly assigned adults with raised blood sugar to a lifestyle programme, the drug metformin or a placebo from 1996. [19] Researchers followed 1,173 of them through 2021 using US Medicare records. [19] The lifestyle group had a 21% lower risk of two long-term illnesses and 25% lower risk of three. [19] Metformin did not lower the risk significantly. [19] The results were published in June 2026. [19]

Why it matters — It followed people for more than two decades and tracked 15 illnesses, not only diabetes. [19] Both the drug and the programme were measured against the same placebo group, which is what shows the gap. [19]
09
Three risks took about 13 dementia-free years

A US team followed 12,409 people who were free of dementia at 55 in the early 1990s, through 2022. [20] Those with none of diabetes, high blood pressure or smoking lived about 30 years past 55 without dementia. [20] Those with all three lived about 17. [20] Women lived 1.5 to 3 years longer without dementia than men with the same risks. [20] The study was published on 5 August 2026. [20]

None of the three risksabout 30 years
All three risksabout 17 years
Years lived past 55 without dementia. People with diabetes, high blood pressure and smoking got about 13 fewer.

Why it matters — It measures years lived without dementia, not only whether it came. Black participants lived about three fewer dementia-free years than white participants, a gap the study reports but does not explain. [20]
10
A planned hand-over after birth doubled mood checks

A US trial followed 266 pregnant or new mothers who already had diagnosed anxiety or depression. [21] Half were helped to move from their pregnancy doctor to a family doctor after the birth. [21] Among them, 33.3% had a family doctor visit that included a mood check, against 15.6% without help. [21] Prescriptions for mood medicine did not differ between the groups. [21] The analysis was published in August 2026. [21]

Helped to a family doctor33.3%
Not helped15.6%
Share of mothers who had a family doctor visit with a mood check. It was about twice as high with help.

Why it matters — Depression and anxiety after birth often go untreated, partly because care breaks down at the hand-over from pregnancy care. [21] More checks meant more mothers were found and offered counselling or referrals. [21]
11
6% of depression after birth did not respond to treatment

Swedish researchers studied every one of 58,618 women diagnosed with depression after giving birth between 2006 and 2021. [22] Within a year, 3,522, or 6.0%, met the definition of treatment-resistant depression, meaning it did not improve after repeated treatment. [22] Lower income and education, living alone, smoking in early pregnancy and a caesarean birth went with higher risk. [22] Women on their second birth had lower risk. [22]

Why it matters — The study used Sweden's national health registers, so it covers a whole country rather than one clinic. [22] The risk factors point to mothers who may need more help early.
12
Talking therapy in pregnancy still helped a year later

A US trial gave pregnant women with depression either a short course of interpersonal psychotherapy, a talking therapy about relationships and life changes, or enhanced usual care. [23] Researchers followed 230 of them to a year after the birth. [23] At 12 months, 4.33% of the therapy group had major depression, against 12.93% of the usual-care group. [23]

Talking therapy4.33%
Usual care12.93%
Share with major depression a year after the birth. It was about a third as high in the therapy group.

Why it matters — The therapy was given before the birth, and its effect still showed a year after it. [23] It is one trial of 230 women.
13
Group and one-to-one pregnancy care worked about the same

A California trial randomly placed 674 pregnant women on low incomes into enhanced group pregnancy care or enhanced one-to-one care. [24] Most participants were Latina. [24] Depression symptoms fell in both groups by three months after the birth. [24] The trial found no difference between the two kinds of care. [24]

Why it matters — Both groups got better, so the trial cannot say how much of the fall came from either kind of care. What it does show is that the group version was not better.
14
The first pill for depression after birth, reviewed

Zuranolone was approved in the US in 2023 as the first pill for depression after birth. [25] It acts on GABA, the brain's main calming signal. [25] In a trial of 196 women with severe depression after birth, it improved symptoms more than a placebo. [25] The commonest side effects were sleepiness in 7.1% and dizziness in 6.1%. [25] A 2026 review says how long the effect lasts is still unknown. [25]

Why it matters — Older antidepressants can be slow to start working, the review notes. [25] It names long-term results and access as the open questions.
15
Virtual reality did no better than a flat video for back pain

A US trial gave 385 people with long-term low back pain one of three headsets at home. [26] One taught relaxation and body-awareness skills, one showed immersive 360-degree films, and one showed ordinary flat videos. [26] Neither real virtual reality programme reduced how much pain interfered with life more than the flat videos. [26] The immersive group did cut daily opioid painkiller use more. [26]

Why it matters — A fair dummy group showed that the main benefit did not come from the virtual reality itself. [26] The authors want a new trial aimed at the opioid finding. [26]
16
Limits after spine surgery did not help patients

An Australian trial randomised 200 people having a common operation for a slipped disc pressing on a nerve. [27] Half were told to limit sitting, lifting and hard activity for two weeks; half returned to normal activity. [27] At a year, 41.6% of the restricted group and 36.4% of the other met the main goal, a difference that could be chance. [27] A repeat slipped disc happened in 10.1% against 14.1%. [27]

Why it matters — Most surgeons still advise these limits, the trial says. It found no evidence they help. [27]
17
Disc surgery helps sooner, not more

A review pooled 15 randomised trials and 31 other studies on surgery for a slipped disc in the lower back. [28] Surgery reduced leg pain and disability better than other care in the short term. [28] After more than a year, results from surgery and non-surgical care were about the same. [28] Going back to work early after surgery did not lead to worse results. [28]

Why it matters — Between 5% and 10% of people with back pain also get leg pain from a slipped disc, the review says. [28] It found no agreement on the best time to operate. [28]
18
Acupuncture for sciatica, pooled

A review combined 11 trials with 868 people who had long-term sciatica, leg pain from a slipped disc pressing on a nerve. [29] Most trials were from China. [29] Acupuncture reduced leg pain more than the comparison groups, including fake acupuncture. [29] The authors say the trials had weaknesses that call for caution. [29]

Why it matters — A fake-needle group is the fairest test for acupuncture. Even so, small trials mostly from one country leave the size of the effect uncertain.
19
Walking and Pilates ranked high for back pain

A review pooled 35 trials with 2,132 people with lower back pain, comparing eight kinds of exercise. [30] Exercise reduced pain more than usual care. [30] Tai chi, walking and Pilates showed the largest pain reductions. [30] For daily function, walking, Pilates and yoga did best. [30]

Why it matters — Lower back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide, the review says. [30] Walking did well on both pain and daily function. [30]
20
A heated-roller machine eased back pain in one session

A double-blind trial in 40 people with long-term low back pain tested a machine that runs heated rollers along the spine for 40 minutes. [31] Pain fell by an average of 46.8% with the real machine and 17.0% with a weak control setting on the neck. [31] Nobody reported side effects. [31] The trial measured only the effect straight after one session. [31]

Why it matters — Even the control group's pain fell by about a sixth. [31] Whether the gap lasts beyond one session is the untested part.
21
Sciatica in 1 in 10 adults in Jazan

A survey of 927 adults in the Jazan region of Saudi Arabia found that 9.9% had sciatica. [32] Arthritis, obesity and a family history went with higher rates. [32] Most people surveyed understood little about its causes and treatment. [32] The survey was done online. [32]

Why it matters — An online survey counts people who say they have sciatica, not people examined by a doctor. It points to where education is lacking.
22
A six-part score to spot pancreatitis turning severe

Acute pancreatitis is sudden swelling of the pancreas, the gland that makes digestive juices. [33] In 3,813 patients without organ failure on arrival, 458, or 12%, went on to the severe form. [33] Researchers built a score from six routine measurements, and it predicted that better than three older scores. [33] A separate study of 300 patients compared several older scores and blood ratios. [34]

Why it matters — The patients who later turn severe look fine on arrival. A score that flags them early tells staff who to watch.
23
A blood-sugar crisis often brought pancreatitis

Researchers at three hospitals studied 406 patients admitted with a dangerous blood-sugar crisis, mostly diabetic ketoacidosis. [35] Of them, 60, or 14.8%, also developed acute pancreatitis. [35] It was commoner in ketoacidosis than in the other crisis, at 17.5% against 6.8%. [35] High blood fats, obesity and shock predicted it. [35]

Why it matters — Pancreatitis sent more of these patients to intensive care, but did not lengthen stays or raise deaths. [35] It adds pancreatitis to the illnesses that go with high blood sugar and body fat. [35]
24
Weight-loss drugs and pancreatitis, reconsidered

Doctors have avoided drugs like Ozempic, which copy a gut hormone called GLP-1, in people who have had pancreatitis. [36] A Cleveland Clinic review from December 2025 says trials and analyses have given mixed results on that risk. [36] It lists obesity, gallstones, very high blood fats and fatty liver as causes of pancreatitis. [36] Fatty liver was present in 39% of people with pancreatitis in one study. [36]

Why it matters — The authors argue that a past bout of pancreatitis should not by itself rule the drugs out. That is their view, and the risk question is not settled.
25
Asthma injections rarely brought lasting remission

Danish doctors followed all 482 adults who started one kind of injected antibody for severe asthma between 2016 and 2020. [37] These drugs block IL-5, a signal that drives one type of airway swelling. [37] Each year 17.6% to 23.1% were in full remission, but many slipped out again. [37] Only 7.7% stayed in remission for all five years. [37]

Why it matters — Most patients still did much better on the drugs, the authors say. [37] But remission, as defined here, turned out to come and go.
26
Faster body ageing tracked earlier cancer

Researchers measured how fast the body is ageing in 154,169 young adults in UK Biobank, a large health study. [38] They used PhenoAge, a score built from routine blood tests. [38] People born in 1965 to 1974 were ageing faster than those born in 1950 to 1954. [38] Faster ageing went with a higher risk of cancer before 55, mainly lung, gut and womb cancers. [38]

Why it matters — Cancer in younger adults has been rising across recent generations. [38] This points to something in how later generations age, though it shows a link, not a cause.
27
Physical and mental fitness tracked stroke risk

Researchers followed 184,219 adults aged 40 and over across several studies. [39] They scored each on five abilities set out by the World Health Organization: thinking, mood, senses, energy and movement. [39] Lower scores went with more strokes, and the link was strongest in people aged 80 and over. [39]

Why it matters — It measures what a person can do, not which diseases they have. [39] It is an observational study, so it shows a link, not a cause.
28
Habits outweighed genes in people over 80

A study followed 1,545 people aged 80 and over in Hainan, China. [40] Those with the best score on 11 changeable risk factors had a 40.7% lower risk of death than those with the worst. [40] Genes linked to a long life lowered the risk by 13%. [40] People with both had the lowest risk. [40]

Why it matters — Even in very old age, the changeable factors mattered about three times as much as the inherited ones in this group. [40] It is observational, so other differences may explain some of it.
29
One in ten says gluten or wheat makes them ill

A review of 25 studies with nearly 50,000 people in 16 countries found that 10.3% report symptoms from gluten or wheat without coeliac disease or a wheat allergy. [41] Bloating was the commonest complaint, in 71%. [41] Almost 40% of them had cut out gluten, often without medical advice. [41] It was more common in high-income countries. [41]

Why it matters — That is about ten times the share of people who have coeliac disease. [3][41] A health information service notes that people with wheat sensitivity do not need to cut gluten out entirely. [10]
30
Coeliac quality of life flat for a decade in Spain

Researchers compared 1,208 surveys of Spanish adults with coeliac disease from 2014 with 1,046 from 2024. [42] Quality of life did not improve over the ten years. [42] That was true despite more awareness and more gluten-free food in shops. [42] Longer time since diagnosis went with better scores, and women scored lower on health worries. [42]

Why it matters — The authors conclude that diet alone may not be enough. They call for longer follow-up and psychological support. [42]
31
US approves a new kind of myeloma drug

On 14 August 2026 the US Food and Drug Administration approved iberdomide, sold as Zenbexus, for multiple myeloma, a cancer of bone marrow cells. [43] It is the first of a new class of drug for this cancer, made by Bristol Myers Squibb. [43] It is taken as a pill with two other drugs, for patients who have had at least one earlier treatment. [43] It is also the first drug approved using a more sensitive measure of remission. [43]

Why it matters — Bristol's chief medical officer said the new class opens the way to many more drug combinations. [43] It is the company's own view of the drug's future.
32
An off-the-shelf cell therapy cleared leftover lymphoma

Allogene Therapeutics reported in April 2026 an early result from a late-stage trial of cema-cel in B-cell lymphoma, a cancer of immune cells. [44] Cema-cel is donor immune cells engineered to attack cancer, so they do not need to be made from each patient. [44] Among treated patients, 58% had no detectable cancer cells left, against 16% who were only watched. [44] Whether that means fewer relapses is not yet known. [44]

Why it matters — The patients were at high risk of their lymphoma coming back after their first treatment. [44] The figures are an interim result released by the company.
33
A bladder cancer combination held up in real patients

Enfortumab vedotin with pembrolizumab, approved in the US in 2024, nearly doubled survival in advanced bladder cancer trials, to 30 months. [45] A Mayo Clinic study in February 2026 looked at patients treated outside trials. [45] Median survival was 25 months when it was the first treatment and 26 months after chemotherapy. [45] Patients with kidney failure, who had been left out of the trials, were treated too. [45]

Why it matters — The Mayo doctor who led it said the combination works in the real world, not only in a trial. [45] The real-world survival came close to the trial result.
34
Two leukaemia drugs allowed stopping equally well

Chinese doctors studied 540 people with chronic myeloid leukaemia, a blood cancer, who stopped their daily pill after long, deep responses. [46] 454 had taken imatinib and 86 nilotinib. [46] Nilotinib worked faster at first. [46] A year after stopping, about 58% to 59% in both groups were still off treatment. [46]

Why it matters — Doctors have not agreed how long to treat before stopping, the authors say. [46] This is a look back at records, not a trial.
35
Five years in remission after donor cell therapy

A Cleveland Clinic patient with multiple myeloma had failed four kinds of treatment by the time she joined a trial of donor-made cell therapy. [47] She was a 63-year-old retired teacher whose cancer had caused fractures in her spine. [47] The therapy produced a complete response, and her remission had lasted five years by December 2025. [47]

Why it matters — It is one patient, reported by her own hospital. It shows what the treatment can do at best, not how often.

02 Lesson why it matters

An illness is counted only after someone tests for it

Most people with coeliac disease have never been tested, so the official number follows who got a blood test as much as who is ill.

The twist

A rise in recorded cases can come from more testing, even when the number of sick people has not changed.

The picture

5 of 20

At most 5 in every 20 have a diagnosis

Each figure is a person with coeliac disease. An estimated 75 to 83 in every 100 have never been diagnosed, so at most the 5 filled ones are counted.

How it works

A person has the illness, with or without symptoms
Someone has to suspect it and order a test
The test has to be the right one, at the right time
Only then is the case written down
So the count moves with testing as well as with illness

The same force, elsewhere today

Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

Lyme cases in England

The 22% rise sat beside the health agency's own warning that counts move with awareness and testing, so part of the change may be more people being tested.
The tick germ in Slovenia

Researchers ran a gene test on every feverish adult, and only that step turned two unnamed fevers into two recorded cases.
Mothers helped to a family doctor

Twice as many got a mood check, and a check is the step that turns untreated depression into a case someone can treat.
The rarer Lyme germ in New York

One laboratory ran a test that finds this germ, and that one result is why New York now has a case at all.

Where you've seen this

Crime figures

A rise can mean more crime, or more victims reporting it and police recording it.

Earthquake records

More sensors pick up more small quakes, and the record grows even if the ground behaves as before.

Road potholes

A council's count is the potholes people report, so a street nobody complains about looks smooth.

The catch

Sometimes the rise is real as well: ticks are spreading into new places, so more illness and more testing can happen in the same year.

And the whole of it

Every person in a count had a doctor who suspected the illness and ran the right test at the right time. People who never had that are still ill, and no count includes them. Most of us have never been tested for most of the illnesses in today's stories.

03 Truth what's really going on

What is really going on

Coeliac disease affects about 1 in 100 people, and an estimated three in four or more of them have never been diagnosed. [3][7] A diagnosis needs a doctor to suspect it and a blood test done while the person still eats gluten. [1] Testing also shaped other counts today: England's Lyme figures move with testing, and a tick germ in Slovenia was found only because researchers tested every feverish adult. [13][17]

Why it works on us — A case count looks like a measure of illness, so a rise or a fall feels like news about the disease, when part of it is news about testing.

Who gains

Adults in the UK with very high antibody levels — The 2026 rules let them be diagnosed without a biopsy, if they and their doctor choose it. [1]
Children in Italy — Screening by law means coeliac disease can be found before symptoms appear. [6] One study found two-thirds of children with it undiagnosed. [6]
Bristol Myers Squibb — It now sells the first drug of a new class for multiple myeloma, which can be combined with other drugs. [43]
Makers of gluten-free food — The review's authors link the high rates partly to how widely gluten-free food is sold and marketed, and almost 40% of those reporting symptoms cut gluten out. [41]
New mothers moved to a family doctor with help — Twice as many got a mood check, so more were found and offered care. [21]

Who pays

People with coeliac disease who were never tested — An estimated 75% to 83% of people with the disease are undiagnosed, and they keep eating the gluten that damages their gut. [7]
People who cut gluten before being tested — Their test can come back negative, and to get a clear answer they must eat gluten again for at least six weeks. [1][2]
People with coeliac disease in Spain — Their quality of life did not improve from 2014 to 2024 despite more gluten-free food in shops. [42]
Back pain patients sold virtual reality programmes — In a 385-person trial the programmes eased pain's hold on daily life no more than flat videos did. [26]
People with severe asthma on IL-5 antibody injections — Only 7.7% stayed in full remission for five years, and many who reached it slipped out again. [37]

What nobody knows yet

Open questions from across today’s stories — ours included.

01

How much gluten someone who has cut it out must eat before a test.

The UK's 2026 rules say 3 to 6 g a day for at least six weeks, while a review in the Canadian Medical Association Journal says at least 6 to 10 g. [1][9] Both aim to avoid a false negative, and neither figure has been tested head to head.
02

Whether screening people with no symptoms does more good than harm.

The UK rules say coeliac disease does not meet the World Health Organization's tests for screening everyone. [1] Italy screens children by law, and researchers say the benefits and harms of treating before symptoms still need study. [6]
03

How much of England's 22% Lyme rise is more illness and how much is more testing.

The health agency named awareness, testing and weather as reasons counts move, and the 2025 figure is close to 2023's. [13] No figure separates the causes.
04

How common the rarer tick germs really are.

No blood test for Borrelia miyamotoi is sold commercially, so studies of it are hard to compare. [17] Borrelia mayonii was found in New York only after one laboratory ran a test that detects it. [16]
05

Whether the new enzyme pills protect the gut well enough to matter.

In the 43-person latiglutenase trial, the drop in gut damage fell just short of the usual test of proof. [3] Early results for other enzymes measured how much gluten they break down, not whether patients stay well. [3]
06

Whether faster body ageing causes early cancer or only travels with it.

The UK Biobank study shows a link across birth years, not a cause. [38]
07

Whether cema-cel's cleared cancer cells mean fewer relapses.

The 58% figure is an interim result released by the company, and the trial has not yet reported whether fewer patients relapse. [44]
08

Whether drugs like Ozempic are safe for people who have had pancreatitis.

Trials and analyses have given mixed results, and the Cleveland Clinic authors' view that a past bout should not rule them out is an opinion, not a trial result. [36]

04 Hope carry this

Adults with raised blood sugar who were put on a diet and exercise programme from 1996 had a 25% lower risk of developing three long-term illnesses over the next two decades than those given a dummy pill.

Also true today

Pregnant women with depression who had a short course of talking therapy were much less often depressed a year after the birth: about 4 in 100, against about 13 in 100 without it.
In an early look at a late-stage trial, 58% of people with a lymphoma who were given donor immune cells engineered to attack it had no cancer cells left that tests could find, against 16% who were only watched.
In August 2026 the US medicines regulator approved iberdomide, the first drug of a new kind for multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow.