[harperlee]

When I was a kid I knew exactly one child with celiac disease; nowadays I know about several people, so I thought in that line.

But this very year a childhood friend of mine became aware he has it. Nowadays I tend to think we are more attentive to these kinds of things, and older people rationalize symptoms or grow unaware of them, so they are no longer conscious of them.

[nineplay]

I had a friend who threw up when she ate cheese. Today we would call her lactose intolerant. At the time she was told she was 'spoiled' and she would eat her mac-and-cheese or go hungry.