Spicy food and stress may aggravate ulcer symptoms in some people, but they do not cause ulcers. Smoking a cigarette helps relieve heartburn. Actually, cigarette smoking contributes to heartburn. Cigarette smoking causes the LES to relax. Celiac disease is a rare childhood disease.
Celiac disease affects children and adults.
Most often, celiac disease first causes symptoms during childhood, usually diarrhea, growth failure, and failure to thrive. But the disease can also first cause symptoms in adults. These symptoms may be vague and therefore attributed to other conditions. Celiac disease may cause such nonspecific symptoms for several years before being correctly diagnosed and treated. People with celiac disease should not eat any foods containing gluten, a protein in wheat, rye, barley, and possibly oats, regardless of whether or not they have symptoms.