system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How did people with celiacs disease survive in the 18th and 19th century? I feel like there weren't that many "gluten free" options..
gpt
True Celiacs make-up a very very small portion of the population. Were talking like 0.5-1% of the population. They wouldn't have even registered on the radar. Plus a true Celiac living back then would have probably died of something else way more prevalent and life threatening (e.g. nutritional deficiencies, infection) before their condition killed them.