Many people think that because coeliac disease is a "genetic" disease, acupuncture can’t help because acupuncture only treats the nerves and pain. Acupuncture can do a lot more than just affect nerves.  Firstly, while it is true, people suffering from symptoms of coeliac disease may have been tested and found to have the coeliac gene, there are many people that have the gene but do not have the discomforting symptoms of coeliac disease. It’s no different to other people being tested and found that they have a genetic disposition to prostate cancer but remain symptom free all their life.

When the main symptoms of coeliac disease are reviewed from a Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnostic perspective, the collective group of symptoms are commonly categorised into a traditional disease pattern called "spleen deficiency". Symptoms like abdominal pain, cramping, wind, bloating, abdominal distension, weight loss and loose stools, are all commonly experienced by coeliac sufferers.

Often these people have been diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Mouth ulcers are another symptom seen with coeliac disease and ironically ancient Chinese physicians also correlated one cause of mouth ulcers to spleen disease hundreds of years ago.