PLATTSBURGH — Ross Coughlin stood in front of the classroom, his fellow classmates listening intently as he spoke with confidence and awareness.

"The thing I wanted to get across is that I don't eat weirdly, I eat differently," said the Seton Academy 5th-grader. "Different isn't bad. Different isn't weird. Different is just different."

Ross has to watch every morsel he eats. He has celiac disease, a digestive disorder that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. People who have celiac disease cannot tolerate gluten, a protein in wheat, rye and barley.

Ross spoke to Kathy Toner's class to promote celiac awareness and to share with his classmates some of the treats that he can eat without worry.

"I'd like to demonstrate to you what happens in the body when food is absorbed in the small intestine," he said.

He called up a handful of fellow students to act as the tiny, finger-like protrusions in the intestines called villi.

One student played the roll of food and weaved around the villi as the "absorbed" nutrients. Then, Ross had the villi bend over, so they could not absorb nutrients when the food passed by.

GLUTEN-FREE TREATS
When people with celiac disease eat foods or use products containing gluten, their immune system responds by damaging or destroying villi, thus prohibiting the victim from absorbing nutrients needed for survival.

Ross and his family take special precautions daily to choose gluten-free products. Although he is the only one in his family with celiac disease, his mom, dad and sister support his needs thoroughly.

"Halloween is a special time in our family, but we have to inspect each piece of candy very, very carefully," his mom, Denise Coughlin, explained to the class. "Parts of his body just don't work right."

The Coughlins are advocates of celiac awareness and annually promote educational activities about the disease. This year, they have focused their activities on youth, including Ross's presentation and a county-wide coloring contest for kids 4 to 11.

In class, Ross distributed paper bags filled with a variety of gluten-free treats to the students.

The kids then tasted the choices — which included a granny smith apple, chocolate-covered cookie sticks, an organic lollipop, chocolate-chip cookies, biscotti and pretzels — and then rated how they liked each item.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the apple, while most of the kids said they liked the cookies and lollipop. Half liked the gluten-free pretzels, and only a few liked the biscotti, a crispy biscuit often enjoyed with coffee or other refreshments.

NOT INFECTIOUS
Many of the food choices were donated by the North Country Co-op, a local supporter of gluten-free food, though Denise mentioned that many stores — including Price Chopper and Hannaford — have become more gluten-free friendly over the past few years.

After their snacks, many of the Ross's friends had specific questions about celiac disease and what it was like for him.

They wanted to know how serious it would be if he ate something with gluten. That, he told them, would depend on how much he ate.

But, he added, celiac disease can kill people.

"It's not an infectious disease," Denise added. "You can't catch it. It's in our genes, an inherited disease."

If Ross ingested gluten, the symptoms might include terrible stomachaches and diarrhea, she added.

"Ross was diagnosed with celiac disease when he was nine," she said. "But symptoms started when he was 3½."

Abut 90 percent of people who have the condition don't even know it, she told the kids, which is one reason why she feels it is so important to spread awareness about the condition.

People can manage the disease quite easily, if they know about it, she added.

"Ross and his parents have to read labels very carefully," said. "You need to know what is in food."

Gluton-free foods basically use ingredients such as potato flour in place of traditional flour that contains gluten.

And according to the students' likes, gluten-free food is just as tasty as the treats they are used to.

E-mail Jeff Meyers at: jmeyers@pressrepublican.com