You are what you eat, but it was only after tests that a two-year-old's pot belly, smelly stools and vomiting were recognised as classic symptoms of gluten intolerance. Jenna Towler reports.

MADELEINE McAllister wasn't the lively two-year-old she should have been her mum just didn't know why she had "lost her sparkle".

Her mum, Dawn, could see that her little girl had suddenly lost her zest for life and wasn't like every other normal toddler.

Dawn explains: "She started being sick after food. We thought it was a virus but it went on for three weeks.

"She was sleeping a lot, she had always had a pot belly but we didn't really think anything of it but she started weaning herself off certain types of food."

Madeleine had all the symptoms of coeliac disease but her parents were unaware that cutting out gluten would cure their daughter.

After several visits to her GP Madeleine was diagnosed with the disease an intolerance to gluten, which is common in a wide variety of foods and drinks.

"At her worst Madeleine was being sick three times a day," continues Dawn, "She had simply lost her sparkle."

Dawn adds: "She had always been small for her age and often had very smelly stools."

These are common symptoms of coeliac disease which affects an estimated 250,000 people in the UK. But the charity thinks one in 100 people in the UK could be suffering and are unaware.

After a biopsy and diagnosis Madeleine started a gluten-free diet and hasn't looked back since.

High Wycombe-based Coeliac UK is the leading charity working for people with the disease.

Its mission is to improve the lives of people with coeliac disease through support, campaigning and research.

The charity was highlighting the condition with an information stand at Asda in High Wycombe last week and Madeleine was there to show that it is possible to regain your sparkle.

Madeleine, now four, lives with her family in Flackwell Heath.

The McAllisters have been involved with Coeliac UK since Madeleine's diagnosis and her parents say its help has been invaluable.

Mum Dawn says: "Coeliac UK print a directory which tells you what foods are gluten free and which are not. It is very helpful.

"The diet is easy to manage when you are at home, it gets difficult when other people are involved but Madeleine's school, Juniper Hill, has been very good."

Norma McGough, a dietician working with Coeliac UK, says gluten is found in wheat, barley and rye.

She explains: "Coeliac disease can often be missed, even by the sufferer themselves.

"People put their problems down to stress or getting older but it could be coeliac disease.

"It is not until people get really ill that they realise."

A gluten-free diet does not have to be boring Norma says fresh fruit and vegetables are available, as well as, rice, pulses, polenta, milk, cheese, eggs and meat.

She adds: "There are many gluten-free foods available at supermarkets. Information is on display all the time."

Even a four-year-old can get to grips with the changes, Dawn says: "Madeleine knows her diet inside out now."