Mar. 1 -- The intolerance of the gluten
portion of wheat may link to osteoporosis, the mineral
 |
| Some people
develop osteoporosis, the mineral loss disease
that leads to brittle bones, because their
bodies cannot tolerate wheat flour. |
loss disease that leads to brittle bones, a recent study
shows.
A report published in the current issue of the
Archives of Internal Medicine said that the intolerance
of gluten (a form of protein found in grains such as
wheat, barley, and rye), called celiac disease, can be
treated, so the damage done by osteoporosis can be
reversed in such patients.
 |
| Screening
people with osteoporosis for a condition that
makes it difficult to digest wheat may help
improve treatment and reduce the risks
associated with the common bone-weakening
disease. |
"Our results suggest that as many as three to four
percent of patients who have osteoporosis have the bone
disease as a consequence of having celiac disease, which
makes them unable to absorb normal amounts of calcium
and vitamin D," said William Stenson, a Washington
University physician at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St.
Louis.
The report was based on a look at 840 patients,
some of whom had osteoporosis.
Researchers found that nearly 4.5% (12) of the
osteoporosis patients tested positive for celiac disease
compared with only 1.0 % (six) of the women without
osteoporosis.
Biopsy-proven celiac disease was confirmed in
3.4% of women with osteoporosis and only 0.2% of women
without osteoporosis, according to the report.
"Bone density ... improved dramatically on a
gluten-free diet," Stenson said. "We believe the diet
allowed their intestines to heal, and that allowed them
to absorb normal amounts of calcium and vitamin D to
reverse bone loss." Enditem
What happens to people with celiac disease?
Celiac disease can cause different problems at
different times:
- An infant with celiac disease may have abdominal
pain and diarrhea (even bloody diarrhea), and may
fail to grow and gain weight.
- A young child may have abdominal pain with
nausea and lack of appetite, anemia (not enough iron
in the blood), mouth sores and allergic dermatitis
(skin rash).
- A child could be irritable, fretful, emotionally
withdrawn or excessively dependent.
- In later stages, a child may become
malnourished, with or without vomiting and diarrhea.
This would cause the child to have a large tummy,
thin thigh muscles and flat buttocks.
- Teenagers may hit puberty late and be short.
Celiac disease might cause some hair loss (a
condition called alopecia areata).
What happens in adults with celiac disease?
Adults who begin to be ill with celiac disease might
have a general feeling of poor health, with fatigue,
irritability and depression, even if they have few
intestinal problems. One serious illness that often
occurs is osteoporosis (loss of calcium from the bones).
A symptom of osteoporosis may be night-time bone pain.
About 5% of adults with celiac disease have anemia.
Lactose intolerance (problem with foods like milk) is
common in patients of all ages with celiac disease. It
usually disappears when they follow a gluten-free diet.
Mechanisms underlying celiac disease
and its neurologic manifestations.
Green PH, Alaedini A, Sander HW, Brannagan TH 3rd,
Latov N, Chin RL.
Department of Medicine and Celiac Disease Center,
College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University,
New York 10022, USA.
The extra-intestinal manifestations of celiac disease
(CD), including ataxia and peripheral neuropathy, are
increasingly being recognized as the presenting symptoms
of this autoimmune disease. Although there is a greater
understanding of the pathogenesis of the intestinal
lesions in CD the mechanisms behind the neurologic
manifestations of CD have not been elucidated. In this
article, the authors review the cellular and molecular
mechanisms behind the histopathologic changes in the
intestine, discuss the presentation and characteristics
of neurologic manifestations of CD, review the data on
the mechanisms behind these manifestations, and discuss
the diagnosis and treatment of CD. Molecular mimicry and
intermolecular help may play a role in the development
of neurologic complications.
PMID: 15868404 [PubMed - in process]
Comment in:
Range of neurologic disorders in
patients with celiac disease.
Zelnik N, Pacht A, Obeid R, Lerner A.
Department of Pediatrics, Carmel Medical Center, The
Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel
Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. nzelnik@netvision.net.il
OBJECTIVE: During the past 2 decades, celiac disease
(CD) has been recognized as a multisystem autoimmune
disorder. A growing body of distinct neurologic
conditions such as cerebellar ataxia, epilepsy,
myoclonic ataxia, chronic neuropathies, and dementia
have been reported, mainly in middle-aged adults. There
still are insufficient data on the association of CD
with various neurologic disorders in children,
adolescents, and young adults, including more common and
"soft" neurologic conditions, such as headache, learning
disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD), and tic disorders. The aim of the present study
is to look for a broader spectrum of neurologic
disorders in CD patients, most of them children or young
adults.
METHODS: Patients with CD were asked to fill in
a questionnaire regarding the presence of neurologic
disorders or symptoms. Their medical charts were
reviewed, and those who were reported as having
neurologic manifestations underwent neurologic
examination and brain imaging or electroencephalogram if
required. Their neurologic data were compared with that
of a control group matched for age and gender.
RESULTS:
Patients with CD were more prone to develop neurologic
disorders (51.4%) in comparison with control subjects
(19.9%). These disorders include hypotonia,
developmental delay, learning disorders and ADHD,
headache, and cerebellar ataxia. Epileptic disorders
were only marginally more common in CD. In contrast, no
difference was found in the prevalence of tic disorders
in both groups. Therapeutic benefit, with gluten-free
diet, was demonstrated only in patients with transient
infantile hypotonia and migraine headache.
CONCLUSION:
This study suggests that the variability of neurologic
disorders that occur in CD is broader than previously
reported and includes "softer" and more common
neurologic disorders, such as chronic headache,
developmental delay, hypotonia, and learning disorders
or ADHD. Future longitudinal prospective studies might
better define the full range of these neurologic
disorders and their clinical response to a gluten-free
diet.
PMID: 15173490 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Treatment for celiac disease requires elimination of
the storage proteins found in wheat, rye, and barley.
The inclusion of oats and wheat starch is controversial.
Research supports that oats may be acceptable for
patients with celiac disease and can improve the
nutritional quality of the diet. However, use of oats is
not widely recommended in the United States because of
concerns of potential contamination of commercial oats.
Studies assessing the contamination of commercial oats
are limited. Research indicates no differences in
patients choosing a strict wheat starch-containing,
gluten-free diet vs. a naturally gluten-free diet.
Factors other than trace gluten may be the cause of
continued villous atrophy in some patients.
The following
can be eaten in any amount:
corn, potato, rice, soybeans, tapioca, arrowroot, carob,
buckwheat, millet, amaranth and quinoa.
Distilled white vinegar does not contain
gluten.
IVIG
PAGE
Home Page
www.cidpusa.org
www.cidpusa.org/P/ivig.htm
http://www.cidpusa.org/disease.html
http://www.cidpusa.org/Lahore.html
|