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- People with Celiac Disease Face Higher Risk of Thyroid Autoimmune Disorders
People with Celiac Disease Face Higher Risk of Thyroid Autoimmune Disorders
- By Jefferson Adams
- Published 02/2/2012
- Thyroid & Pancreatic Disorders and Celiac Disease
- Rating:
Jefferson Adams
Jefferson Adams is a freelance writer living in San Francisco. His poems, essays and photographs have appeared in Antioch Review, Blue Mesa Review, CALIBAN, Hayden's Ferry Review, Huffington Post, the Mississippi Review, and Slate among others.
View all articles by Jefferson Adams
The research team included S. Metso, H. Hyytiä-Ilmonen, K. Kaukinen, H. Huhtala, P. Jaatinen, J. Salmi, J. Taurio, and P. Collin. They are affiliated with the Department of Internal Medicine at Tampere University Hospital in Tampere, Finland.Prior to the study, there had been contradictory data regarding the ways in which early diagnosis and a gluten-free diet might slow the progression of associated autoimmune diseases in celiac disease.
The research team investigated the course of autoimmune Thyroid diseases in newly diagnosed celiac disease patients, both before and after gluten-free dietary treatment.
For their study, the team examined twenty-seven adults with newly diagnosed celiac disease, both at the time of diagnosis and after one year on gluten-free diet.
They also recorded and examined previously diagnosed and subclinical autoimmune thyroid diseases. The team used ultrasound to measure thyroid gland volume and echo-genicity. They also measured autoantibodies against celiac disease and thyroiditis, and conducted thyroid function tests.
As a control group, they enrolled twenty-seven non-celiac subjects, all of whom followed a normal, gluten-containing diet.
The data showed that, upon diagnosis, ten of 27 celiac disease patients had either manifest (n = 7) or subclinical (n = 3) thyroid diseases. Only three of 27 control subjects (10/27 vs. 3/27, p = 0.055) had thyroid disease.
After treatment with a gluten-free diet, thyroid volume continued to decrease significantly in the patients with celiac disease compared with the control subjects, indicating the progression of thyroid gland atrophy regardless of the gluten-free diet.
Overall, celiac patients faced a higher risk of thyroid autoimmune disorders than non-celiac control subjects. Moreover, a gluten-free diet did not seem to stop or reverse the progression of autoimmune disease after one year.
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8 Responses to "People with Celiac Disease Face Higher Risk of Thyroid Autoimmune Disorders"
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03 Feb 2012 2:36:01 AM PDT This is disturbing, but there is at least one study which suggests that the link between celiac and thyroid disease is selenium deficiency. This is common in celiac disease because of the malabsorption problems, and it is essential for proper thyroid function. If these patients above went gluten free without taking extra selenium this hypothesis would fit well.
Google selenium/celiac/thyroid to find the study. I am gluten sensitive and have antibodies to my thyroid, a sub-clinical auto immune problem - which I only discovered by having a private test, most people in the UK would never find out they had it unless their TSH was outside the wide parameters set here. |
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said this on
06 Feb 2012 6:52:24 AM PDT I have both Celiac and Hashimoto's hypothyroidism. I take thyroid meds, and I avoid all gluten in foods and non-food products. My niece was recently diagnosed with celiac and hypothyroid disease, too.
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06 Feb 2012 12:21:24 PM PDT This makes me wonder several things:
1) The amount of trace gluten unwittingly entering the newly diagnosed patients? (i.e through consuming packaged products containing <20ppm of gluten, personal care products containing gluten, or airborne gluten inhaled into the oral passages and onto the digestive system from gluten-containing environments or pets, etc.) 2) Co-factors also affecting their autoimmune systems? (i.e. mercury fillings) 3) The affect of iodide being counteracted through salt which may contain small amounts of gluten anti-caking agents (as opposed to receiving it through SSKI potassium iodide). 4) The year and location of the study, and whether radiation from Fukushima nuclear power plant leakage may have any affect? |
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06 Feb 2012 6:58:05 PM PDT I have both celiac and Hashimoto's Hypothyroidism. After six years on a gluten-free diet and still suffering from malabsorption problems, I read about an Array 4 test for gluten mimickers. After taking the test it ends up I when I eat tapioca, it has the same effect on me as wheat, barley, rye and oats. Eight months after removing tapioca from my already gluten-free diet, I am no longer suffering from the side effects of celiac disease.
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07 Feb 2012 7:55:13 AM PDT Thank you for this information, I will definitely check on the selenium because I try to stay gluten free but still don't feel
like I know as much as I should. |
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said this on
07 Feb 2012 11:02:44 AM PDT So now that we have studies for the thyroid disorders that may develop or have developed in celiac, what can celiacs do to better treat their thyroid issues (recognize symptoms) in a natural way and or by medical treatment?
I would prefer natural personally. |
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said this on
09 Feb 2012 6:00:25 PM PDT I too have both thyroid and celiac and took years to diagnose because they did not show in the initial tests.
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said this on
03 Apr 2012 9:48:42 AM PDT Part Three:
I have been misdiagnosed with every non curable syndrome you can think of.... Low FODMAP AND GLUTEN FREE has saved my life...literally... Those Aussies are light years ahead of the US in terms of understanding GUT health. I have read, and researched this without the help of ANY doctors... they refuse to even discuss food intolerances as it relates to my symptoms... they just want to hand out symptom treating drugs ( That will ALWAYS make me sicker ) or operate on me... I HAVE HAD 'E-NuFF of that! LOW FODMAP Food is where it's AT! - Sincerely, Lori Muir, Birmingham, Alabama |