Research shows symptoms persist despite villi healing at the 5 year mark in over 50% of gluten-free celiacs

[trents]

https://www.beyondceliac.org/research-news/five-years-after-diagnosis-more-than-half-have-symptoms/

Some highlights:

"However, when researchers looked at causes for ongoing symptoms in those who showed healing of the lining of the intestine through a follow-up biopsy, they found that physicians most frequently cited microscopic colitis or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). More than two thirds of patients who had biopsies had intestinal healing."

" Previous studies have also shown that people with celiac disease on the gluten-free diet continue to have symptoms, elevated antibodies to gluten detected in blood tests and damage to the nutrient lining of the intestine . . . Studies have shown that even after two years on the gluten-free diet, 30 to 60 percent of adults with celiac disease have persistent gut damage. Data also suggests that this is true in more than 33 percent of adults regardless of having symptoms or positive blood tests."

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One thing I took from this was that the ongoing symptoms in those following a gluten-free diet were often due to other bowel diseases that produce similar symptoms to celiac disease.

Another take I gleaned from this article is that gut healing, even on a gluten-free diet, may take significantly longer than we realize.

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by trents

[Scott Adams]

This is a good article, thanks for sharing it!

We've posted some summaries of studies that show that up to 90% of people who eat in restaurants regularly get contamination, and I suspect that a certain percentage of foods with "gluten-free" on the label are also contaminated, so the reason why many people continue to have symptoms could be that they are getting low level gluten contamination on a regular basis. Of course there are other reasons as well, but I think contamination is a bigger problem than people realize. Perhaps taking AN-PEP before any meal that could possibly have contamination is warranted? Unfortunately there isn't yet anything better out there, but I keep hoping something will finally get FDA approval.