Oats & Coeliac Disease

[Russ H]

An interesting presentation from 2023 concerning the effects of consuming purified avenin protein from oats. From my understanding of this study, people with coeliac disease do have T-cells that recognise and react to oats. However:

1. 38% of participants with coeliac initially developed raised blood inflammatory markers following consumption of avenin.

2. 62% developed at least one symptom (vomiting, headache, lethargy etc.).

3. Worse symptoms correlated with greater level of blood inflammatory marker (IL2).

4. Over 6 weeks there was no histologic damage or evidence of serologic disease and the immune response to avenin markedly fell.

5. Tolerance of oat avenin developed over 1-2 weeks, and symptoms disappeared.

6. 1 person of the 29 who participated in the study developed a wheat-type immunological response to avenin and had to leave the study.

 

The study supports the opinion that a subset of people with coeliac disease cannot tolerate oats at all and develop a coeliac-type response to avenin. It also suggests that most people with coeliac disease can tolerate oats without provoking villus blunting or raised serologic markers.

 

Oats in Coeliac Disease, Coeliac UK Research Conference 2023

 

 

 

 

[Scott Adams]

This is quite interesting, and probably everyone who is newly diagnosed should exclude oats for a while, then reintroduce gluten-free oats slowly. I did not realize that such a high percentage, 38% of celiacs, react to avenin, or that if they react it could be a transient intolerance.