TTG-IGA Question

[alannahP]

Hello! My daughter was diagnosed last year. Her ttg was 21.5 at the time; went to 8.6 a month later; 5.4 six months later; and is 6.1 now. 15 and over is considered abnormal, so we are “ok” right now.

Im wondering how I can get her to as close to 0 as possible.

I am also wondering why there is a normal range of anti-ttg, as I don’t think it’s a good thing to have? What could contribute to having this present other than celiac.

We are a gluten free household, rarely eat out. We don’t eat oats or many grains in general.

thank you!

[Scott Adams]

For people with celiac disease hidden gluten in their diets is the main cause of elevated Tissue Transglutaminase IgA Antibodies (tTG-IgA), but there are other conditions, including cow's milk/casein intolerance, that can also cause this, and here is an article about the other possible causes:

 

 

[trents]

Welcome to the forum, @alannahP!

Excellent question but I don't know that I have ever seen any TTG-IGA score be "0". But then again, I only see TTG-IGA scores of people who have celiac disease. It would be interesting to know if people who don't have celiac disease would necessarily have a "0" TTG-IGA score or if a very low TTG-IGA score is normal for non celiacs. In other words, is a little TTG-IGA antibody count normal as part of the total IGA antibody immune spectrum? We also know that elevated TTG-IGA scores can be caused by some other health issues since it is less than 100% specific. I would be careful here not to obsess over this.

Edited April 5, 2025 by trents

[kim91380]

My 8-year-old son just got his blood results back and his TTG level is 20.3.  In general, how long does it take to get the gluten out of their system completely?

[trents]

Welcome to the forum, @kim91380!

A little education perhaps is in order here. I hope you aren't offended. The tests don't measure blood levels of gluten but the blood levels of the antibodies produced by the immune system as it attacks the gluten that comes in contact with the cells that line the small bowel. So, as we eliminate gluten from the diet, the levels of the antibodies begins to drop. New antibody production ceases very quickly upon discontinuing gluten consumption but it can take awhile for the body to eliminate those already in circulation, probably several weeks to see much of a noticeable drop. And unless all gluten has been removed from the diet, the antibody drop will be slower and may not reach normal levels.

Do the test scores you refer to reflect a new diagnosis of celiac disease or is this repeat testing from an existing diagnosis and if the latter, how long ago was the initial diagnosis made?

Edited April 7, 2025 by trents

[kim91380]

@trents, this was a first for him.  He has been suffering from constipation and abdominal pain for years.  I finally got the doc to test for Celiac since I heard about it from another friend.  Just got his lab results back!  This is all new to me.  I have a lot of learning to do!

[trents]

This may help you get off onto the right foot: 

There usually is quite a learning curve involved in attaining to consistency in gluten free eating. Attaining a "low gluten" diet is easy because you simply cut out the obvious things like bread and pasta. It's the places gluten is found in the food industry that you would never expect that trips up newbies and also the whole area of cross contamination, which involves things that would be naturally gluten free but come into contact with gluten things and thereby pick up gluten incidentally. So, you order a fried egg and sausage but forget that it will be cooked on the same grill that was used to cook someone else's French toast. Or you go to a spaghetti place and order gluten free pasta but they cook it in the same pot with wheat noodles. That kind of thing. Or you buy cough drops and find out that after sucking on several of them and getting an upset tummy that they contained wheat. Wheat can be used as filler and a texturing agent in pills and meds. And would you ever have thought that soy sauce and Campbells tomato soup would have wheat in them. Read the labels sometime.