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Celiac.com 04/07/2008 - No, this is not some kind of April Fool’s joke.When I read this report, I just about fell off my chair. New research indicates thatbeing poor and living in squalor might actually provide some benefitagainst the development of celiac disease. A team of medicalresearchers recently set out to examine gene-environmental interactionsin the pathogenesis of celiac disease. The research team was made up ofA. Kondrashova, K. Mustalahti, K. Kaukinen, H. Viskari, V. Volodicheva,A. M. Haapala, J. Ilonen, M. Knip, M. Mäki, H. Hyöty, T. E. Group.Finland and nearby Russian Karelia have populations that eat about thesame amounts of the same grains and grain products. The two populationsalso have a high degree of shared genetic ancestry. The only majordifference between the populations of the two areas lies in theirsocioeconomic conditions. The region of Russian Karelia ismuch poorer than the neighboring areas in nearby Finland. Thesanitation levels in Russian Karelia are also distinctly inferior thanthey are in Finland. The researchers compared the prevalence of celiacdisease and predisposing human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles inpopulations from Russian Karelia and Finland. The team performedscreening for tissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTG) and HLA-DQalleles on 1988 school-age children from Karelia and 3654 children fromFinland. Children with transglutaminase antibodies were encouraged tohave a duodenal biopsy. Interestingly, the patients fromRussian Karelia showed tTG antibodies far less often than their Finnishcounterparts (0.6% compared to 1.4%, P = 0.005). The patients fromRussian Karelia also showed Immunoglobulin class G (IgG) antigliadinantibodies far less frequently than their Finnish patients (10.2%compared to 28.3%, P<0.0001). The researchers confirmed adiagnosis of celiac disease by duodenal biopsy in four of the eighttransglutaminase antibody-positive Karelian children, for an occurrencerate of 1 in 496 versus 1 in 107 Finnish children. In bothgroups, the same HLA-DQ alleles were associated with celiac disease andthe presence of transglutaminase antibodies. The patients from RussianKarelia showed a much lower prevalence of transglutaminase antibodiesand celiac disease than the Finnish children. The poorconditions and inferior hygienic conditions in Russian Karelia mightprovide some kind of protection against the development of celiacdisease. The value of studies like this aren’t to make us wax nostalgicfor poverty, or to encourage people to fend off celiac disease bybecoming poor and living in squalid conditions. The value of a studylike this lies in the idea that there may be more to the development ofceliac disease than simple biological factors. That environmentalconditions might play a key role in both the frequency ofceliac-related antibodies, and in the development of the disease itselfis quite intriguing and clearly warrants further and more comprehensivestudy. Ann Med. 2008;40(3):223-31.

Arch Dis Child 2006;91:39-43. Celiac.com 12/08/2005 – Researchers in the United Kingdom conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 15 studies published between 1966 and 2004 that evaluated the association between breast-feeding and celiac disease. Their review covered more than 4,000 children and found that breast-feeding may offer protection against the development of celiac disease, especially if it is prolonged and covers the period when gluten is introduced. It was unclear, however, whether breast-feeding merely delays the onset of symptoms, or actually offers permanent protection against the disease, and more long-term prospective cohort studies will be necessary to make such a determination.

Celiac.com 11/22/2012 - Cardiovascular disease has many causes, and can be influenced by so many factors. It also happens to be the main cause of death in developed countries. With regard to celiac disease and cardiovascular disease, there are two conflicting schools of thought. The first suggests that the gluten-free diet might help people with celiac disease to reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The second suggests the opposite: that a gluten-free diet may leave people with celiac disease at greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease. So far, the research has provided conflicting and data offer no clear answers. A group of researchers recently tried to figure out if a gluten-free diet protects people with celiac disease against the development of cardiovascular disease, or weather it increases their risk. The research team included Lorenzo Norsa, Raanan Shamir, and Noam Zevit, who are affiliated with the Institute of Gastroenterology, Nutrition and Liver Diseases, Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel at Clalit Health Services in Petach Tikva, Israel, with the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel-Aviv University in Tel Aviv, Israel, and with the Department of Pediatrics at San Paolo Hospital and University of Milan in Milan, Italy. The idea that a gluten-free diet may protect celiacs against cardiovascular disease hinges on the fact that eating gluten-free reduces intestinal inflammation and improves intestinal absorption. This hypothesis argues that the reduction in inflammation is important because a number of studies over the past decade have shown that a large percentage of people with acute coronary syndrome show signs of increased inflammation. Studies also show that several clinical conditions that are accompanied by persistent low grade of inflammation, such as autoimmune disorders, may result in a higher risk of cardiovascular problems. Also, researchers note that, from a nutritional point of view, improving nutritional uptake may help lipid levels return to normal, and to increase HDL-C. Better nutritional uptake may also lead to an increase in soluble vitamin absorption, which may help to lower homocysteine levels in the blood. As such, supporters of this hypothesis argue that, by helping to reduce intestinal inflammation, and to increase nutritional absorption, a gluten-free diet may thus lower the risk of cardiovascular disease in people with celiac disease. For the most part, studies suggesting that a gluten-free diet may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease tend to hinge on the idea that an unguided gluten-free diet may be more likely to be unbalanced, and to include higher fat intake, which could increase risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Supporters of this hypothesis point to a recent study that suggests that consuming saturated fatty acids increases the LDL-C concentration in plasma and has therefore been suggested to increase the risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD), or myocardial ischaemia, which is a type of heart disease characterized by reduced blood supply to the heart muscle. Furthermore, studies have shown that a gluten-free diet can increase weight and percentage of fat, which may reveal an additional risk factor for cardiovascular disease in developed countries, where the incidence of overweight and obesity are rising, both in the general population, and in celiac disease patients. Unfortunately, a recently published review of the research team's available evidence on the relationship between celiac disease, a gluten-free diet, and cardiovascular disease and its risk factors does little to provide a clear answer one way or the other. In the face of conflicting data regarding gluten-free diet and cardiovascular disease, the takeaway seems to be that it is important that people with celiac disease follow a gluten-free diet that is well-balanced, and not too high in saturated fat; a conclusion that many would likely find to be good, common sense. Source: Nutritional Therapy & Metabolism 2012; 30 (1): 1-9