Celiac Disease

The right diet is the key to managing many diseases and to improving general quality of life. For this condition, scientific research has found benefit in the following healthy eating tips.

• Elimination Diet

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  Some people with celiac disease may be intolerant to other food components in addition to gluten. An elimination diet can help rule out other food intolerances.

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  Elimination Diet

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  Some people with celiac disease may be intolerant to other foods, in addition to gluten. Foods that have been reported to trigger symptoms include cows’milk³⁸ and soy.^39,40,41

• Gluten-Free

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  Work with a knowledgeable health professional to find out which foods with gluten should be avoided.

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  Gluten-Free

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  All doctors agree that consumption of the gluten-containing grains wheat, barley, and rye must be avoided in all celiac patients. Less consensus exists regarding the advisability of eating or restricting oats and oat products. While oats contain a substance similar to gluten, modern research suggests that eating moderate amounts of oats does not cause problems for most people with celiac disease.^42,43 In one of these reports, approximately 95% of people with celiac disease tolerated 50 grams (almost two ounces) of oats per day for up to 12 months.⁴⁴

  Strict avoidance of wheat, barley, and rye, and of foods containing ingredients derived from these grains, usually results in an improvement in gastrointestinal symptoms within a few weeks, although in some cases the improvement may take many months. Tests of absorptive function usually improve after a few months on a gluten-free diet.⁴⁵

  Many people with celiac disease become symptom-free when following gluten-free diets. Others, however, continue to experience symptoms, often resulting from the presence of trace amounts of gluten either permitted in some gluten-free diets or consumed by mistake. Such mistakes are easy to make because many processed foods contain small amounts of gluten. For people with residual symptoms, a diet that truly eliminates all gluten, followed by open and double-blind challenges, resulted in symptomatic improvement in 77% of those studied.⁴⁶ A careful dietary analysis should ensure that all trace amounts of gluten are removed from the diet. If this fails to relieve symptoms after three months, then other food intolerances should be ruled out using an elimination diet.

  Avoiding gluten may also reduce cancer risk. In one trial, 210 people with celiac disease were observed for 11 years. Those who followed a gluten-free diet had an incidence of cancer similar to that in the general population. However, those eating only a gluten-reduced diet or consuming a normal diet had an increased risk of developing cancer (mainly lymphomas and cancers of the mouth, pharynx, and esophagus).⁴⁷

  Children with untreated celiac disease have been reported to have abnormally low bone mineral density. However, after approximately one year on a gluten-free diet, bone mineral density increased rapidly and approximated the level seen in healthy children.⁴⁸ Long-term adherence to a gluten-free diet ensures normal bone density and is an important preventive measure in young people with celiac disease.⁴⁹

  Adults with celiac disease also have significantly lower bone mineral density than do healthy adults. After consumption of a gluten-free diet for one year, bone mineral density of the hip and lumbar spine has been reported to increase by an average of more than 15%.⁵⁰

  Infertility, which is common among people with celiac disease, has been reportedly reversed in both men and women after commencement of a gluten-free diet.⁵¹