Women with celiac disease are more likely to also be affected byanorexia, according to results of a study published in the medical journal Pediatrics.
Anorexia nervosa is an emotional disorder that involves an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease where consumption of the gluten protein from wheat, barley or rye leads to damage to the small intestine. Disabling, it causes abdominal pain, diarrhea, bloating, fatigue, anemia … but also sometimes neurological and joint disorders.
Researchers at the University of Colorado in the United States looked at data collected from 1987 to 2009 from 18,000 Swedish women diagnosed with celiac disease and about 89,000 women of the same age who did not have the disease auto- immune.
A significant link between anorexia and celiac disease
The findings of this study report that after a diagnosis of celiac disease, women were 46% more likely to be diagnosed with anorexia. After a workup for anorexia, women were twice as likely to have a late diagnosis of celiac disease. The link was found to be stronger in women whose celiac disease was identified before the age of 19. Their risk of being diagnosed with anorexia was 4.5 times that of the control group of women without celiac disease.
Food restriction can, in some cases, become too important, for fear that the disabling symptoms reappear (chronic diarrhea, weight loss, vomiting, fatigue, joint problems, neurological …) and lead toanorexia.
“Prior to this study, there were a few small case reports published of celiac disease patients who developed eating disorders after their diagnosis,” said lead study author Dr. Karl Marild, researcher at the University of Colorado at Aurora. “But, this is the first study to show an association between celiac disease and anorexia.”
Read also:
Gluten intolerance: how do I know if I have celiac?
Celiac disease: one in five children won’t be cured on a gluten-free diet
Gluten sensitivity: not to be confused with intolerance!
Anorexia nervosa: signs to worry about
