By the time the diagnosis is made, many patients with gluten intolerance have nutrient deficiencies.
Celiac disease, or gluten intolerance, is a serious autoimmune disease that affects the gut. It occurs when people who have it develop hypersensitivity to gluten, a substance found in wheat, rye and barley. Consuming gluten triggers an immune response in the small intestine which, over time, damages the intestinal lining and prevents it from absorbing certain nutrients, leading to diarrhea, fatigue, anemia, weight loss and other complications.
Detect people affected by celiac disease earlier
Due to the wide variety of symptoms and the fact that they are not all specific to this disease, the diagnosis is often difficult and time-consuming to establish. But a discovery could make it possible to detect people affected by celiac disease earlier.
In a study to be published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers from the Mayo Clinic, USA, found that micronutrient deficiencies, including vitamins B12 and D, as well as folic acid, iron, zinc and copper, are common in adults at the time of diagnosis of celiac disease. However, supplementation is possible when the diagnosis is made.
Severe zinc, iron and vitamin D deficiencies
To reach this conclusion, the researchers followed 309 newly diagnosed adults between 2000 and 2014. While a majority had low body weight and weight loss was observed in 25% of patients, some, to the researchers’ surprise , also had an above-average BMI.
On the other hand, the team was able to observe that all the subjects had nutrient deficiencies. Zinc deficiency was observed most often at the time of diagnosis, since it affected 59.4% of patients. Deficiencies in iron, vitamin D, copper, vitamin B12 and folic acid have also been observed.
Possible health consequences
For the study authors, these results show that the symptoms of celiac disease have “changed from classic weight loss, anemia and diarrhea, with an increasing number of patients diagnosed with non-classic symptoms” .
Hence the need to better assess these deficiencies to possibly detect the pathology earlier. Indeed, these nutritional deficiencies can have consequences on health, even if these remain for the moment unknown. “Further studies are needed to better define the implications of impairments, optimal replacement strategies and follow-up,” concludes Dr. Adam Bledsoe, Mayo Clinic Gastroenterology Fellow and senior author of the work.
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