A recent article in the Journal of Pediatric Medicine has this interesting title:\u00a0 “The Complexity of Celiac Disease”.<\/p>\n
The reason for the title surfaced when the researchers were testing the validity of the standard approach to diagnosing celiac disease.\u00a0 The current gold standard for diagnosis consists of having a positive blood test and having an intestinal biopsy that shows villous atrophy (shortening of the absorptive “cilia” in the gut).<\/p>\n
This study was conducted in Finland where this disease is quite common.\u00a0 In the study group of patients who had a positive blood test but a normal biopsy, half went on a gluten-free diet, and half continued to eat gluten.<\/p>\n
After a year the gluten avoiders not only felt better, but their blood tests had become negative.\u00a0 The group that ate gluten continued to have symptoms and most of them developed a positive result on a repeat biopsy.<\/p>\n
Their editorial conclusion was that a positive blood test warrants at least a trial of gluten-free diet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A recent article in the Journal of Pediatric Medicine has this interesting title:\u00a0 “The Complexity of Celiac Disease”. The reason for the title surfaced when the researchers were testing the validity of the standard approach to diagnosing celiac disease.\u00a0 The current gold standard for diagnosis consists of having a positive blood test and having an intestinal biopsy that shows villous atrophy (shortening of the absorptive “cilia” in the gut). This study was conducted in Finland where this disease is quite…<\/p>\n