Celiac disease

The following questions concern whether villous atrophy can be caused by milk and whether anemia can result from milk ingestion. The answer is yes: bovine beta casein enteropathy can cause both. See full explanation below.

Question:Does anyone know can a deficiency in lactase enzyme cause the villi to be blunted? My 3 year old son just had an endoscopy and it showed the villi are blunted.

My son has a lactase deficiency and has been gluten free for 18 months. We took him off lactose for the first 6 months after being diagnosed but then added it back and he seemed fine for 6 months.

So I am hoping maybe the fact that he was drinking a lot of milk caused the villi to be blunted and not ingesting any gluten?

Also, can that cause anemia?

My son is also slightly anemic. But we are very strict with his diet and I am pretty sure he is not getting any gluten ( i know its possible but I don’t think so… his diet hasn’t changed..)

Celiac antibody blood tests indicate he is not getting gluten?

So I am wondering if the lactose could be causing the villi to be blunted and the anemia???

Thanks,
S

Answer:
Dear S,

The most common cause of villous atrophy in people with celiac disease is unintentional gluten ingestion. This answer assumes no gluten is being ingested.

Cow dairy can cause an enteropathy similar to celiac disease. It is called Bovine Beta Casein Enteropathy. It acts like celiac disease, causing inflammation leading to villous blunting. The milk protein elicits the antibody reaction just like gluten does in celiac disease.

The resulting villous blunting would explain lactose intolerance, as the lactase enzymes needed to digest lactose are produced and release near the tips of the villi. If the villi are blunted, no lactase is being produced and milke digestion does not occur.

Bovine beta casein enteropathy is marked by diarrhea, failure to thrive, vomiting, atopic eczema and recurrent respiratory infections. It causes malabsorption of nutrients, just like celiac disease, so it can lead to nutrient deficiencies including anemia. 12% of those with bovine beta casein enteropathy are found to have celiac disease.

-John Libonati

[Editor’s Note: Article originally published April 20, 2009]

Source: Gluten Free Works Treatment Guide: Bovine Beta Casein Enteropathy.

A five year old Canadian boy, diagnosed with severe autism, was cured when the true cause of his mental disorder was found to be celiac disease and he was treated with a gluten-free diet and nutritional supplements.

Photo originally posted to Flickr as “Jack”

His autism was cured because he was never really autistic in the first place. He had celiac disease, an immune response to wheat, barley, rye and oats that damages the intestines leading to malabsorption of nutrients.

Gluten-restricted diets have become increasingly popular among parents seeking treatment for children diagnosed with autism.(1)

What if certain children who are diagnosed with autism actually have celiac disease?

Neurological disorders stemming from celiac disease have been widely documented in medical literature. Some of these conditions include poor balance, tremors, migraines, chronic fatigue, schizophrenia, epilepsy, apathy, depression, insomnia, behavioral disorders, inability to concentrate and anxiety.(2)

Many of these issues are due to nutritional deficiencies resulting from the intestinal damage that celiac disease causes. If caused by celiac disease, they improve once gluten is removed from the diet and the intestine heals and functions properly.

Genuis and Bouchard, researchers at the University of Alberta, recently published the case of the 5-year-old boy who had been diagnosed with severe autism at a specialty clinic for autistic spectrum disorders. After an initial investigation suggested underlying celiac disease and varied nutrient deficiencies, a gluten-free diet was instituted.(1) His diet and supplements were adjusted to secure nutritional sufficiency.

The patient’s gastrointestinal symptoms rapidly resolved, and signs and symptoms suggestive of autism progressively abated.(1)

This case is an example of a common malabsorption syndrome (celiac disease) associated with central nervous system dysfunction and suggests that in some cases, nutritional deficiency may be a cause of developmental delay.

Genuis and Bouchard recommended that all children with neurodevelopmental problems Read More »

The Gluten Free Works Treatment Guide Subscription is now Lifetime, so you never have to worry about renewing.

The Treatment Guide is our one of a kind online resource that quickly and efficiently helps you recognize, identify and correct health issues and nutrient deficiencies so you can fix your problems, recover your health and stay healthy for life.

Whether you are wondering why your tongue is so pale and why you feel so tired, or why you are having trouble concentrating, or could that acid reflux really be from low stomach acid instead of high, the Treatment Guide has the answers you are looking for but cannot find anywhere else!

Discover your symptoms based on your deficiencies or determine your deficiencies based on your symptoms, the Treatment Guide makes it easy to track your health and discover how symptoms are related.

The Treatment Guide gives you a step-by-step process to correct each individual health issue – those that stemmed from gluten and those that arise in life.

Pay once.  Get access – for life.

Click here to discover more!

Exercise retains & improves bone strength!

When you see gluten-free fruit and nut bars in the airport newsstand, you know we’ve come a long way in our society’s awareness of food sensitivities.  In my mere two years without gluten, I’ve gone from stuffing my suitcase with Larabars to ensure I don’t starve while away, to, well, still packing them, but knowing that I likely won’t be completely reliant on them the whole trip.

In addition to newsstand snack options, I recently discovered a Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport restaurant having a gluten-free menu.  I was thrilled!  I would sooner have expected to see a glatt kosher dining area!

The dramatic increase in gluten-free offerings makes me wonder: why the recent influx of news about gluten? Is it that so many more people are getting tested for celiac disease? Are more people questioning their ailing guts and attributing it to gluten? Read More »

Hey, I would like to share a very important message with you.

The gluten-free diet is the main treatment for gluten sensitivity and celiac disease. However, removing gluten is not the only thing we must do to regain our health.

Here are the top three things people miss when they go gluten-free. You must do these things in order to achieve good health:

1. Reduce Inflammation

Inflammation is one of the main causes of disease. In celiac disease and gluten sensitivity, gluten is regarded as the trigger for inflammation. However, inflammation may persist if gluten has caused a dysfunction that is now triggering its own Read More »

If you have ever enjoyed the experience of eating “pot stickers” before going gluten-free, you know how delicious and fun these savory Asian pan-fried dumplings are. They’re fun to make too!

Traditionally pot sticker wrappers – similar to wonton wrappers, are made with wheat flour. While I’ve thought about attempting to make a gluten-free wonton for some time, it wasn’t until I bought Laura B. Russell’s cookbook, The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen that I actually went for it.

Our gluten-free pot stickers will stick to the pan, just like wheat-made pot stickers, so read the instructions carefully and then have fun making this recipe. Read More »

Low stomach acid is common in celiac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis.  It is also common in the general population, as well, affecting 50% of people age 60 years and about 80% by age 85 years.  Nevertheless, low stomach acid is not generally looked for as a cause of acute and chronic disorders that rob health with far-reaching effects.

Is Low Stomach Acid New?

No. Low stomach acid (hypochlorhydria), has been well investigated much of the past century in both the general population and those with gluten sensitivity. For example, a 1985 study investigating gastric acid secretion in 116 subjects with dermatitis herpetiformis found that 41% had low stomach acid and 26% were achlorhydric (no acid). Of those older than 50 years, 47% were achlorhydric. When compared to subjects with celiac disease, the frequency of achlorhydria was significantly higher in those with dermatitis herpetiformis than in those with coeliac disease. There was no correlation between achlorhydria and small intestinal villous atrophy (damage).

Why Is Low Stomach Acid Overlooked?

Failure to understand nutrition and malabsorption…an area of science that is barely taught in medical schools is a big factor. Also, Read More »

RLS from low iron in celiac disease responds to a gluten-free diet

Low iron levels have been associated with increased severity of restless leg syndrome. The following medical case report discusses four patients with low iron and restless leg syndrome who were tested positive for celiac disease and placed on a gluten free diet. All four had improvement on the gluten free diet.

“Celiac disease as a Possible Cause for Low Serum Ferritin in Patients with Restless Legs Syndrome.”

Manchanda S, Davies CR, Picchietti D.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Medicine, 506 S. Mathews Avenue, Suite 190, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.

OBJECTIVE: To describe celiac disease as a possible cause for low serum ferritin in patients with restless legs syndrome (RLS). BACKGROUND: Low iron stores have been found to be a risk factor for RLS with serum ferritin levels less than 45-50ng/mL associated with increased severity of RLS. It has become routine clinical practice to test serum ferritin in the initial assessment of RLS. Celiac disease is a common genetic disorder that can cause iron deficiency.

METHODS: Consecutive case series of four patients with RLS and serum ferritin below 25ng/mL, who had positive screening tests for celiac disease. RESULTS: We report four patients who had serum ferritin <12ng/mL and positive screening tests for celiac disease. All had celiac disease confirmed by duodenal biopsy and response to a gluten-free diet. RLS symptoms improved in all four, with two able to discontinue RLS medication and two responding without medication.

CONCLUSIONS: In patients with RLS and low serum ferritin who do not have an obvious cause for iron deficiency, we suggest looking for celiac disease by simple, inexpensive serologic testing. Diagnosis and treatment of celiac disease is likely to improve the outcome for RLS, as well as identify individuals who are at risk for the significant long-term complications of celiac disease.

Source: Sleep Med. 2009 Jan 10. [Epub ahead of print] url: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19138881

Do you know someone who bruises easily? Do the marks develop into dark bluish swellings that hurt and take a long time to go away? If you have celiac disease, perhaps you had this problem before starting the gluten-free diet.

Easy bruising is a type of ecchymosis, or superficial bleeding under the skin or mucous membrane, common in untreated celiacs – and may be the only symptom of celiac disease. While always a sign of an underlying problem, Read More »

It is well documented that only a small minority of those with celiac disease are successfully diagnosed in a medical setting.

Gluten sensitivity, which we based on medical research and proposed in Recognizing Celiac Disease in 2007,  has only recently been accepted as a true medical condition. So we decided to hold an informal survey to see just how people are becoming gluten-free? How are they finding out that gluten sensitivity or celiac disease are the cause of their health problems and are doctors diagnosing them or are they figuring it out on their own?

We posted this question to our GlutenFreeWorks Facebook friends and here are their answers. Were YOU diagnosed by a doctor? Leave your comments below! Read More »