Re: Gluten intolerance and osteoporosis

[Guest guest]

Offlist from

Here's one for you, don't know if you have seen this one yet:

http://story.news./news?tmpl=story & cid=594 & e=1 & u=/nm/20050228/hl_nm/hea\

lth_osteoporosis_dc

Health - Reuters

Reuters

Study Links Osteoporosis, Gluten Intolerance

Mon Feb 28, 4:33 PM ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Some people develop osteoporosis, the mineral loss

disease that leads to brittle bones, because their bodies cannot

tolerate wheat flour, a study said on Monday.

Health

Have questions about your health?

Find answers here.

Gluten intolerance, called celiac disease, can be treated, so the

damage done by osteoporosis can be reversed in such patients, added

the report published in the current issue of the Archives of Internal

Medicine (news - web sites).

" Our results suggest that as many as three to four percent of patients

who have osteoporosis have the bone disease as a consequence of having

celiac disease, which makes them unable to absorb normal amounts of

calcium and vitamin D, " said Stenson, a Washington University

physician at -Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

He and colleagues recommended blood tests be used to screen

osteoporosis patients for celiac disease.

The report was based on a look at 840 patients, some of whom had

osteoporosis. It found a much higher prevalence of celiac disease

among those with osteoporosis than in those without it.

Celiac disease triggers an immune reaction to the gluten portion of

wheat, interfering with the intestine's absorption of various foods.

Some patients do not know they have the disease because their symptoms

are minor.

In the study, patients with celiac disease and osteoporosis who went

on a gluten-free diet for one year were able to improve both

gastrointestinal symptoms and bone density, the report said.

" Bone density ... improved dramatically on a gluten-free diet, "

Stenson said. " We believe the diet allowed their intestines to heal,

and that allowed them to absorb normal amounts of calcium and vitamin

D to reverse bone loss. "

While there is a genetic predisposition for celiac disease, many

people don't develop symptoms until later in life, Stenson said.

[Guest guest]

>

> Offlist from

> Here's one for you, don't know if you have seen this one yet:

>

My apologies, that last was meant to be offlist.