Gluten reactions and cancer

[Guest guest]

This was posted on the celiac group. What is interesting about it is:

1. Celiacs (and by extension, others with gluten intolerance) are

generally more susceptable to cancer.

2. After one year of a GF diet, the cancer risk goes down.

3. Celiacs seem to have LESS risk of breast cancer.

I'm curious about the third one ... celiacs create a lot more

prolactin than other folks, and their hormones are skewed,

which caused me problems in breastfeeding.

You can download the PDF (which has a lot more stuff in it) at

the website below.

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/bmj.38169.486701.7Cv1

Malignancy and mortality in people with coeliac disease: population based

cohort study.

West J, Logan RF, CJ, Hubbard RB, Card TR.

Division of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Nottingham,

Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH.

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the risks of malignancy and mortality in people with

coeliac disease compared with the general population. DESIGN: Population

based cohort study. SETTING: General practice research database.

PARTICIPANTS: 4732 people with coeliac disease and 23 620 matched controls.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Hazard ratios for malignancy and mortality. RESULTS:

Of the 4732 people with coeliac disease, 134 (2.8%) had at least one

malignancy and 237 (5.0%) died. The overall hazard ratios were: for any

malignancy 1.29 (95% confidence interval 1.06 to 1.55), for mortality 1.31

(1.13 to 1.51), for gastrointestinal cancer 1.85 (1.22 to 2.81), for breast

cancer 0.35 (0.17 to 0.72), for lung cancer 0.34 (0.13 to 0.95), and for

lymphoproliferative disease 4.80 (2.71 to 8.50). The increased risk was

primarily in the first year after diagnosis, with the risk for only

lymphoproliferative disease remaining significantly raised thereafter.

After excluding events in the year after diagnosis, the hazard ratio for

malignancy was 1.10 (0.87 to 1.39) and for mortality was 1.17 (0.98 to

1.38), giving absolute excess rates of 6 and 17 per 10 000 person years,

respectively. CONCLUSIONS: People with coeliac disease have modest

increases in overall risks of malignancy and mortality. Most of this excess

risk occurs in the year of follow up after diagnosis. People with coeliac

disease also have a noticeably reduced risk of breast cancer. The mechanism

of this merits further attention as it may provide insights into the cause

of this common malignancy.