Re: Celiac Disease More Prevalent in Multiple Sclerosis

[Guest guest]

Thanks , This is interesting, I currently have two patients with

MS.

Sent from my iPhone

> Celiac disease is more prevalent in patients with multiple sclerosis

> (MS)

> and their close relatives than in the general population, clinicians

> from

> Spain report.

>

> Increased efforts aimed at early detection and dietary treatment of

> celiac

> disease among MS patients with tissue IgA–antitransglutaminase-2 ant

> ibodies

> " are advisable, " they conclude in a report published online March 7

> in *BMC

> Neurology*.

>

> " We have found a prevalence of celiac disease among MS patients that

> is 5 to

> 10 times higher compared with the general population all over the

> world,

> which is between 1% and 2%, " said first study author Rodrigo,

> MD, from

> the Gastroenterology Service, Hospital Universitario Central de

> Asturias, in

> Oviedo, Spain.

>

> Dr. Rodrigo and his colleagues note, however, that celiac disease is

> often

> underdiagnosed and therefore underestimated.

>

> " The practical point is to put these patients on a gluten-free diet

> and to

> observe the improvement of the neurological disease over time, " he

> said in

> an email to *Medscape Medical News*.

>

> *Clinic Experience Fuels Study*

>

> Dr. Rodrigo and his associates recently saw a 30-year-old female

> patient

> with relapsing-remitting MS who developed abdominal pain with

> diarrhea and

> weight loss. She was diagnosed as having celiac disease, put on a

> gluten-free diet, and subsequently saw improvement not only in her

> digestive

> symptoms but also in her neurologic disturbances.

>

> This experience led them to analyze the prevalence of serologic,

> histologic,

> and genetic celiac disease markers in 72 MS patients and 126 first-

> degree

> relatives, as well as 123 healthy controls.

>

> They detected tissue IgA–antitransglutaminase-2 antibodies, a key se

> rologic

> marker of celiac disease, in 7 MS patients (10%) but in only 3

> controls

> (2.4%), a statistically significant difference (*P* < .05; odds

> ratio, 5.33;

> 95% confidence interval, 1.074 – 26.425).

>

> They also detected mild or moderate villous atrophy (Marsh III type)

> in

> duodenal biopsy specimens from 8 MS patients (11.1%). There were no

> significant differences between MS and control patients in HLA-DQ2 and

> HLA-DQ8 genetic susceptibility markers of celiac disease.

>

> In addition, 23 of 126 first-degree relatives of MS patients had

> celiac

> disease (32%).

>

> The only differential parameter between MS patients with celiac

> disease and

> those without was the age at onset of MS, which was younger (35 ± 7

> years

> old) in the former and older (44 ± 10 years old) in the latter (*P*

> < .05).

> All of the 8 MS patients with celiac disease were female.

>

> *Early Detection, Treatment Key*

>

> On the basis of their initial experience, the clinicians say they

> put all of

> the MS patients with celiac disease on a gluten-free diet " and all

> of them

> improved considerably both with respect to the gastrointestinal and

> to the

> neurological symptomatology in the follow-up period, " they report.

>

> " So the main message that we want to [get out] to doctors who attend

> MS

> patients is to perform clinical, serological, genetic, and histologic

> studies directed to find a possible associated [celiac disease], " Dr.

> Rodrigo told *Medscape Medical News*. " All these studies must be

> done in

> collaboration with a gastroenterologist expert in this field, " he

> noted.

>

> L. Gross, MD, from Associated Neurologists of Southern

> Connecticut

> in Fairfield, who was not involved in the study, said he too has had

> experience with a patient whose MS symptoms improved after their

> celiac

> disease was brought under control.

>

> In a telephone interview with *Medscape Medical News*, he made the

> point

> that it is " sometimes difficult to say whether a person with celiac

> disease

> is having neurological symptoms on the basis of their celiac or

> whether it's

> just 2 conditions occurring simultaneously in the same individual. "

>

> He noted, however, that there is " a statistical link between Crohn's

> disease

> and MS and 1 of the 9 drugs now approved for MS is also approved for

> Crohn's

> disease, so there is a link between the gut and the brain somehow. "

>

> *The study authors and Dr. Gross have disclosed no relevant financial

> relationships*.

>

> *BMC Neurol*. 2011;11:31. Published online March 7, 2011.

>

> --

> Ortiz, MS, RD

> *The FRUGAL Dietitian* <http://www.thefrugaldietitian.com>

> Check out my blog: mixture of deals and nutrition

> New Giveaway : Healthy Toys from The Frugal Dietitian Ends on 3/16 8

> PM<http://thefrugaldietitian.com/?p=16384>Mini-Social:

> Mom and Kids daily deal site <http://thefrugaldietitian.com/?

> p=16288> Made

> my own " funny but real " movie: Me interviewing a " potential " Dietetic

> student <

>

> *Healthy Diet at any Age: We are NOT just looking

> *

>

> *at the years people have behind them but also the

> *

>

> *quality of the years ahead of them.*

>

>

>