Celiac disease is an auto-immune disorder that damages that small intestine and interferes with the intestinal absorption of nutrients.
While playing, 14-year old Sunil struck his hand on a stick and suffered a fracture on his upper arm bone. During a regular check up at the endocrinology department at BYL Nair Hospital, his parents were told that he has celiac disease, which had in turn caused the fracture.
Celiac disease is an auto-immune disorder that damages that small intestine and interferes with the intestinal absorption of nutrients. Patients show zero tolerance for gluten which is contained in wheat, rye (millet), oats and barley. Though the prevalence of celiac disease is just 0.5% to 1% in the general population, in type 1 diabetics, the prevalence is 10 to15%.
Now, in research conducted by the endocrinology department of BYL Nair Hospital, people with both celiac disease and type 1 diabetes have been found to have poor bone mineral density, making them susceptible to fractures.
“For the purpose of research, we tested 80 type 1 diabetics, of which 11 patients had celiac disease. The control group had 22 patients who suffered from type 1 diabetes without celiac disease. The patients’ ages varied from 12 years to 40 years,” said Ameya Joshi, who conducted this research under the supervision of the head of department, Premlata Varthakavi.
“While many suffer from typical symptoms such as gastrointestinal problems, others suffer from fractures from unrecognised trauma,” said Dr Joshi, adding, “Simple dietary measures can reverse these symptoms and improve bone density.”
The research paper won second prize in the Annual Conference of the Endocrine Society of India (ESICON) 2010 at Vellore last month.
While similar research has been done in the West, this is the first time a research paper in India has shown a direct co-relation between celiac disease and low bone mineral density in type 1 diabetics.
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