To follow up on my post yesterday detailing the new University of Maryland research study that shows gluten sensitivity is a separate condition from celiac disease, I wanted to add some more information on what the study showed about the genetics in both conditions, plus blood test results in those labeled as gluten sensitive but not celiac.
Recapping, the study identified gluten sensitivity (also known as gluten intolerance) as a real condition that differs from celiac disease at a molecular level, even though many of the symptoms are the same.
Most U.S. physicians believe that you must carry one of the two celiac disease genes -- HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8 -- to have celiac disease. More than 90% of diagnosed celiacs carry one or both of these genes, which are present in 35% to 40% of the overall population, as well.
But in the gluten sensitivity study reported by top celiac disease physician Dr. Alessio Fasano and colleagues, only 57% of those identified as "gluten sensitive" carried DQ2 or DQ8, indicating that those genes are less involved in gluten sensitivity than they are in celiac disease.
On the blood tests, 48% of those diagnosed as gluten sensitive had positive AGA-IgA or AGA-IgG blood tests, showing they were making antibodies to gluten in their diet. A little more than half of this group carried celiac disease genes, while the rest did not, indicating that the genes are not necessary for your body to produce those antibodies.
None of those labeled as gluten sensitive produced tTG-IgA or EMA-IgA, antibodies that indicate your body is attacking its own tissue in an autoimmune reaction. tTG-IgA and EMA-IgA are considered very specific to celiac disease.
One last thing on the gluten sensitivity study: Dr. Fasano and the other authors noted that even if a person doesn't have celiac, they still can be damaged by gluten.
"In itself, the absence of autoantibodies [the autoimmune antibodies produced in celiac disease but not in gluten sensitivity] and intestinal lesions does not rule out the intrinsic toxicity of gluten, whose intake, even in non-CD individuals, has been associated with damage to other tissues, organs and systems besides the intestine," the study concluded.
It's great to hear a leading expert in celiac disease acknowledging what many of us have realized all along: that gluten sensitivity/intolerance potentially can wreck your health even if you're not officially celiac.
