Coeliac disease and hypothyroidism

According to research reported on in the medical journal Digestive Diseases and Sciences, a significant number of patients with autoimmune thyroid disease also have celiac disease. Celiac disease is a disorder that causes the intestines to react abnormally to gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt, kamut, and other related grains.

“…researchers found that…organ-specific autoantibodies (i.e., thyroid antibodies) — will disappear after 3 to 6 months of a gluten-free diet.”

Celiac disease, which is sometimes referred to as celiac sprue, sprue, or gluten intolerance, makes it difficult for the body to properly absorb nutrients from foods. Symptoms include various intestinal difficulties, recurring abdominal bloating and pain, nausea, anemia, gas, tingling numbness in the legs, sores inside the mouth, painful skin rash on elbows, knees, and buttocks, cramping, hives, joint/muscle pains and aches, diarrhea, and constipation, among others. Untreated, celiac disease raises risks of contracting certain stomach cancers by more than double.

The researchers studied 172 patients with autoimmune thyroid disease, and two control groups, and found that the 3.4% of patients with autoimmune thyroiditis had celiac disease, and the prevalence was only 0.6% and 0.25% among the control groups. The study also found that undiagnosed celiac disease may actually be part of the process that triggers an underlying autoimmune disease. In their findings they wrote: “We believe that undiagnosed celiac disease can cause other disorders by switching on some as yet unknown immunological mechanism. Untreated celiac patients produce organ-specific autoantibodies.”

Of perhaps greatest importance to thyroid patients, the researchers found that the various antibodies that indicate celiac disease – organ-specific autoantibodies (i.e., thyroid antibodies) — will disappear after 3 to 6 months of a gluten-free diet.

The researchers suggest that patients with autoimmune thyroiditis “may benefit from a screening for celiac disease so as to eliminate symptoms and limit the risk of developing other autoimmune disorders.”

(Digestive Diseases and Sciences, February 2000;45:403-406.)