The results of a recent study indicate that celiac disease (CD) is twice as common in patients with dyspepsia, commonly referred to as indigestion, as in the general population. Therefore, the authors propose that screening for CD should be considered in all patients with dyspepsia to allow diagnosis and treatment, since CD is a treatable disease.
Although 30% to 40% of patients with CD (which affects 1 in 200 individuals) have symptoms of indigestion, the prevalence of CD in patients with problem was previously unknown.
The findings are based on a study of 517 patients with dyspepsia, who were given endoscopies and had tissue samples tested for CD. The relative risk for CD was more than double that of the general population and higher among women, where the risk increased more than 3-fold.
Arch Intern Med 2000; 160: 1489-1491
The prevalence is NOT one in 200 as this study suggests, but actually one in 33, about a six-fold difference. The important "take home point" of this is that most of us are better-off avoiding or severely limiting wheat. It is just not good for most of us. A certain percentage, in my experience, somewhere between 20 and 25% of the population will have incredibly profound improvements in their health by avoiding wheat.
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