For many years people were aware of the link between celiac disease and thyroid dysfunction but recent tests uncovered some interesting developments. In 2001, scientists conducted tests to measure the prevalence of coeliac disease in people with autoimmune thyroid dysfunction. They tested blood from 200 individuals with autoimmune thyroiditis, 50 who were found to have normal thyroid functioning but had thyroid nodules and 250 blood donors.
The results of these tests uncovered some interesting points; firstly, the prevalence of celiac disease in patients with autoimmune thyroiditis was 3.2 per cent, compared with only 0.4 per cent in blood donors. Due to the high incidence rate, the study’s authors concluded that patients with autoimmune thyroiditis should be tested for anti-gliadin antibodies. Please note that the researchers tested for coeliac disease – gluten sensitivity at its worst! Today, more-sensitive tests can identify gluten sensitivity long before it causes celiac disease.
While the link between celiac disease and autoimmune disease is well established, but does exposure to gluten cause autoimmune disease? Some researchers say yes. In 1999, a study showed that the longer that children and adolescents ate a diet containing gluten before they were diagnosed with coeliac disease, the more autoimmune diseases they came down with later in life.
The study uncovered some more important information; when the same children with celiac disease went on a gluten free diet, their insulin-related antibodies disappeared, and their antithyroid antibodies decreased.
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