Gluten-free diet may be enough in pediatric celiac disease therapy
After six months of a gluten-free diet, calcium metabolism defects returned to normal in a study of children with celiac disease, as reported in the August Journal of Pediatrics.
After six months of a gluten-free diet, calcium metabolism defects returned to normal in a study of children with celiac disease, as reported in the August Journal of Pediatrics.
Researchers studied 54 untreated patients (mean age, 7 years) with celiac disease, and compared them with 60 healthy children. Metabolic parameters investigated were calcium, phosphorous, parathyroid hormone, and other bone activity markers. After six months of the gluten-free diet, there was improvement in bone mineral density and metabolic alterations due to the disease.
"A detailed, time-consuming, and expensive study of bone metabolism is not necessary in children with celiac disease shortly exposed to gluten who follow the gluten-free diet," the researchers concluded.
