Nutrient intakes during diets including unkilned and large amounts of oats in celiac disease.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: We have shown earlier that consumption of moderate amount of oats improve intakes of vitamin B(1), fiber, magnesium and iron in celiac patients using gluten-free diet (GFD). The objective of this study was to clarify the effect of high amount of both kilned and unkilned oats on food and nutrient intakes in celiac patients in remission. Kilning as an industrial heating process is performed to preserve the main properties of oats and to lengthen its useableness. Kilning may, however, change the protein structure of oats and therefore influence on the intake of nutrients. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The study group consisted of 13 men and 18 women with celiac disease in remission. The patients who were earlier using moderate amount of oats as part of their GFD were randomized to consume kilned or unkilned oats. After 6 months, the patients changed the treatment groups. The goal of daily intake of oats was 100 g. Food records and frequency questionnaire were used to follow nutrient intakes. RESULTS: Type of oats did not affect the amount of oats used. In the group using kilned oats, the intake of vitamin B1 and magnesium and in the group of unkilned oats that of magnesium and zinc increased significantly during the first 6 months (P

No harm from five year ingestion of oats in coeliac disease.

BACKGROUND: Six to 12 months of ingestion of moderate amounts of oats does not have a harmful effect in adult patients with coeliac disease. As the safety of long term intake of oats in coeliac patients is not known, we continued our previous 6-12 month study for five years. AIM: To assess the safety of long term ingestion of oats in the diet of coeliac patients. PATIENTS: In our previous study, the effects of a gluten free diet and a gluten free diet including oats were compared in a randomised trial involving 92 adult patients with coeliac disease (45 in the oats group, 47 in the control group). After the initial phase of 6-12 months, patients in the oats group were allowed to eat oats freely in conjunction with an otherwise gluten free diet. After five years, 35 patients in the original oats group (23 still on an oats diet) and 28 in the control group on a conventional gluten free diet were examined. METHODS: Clinical and nutritional assessment, duodenal biopsies for conventional histopathology and histomorphometry, and measurement of antiendomysial, antireticulin, and antigliadin antibodies. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between controls and those patients consuming oats with respect to duodenal villous architecture, inflammatory cell infiltration of the duodenal mucosa, or antibody titres after five years of follow up. In both groups histological and histomorphometric indexes improved equally with time. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides the first evidence of the long term safety of oats as part of a coeliac diet in adult patients with coeliac disease. It also appears that the majority of coeliac patients prefer oats in their diet.

Lack of cellular and humoral immunological responses to oats in adults with coeliac disease.

OBJECTIVE: Recent research suggests that oats do not harm intestinal villi in adults with coeliac disease. As the immunological effects of oats have not been examined in detail, it was decided to compare the immunological responses of a gluten free diet including oats with those of a conventional gluten free diet. DESIGN: A randomised controlled intervention study over 6-12 months. SUBJECTS: Forty adults with newly diagnosed coeliac disease and 52 with coeliac disease in remission were examined. INTERVENTION: The effects of a gluten free diet including oats and a conventional gluten free diet were compared. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Serum levels of gliadin and reticulin antibodies as well as numbers of intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) in intestinal mucosa were examined before and after the intervention. RESULTS: The rate of disappearance of gliadin and reticulin antibodies did not differ between the diet groups in patients with newly diagnosed coeliac disease. Oats also had no effect on gliadin or reticulin antibody levels in the patients with remission. The number of IELs decreased similarly regardless of the diet of newly diagnosed patients, and no increase in the number of IELs was found in the patients in remission with or without oats. CONCLUSIONS: These results strengthen the view that adult patients with coeliac disease can consume moderate amounts of oats without adverse immunological effects.

Nutritional status of newly diagnosed celiac disease patients before and after the institution of a celiac disease diet--association with the grade of mucosal villous atrophy.

No systematic studies have been carried out on the association of nutritional status with the severity of mucosal villous atrophy in newly diagnosed celiac disease patients. We examined the nutritional status of 40 adult patients with newly diagnosed celiac disease classified according to the grade of villous atrophy: partial, subtotal, and total. Nutritional status was determined by food records as well as by anthropometric and biochemical measurements. Anthropometric results did not differ among the three atrophy groups, but serum ferritin and erythrocyte folate were lower in patients with total villous atrophy than in the other groups. Most of the abnormal biochemical values were normalized during 1 y of a gluten-free diet; villous atrophy healed concomitantly. To conclude, patients with total mucosal villous atrophy at diagnosis had low erythrocyte folate and serum ferritin values, but no other major differences were found in nutritional status among celiac disease patients with different grades of villous atrophy.

A comparison of diets with and without oats in adults with celiac disease.

BACKGROUND: Wheat, rye, and barley damage the small-intestinal mucosa of patients with celiac disease; maize and rice are harmless. The effects of a diet containing oats are uncertain. METHODS: In a randomized trial, we compared the effects of gluten-free diets without oats and with oats (with a goal of 50 to 70 g per day from three sources: two types of wheat-starch flour mixed with an equal amount of oats, muesli containing 60 percent oats, and rolled-oat breakfast cereal). Fifty-two adults with celiac disease in remission were followed for 6 months and 40 with newly diagnosed disease for 12 months. Endoscopy with duodenal biopsy was performed at the beginning and end of the study. RESULTS: The mean (+/- SD) oat intake in the oat group was 49.9 +/- 14.7 g per day at 6 months for patients in remission and 46.6 +/- 13.3 g per day at 12 months for patients with newly diagnosed disease. The oat and control groups did not differ significantly in nutritional status, symptoms, or laboratory measures. Patients in remission, regardless of diet, did not have worsening architecture of the duodenal villi or increased mononuclear-cell infiltration. All the patients with new diagnoses were in remission at one year, except for one in the control group. Six patients in the oat groups and five in the control group withdrew from the study. CONCLUSIONS: Moderate amounts of oats can be included in a gluten-free diet for most adult patients with celiac disease without adverse effects.