39% of Celiac Disease Patients are Overweight at Diagnosis—A Full 30% are Obese

I have struggled with weight for most of my life. However in the past 3 years I began to experience severe joint pain..not just weight bearing join either. More importantly I have noticed severe joint pain after minimal alcohol consumption. (mainly beer) and it occurred to me I may have an allergy to the contents of beer. After further research, I made the connection to gluten allergy/intolerance. I want to try a gluten free diet in hopes of eliminating join pain. I'm afraid of weight gain! But, I want to be pain free so badly!

Thank you for finding and posting this research. My 19 year old has suffered her whole life with a host of symptoms that I feel recently have pointed to celiac. She is being tested on Wednesday...finally...despite her primary care physician stating that overweight people can't have celiac.

I have rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, long term chronic anemia, depression, anxiety, ADD, and (possible) mild bi-polar disorder. An episode of Mystery Diagnosis led me to look into Celiac disease. However, I almost crossed it off the list of possibilities because of the symptoms (both categories) listing weight loss as (seemingly) a universal consequence of the disease. Only by looking more deeply into the site did I find this article - which of course indicates that weight gain is possibly more common. Although you say that doctor's don't suspect celiac disease in overweight patients because of 'popular beliefs (not to mention outdated medical training)' your website reinforces those beliefs on the symptoms page (which is the first, and sometimes only, page most people look at. Because of finding this article, I am more convinced of the possibility of celiac disease and more prepared to insist on testing. However, I wonder how many people wouldn't have researched this far because they are overweight. Perhaps you could correct the symptoms to reflect that weight gain is common also.

 

Thanks!

I agree with your post, after reading the symptoms of weight loss and wasting away I shook my head and quit reading. Then I find this post that 30% are obese! That should be listed as well.

When i was first diagnosed my doctor told me I would probably loose weight from eliminating gluten however I have slowly gained 25 lbs in the last 2 years. Admittedly I have not always been constant with my diet. My weight gain has really become a huge issue for me. The article states that, 'The increase in weight of already overweight patients after dietary gluten exclusion is a potential cause of morbidity, and the gluten-free diet as conventionally prescribed needs to be modified accordingly.' Well what does this mean? How should it be modified? Any suggestions?

I had to go gluten-free after my system went berserk after having a C-section. I had been at 200 lbs+ (I'm 5'1") since 8th grade, and had tried for over ten years to lose weight. If you continue eating lots of carbs by replacing your breads, crackers, cookies, pastas, candies, donuts, chips, and such with gluten-free replacements, you're just adding more empty calories. Your weight will go up as a result. I lost 20 pounds the first 6 months I was gluten-free, and then started going back up. I cut most of my processed carbs out, and started eating more meals that didn't need breads, noodles, flours, or fried things. I eat lots of country style, mexican, mediterranean, and asian inspired meals. I am down to 160 lbs, and in size 12 jeans. I was size 22W at my largest. I hope this helps, and good luck.

I am one that went misdiagnosed for years! I have Hashimodo's and chronic anemia and a bloated gut! My hemoglobin was a 7 and I was diagnosed with a GI bleed and that is when they found celiac!