Celiac.com 09/12/2006 - Symptoms of celiac disease prominently include fat malabsorption. One would expect this to impact levels of essential fatty acids in celiacs. The omega-3 essential fatty acids, especially eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acids available in fish oil supplements have been demonstrated to have numerous health benefits. However, there are almost no studies on the effect of celiac disease on essential fatty acid levels. I am currently in the process of writing an article on essential fatty acids that will appear in Open Original Shared Link, so a new study on lipid profiles in celiac disease caught my eye with promise. I was disappointed to find the study only measured cholesterol levels in celiacs, which showed an improvement in the "bad" to "good", LDL to HDL, ratio and an increase in "good" HDL cholesterol in patients on a gluten-free diet. The opportunity to study essential fatty acid levels in celiacs was again missed. However, omega-3 fatty acids have a proven beneficial effect on cholesterol levels, and improved fat absorption of omega-3 fatty acids due to a gluten-free diet may be responsible for the results presented in this new celiac disease lipid profile study.
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Below are the abstract of this study and two studies on the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on cholesterol levels:
Am J Med. 2006 Sep;119(9):786-90.
Change in lipid profile in celiac disease: beneficial effect of gluten-free diet.
Brar P, Kwon GY, Holleran S, Bai D, Tall AR, Ramakrishnan R, Green PH.
Am J Cardiol. 2006 Aug 21;98(4 Suppl 1):71-6.
Clinical overview of omacor: a concentrated formulation of omega-3 polyunsaturated Fatty acids.
Bays H.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2000 May;71(5):1085-94.
Purified eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids have differential effects on serum lipids and lipoproteins, LDL particle size, glucose, and insulin in mildly hyperlipidemic men.
Mori TA, Burke V, Puddey IB, Watts gluten-free, ONeal DN, Best JD, Beilin LJ.
New Fatty Acid Celiac Disease Study
No sooner do I complain there arent any studies of essential fatty acid levels in celiac disease then, at least, a limited pediatric study of essential fatty acids appears! The results of this study on 7 pediatric patients with active celiac disease, 6 with celiac disease in remission, and 11 controls, show serum levels of fatty acids are similar between celiac disease and control patients, but abnormal fatty acid levels exist in intestinal mucosa tissue of active celiac disease patients. Results suggest an omega-6 fatty acid deficiency, at least in the mucosa. Not too surprising because prostaglandin E2 secretion increases in the intestines of active celiac disease patients, and prostaglandin E2 is produced from omega-6 fatty acids. It should be noted that fatty acid profiles may prove to be different in adult celiac disease patients. Also while omega-6 fatty acids may be deficient, increasing intake of omega-3 fatty acids may help reduce inflammatory processes in celiac disease.
J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2006 Sep;43(3):318-323.
Abnormal Fatty Acid Pattern in Intestinal Mucosa of Children with Celiac Disease is Not Reflected in Serum Phospholipids.
Steel DM, Ryd W, Ascher H, Strandvik B.
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