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Hello everyone,
Here is a summary of the reactions I got in the last two weeks on my
question about celiac and shortness/loss of weight. I'm the mother of a
5yo son , length 109 cm (42"), weigth 15,4 kg (34lb). He is not growing
well for years, bloodtests give no diagnose for celiac. He reacts very
quick on food (diarhhea) and complaints about bellyache and nausea. A
'glutenlow' experiment for 3 weeks was stopped by the pediatrician,
because he said: "if you have once been glutenfree, you never can get a
proper diagnose again!" Our son is diagnosed autistic, had much
earproblems, is very clumsy (disparxy) etcetera. We are wondering why
he's still nog growing, while he's notn a bad eater.

I want to thank everybody for the reactions. Though I've not had time
enough to study everything, I don't want to wait longer with my summary
of the reactions:

-'it is believed that because of the malabsorption you do not grow (it's
a deficiency of the body).'

-there's a new group for autistic children whose parents are not giving
them gluten or casein: The Autism Network for Dietary Intervention
(ANDI), begun by Lisa Lewis and Karyn Seroussi: http://www.AutismNDI.com.
Email: [log in to unmask] They sell several (new) books: Lisa Lewis:
'Special Diets for special kids.'. Karyn Seroussi: 'Your gliten and dairy
free kitchen'. William Shaw: 'The biological basis of autism and PDD.'

-dr. Alessio Fasano (Medic doctor, univ. of Maryland) diagnoses a lot of
short children: he's on the list: E-mail: [log in to unmask]

-warning for bloodtest: please have at least the antigliadin antibody
(IgG, IgA and endomysial. If he's negative for IgA and endomysial and
positive for IgG, make sure the lab also tests for the deficiency of IgA.

-one mother read in a book that sometimes short stature is the only
symptom for celiac. That made her decide to test her twin sons that were
not gaining weight, or even lost weight, and complained about stomach
ache. They were both diagnosed celiac by biosy. Since the gf diet they
are grown 5-6 kg in less than 2 years.

-A 54 yo woman (5'2") quit growing at age three, has a biological sister
(4'11") says: 'I think that this disease just stalls everything for a
while'.

-A woman knows an autistic boy feeded by the 'Neanderthin diet'. That
includes: meat, fruit, vegetabels, nuts and seeds, removing all potentila
allergens and manmade refined products: more info:
http://www.sofdesign.com/neander

-A mother describes her 4 celiac children, who still are very small:
no 1: 22 yo: 4'9", 95 pounds
no.2: 13 yo: 4'6", 93 punds
no.3: 10 yo: 46", 55 pounds
no.4: 7 yo: 45", 52 pounds.
'The children are at least a head smaller than all their friends. The
gluten free diet has helped them immens.'

-Karoly Horvath (MD/PhD, Center of Celiac Research, Baltimore) mentions 6
reasons for short stature: 1. growth hormone deficiency, 2. chronic
organic disease (kidney, liver etc.), 3. short until teenage age, then
normal, 4. one of the parents is short, 5. bone anomaly, 6. celiac
disease: 'It is known that up to 10% of the short children may have
celiac disease.'

-On the 1995 Physisians Conference (Gastros.) at Univ. of Maryland they
discussed two days about it. A visitor knows: 'Malabsorption contributed
grately to the lack of nutrients needed during the early years of
growing, until the patient was properly diagnosed as celiac.'

-Don Wiss mentions a lecture of dr. A. Fasano at the Celiac Disease
Membership in Los Angeles, (may 1995): 'In Europe, reports has been
published which state that up to 20% of short stature is due to celiac.'
and: The blood serum of children in his growth failure clinic was
analyzed for IgG anti-gliadin antibodies. The children who responded well
to growth hormone therapy had normal levels of antibodies. Among those
who did not respond to growth hormones, a large proportion had high
titers of anti-gliadin antibodies; after a biopsy all were found to have
celiac disease. Now, at the Univ. of Maryland, children admitted for
growth failure, are routinely tested for anti-gliadin antibodies.
More info: The Gluten-free page: http://www.panix.com/~donwiss

-A woman knows a child with lack of growth: 'after extensive testing she
was diagnosed celiac, she was put on a glutenfree diet and within a year
her growth began to catch up. Now she's a teenager with normal height.

-another mother with a very short 2 1/2 yo son, not diagnosed celiac, but
on a glutenfree diet for a year, is trying to figure out why he's still
not growing! 'Nutritionists say he gets sufficient calories, vitamins,
ect. He also suffers from poor appetite (not bellyache, just
desinterest).'

Conclusion:
I still do not know the answer on my question, but now I know for sure
that it is worth investigating further. Seeing so much people handle with
the same problems gives me the feeling that there must be a coincidence.
It strenghtens me to keep on asking my sons medical doctors to do the
right bloodtest or/and biosy, to know for sure.
Marca Bultink, Hillegom, The Netherlands;
E-mail: [log in to unmask]