<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
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: Excerpts from the Southeast Florida CS Support Group :
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: newsletter: Mar. 2000 Renee' Culver, editor :
: 2523 Jardin Drive :
: Weston, FL 33327 :
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The Doctor Says
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The question was asked to Peter Green, MD, of Columbia Presbyterian
Medical Center of New York: Why do I, as a celiac adhering to a
strict gluten-free (GF) diet, seem to gain more weight now on my GF
diet than the average person? I seem to eat less, certainly a lot
less junk food, and yet I've gained 25 pounds since my diagnosis in
March of 1997. Also, I've recently learned I have hypoglycemia. Is
there a relationship?
His answer: On a GF diet, patients may gain weight for several
reasons. First, GF food tends to have more calories than the
gluten-containing food it replaces. For example, GF bread has more
calories per slice than gluten-containing bread. More importantly,
your intestine is acting more efficiently than it was previously, so
you are able to absorb more calories. Prior to diagnosis you were
absorbing a fraction of the calories you ingested. Since the amount
of food eaten is usually fixed by experience and habits, you are now
probably ingesting more calories than you did previously. For similar
reasons, celiac patients may find their cholesterol count rising to a
level that may require medication. Prior to diagnosis, the bulk of
the ingested cholesterol was not being absorbed. On the GF diet, all
of the cholesterol ingested may be absorbed.
As for hypoglycemia, it is a common manifestation of early diabetes
and should be checked out. Many physicians label a set of nonspecific
symptoms as "hypoglycemia" without good documentation. Very rarely,
hypoglycemia may be a manifestation of an insulin-producing tumor.
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