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Hello List Mates,
I’m sure many of us can relate to this scenario: When I was a kid my mom said I had “too many tummy aches”. Teachers and school nurses thought I was faking to get out of class. The same was true for my daughter. Then, 9 years ago we learned it was Celiac. 
Check out these alarming facts just released in the New England Journal of Medicine. I hope every pediatrician has a copy of this issue. I also hope that every parent requests the test. (More about that at www.celiac.org)
Deb Wheaton
www.notevenacrumb.com
www.glutenfreeprairie.com
Quoting NEJM Journal Watch:
Children who meet clinical criteria for irritable bowel syndrome are four times as likely to have celiac disease as the general population, according to a JAMA Pediatrics article.
Researchers studied nearly 800 Italian children aged 4 to 16 years who were referred for recurrent abdominal pain over a 6-year period. Of these, 35% met Rome III criteria for IBS, 26% for functional dyspepsia, and 40% for functional abdominal pain. Roughly 4% with IBS were diagnosed with celiac disease (based on antibody screening and confirmatory endoscopy) — significantly higher than the 1% previously reported in the general pediatric population. Under 1% of children in the other two groups were diagnosed with celiac disease.
The authors write: "This finding reinforces the utility of the Rome III criteria in classifying children with chronic abdominal pain in order to select those who deserve to be screened for celiac disease, to increase the case finding strategy, and to contain health costs." 

* Please remember some posters may be WHEAT-FREE, but not GLUTEN-FREE *
Archives are at: Http://Listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?LIST=CELIAC