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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 likely to appear in the Celiac.com Scott-Free Newsletter, 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.

Below are the abstract of this study and 2 studies on the effects of omega-
3 fatty acids on cholesterol levels.

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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. 

< http://www.amjmed.com/article/PIIS0002934306000325/abstract >

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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.

< http://www.ajconline.org/article/PIIS0002914905021922/abstract >

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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 GF, O'Neal DN, Best JD, Beilin LJ. 

< http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/71/5/1085 >

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