<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Note: I am not a physician (yet). Just a very well informed patient who rescued himself from medical misdiagnosis by reading relevant medical research and persisting against great opposition by doctors determined not to "waste" money on "unnecessary" medical tests. My "qualifications" are that I was eventually proven right on every point by numerous objective tests (MRI, liver biopsy, etc. etc.) I can supply references for the ideas below from the mainstream medical literature for anyone interested. Hemochromatosis (iron overload) is the most common genetic disorder in the US with an estimated incidence of around 1 in every 400 people homozygous for this condition. (Estimates for the number heterozygous for this condition are as high as 10% of the general population.) This means that probably about 4 people on this list have a genetic predisposition to iron overload as well as celiac disease. In untreated celiacs the genetic tendency for iron overload is possibly somewhat compensated for by the malabsorption caused by untreated celiac disease, even to the point of actually benefiting the celiac condition by preventing any iron deficiency. (At least this was my experience). Ironically (Pun intended!) the hemochromatosis is not merely "unmasked" by a gluten free diet - it may be worse in a celiac patient on a gluten-free diet than it would in someone with hemochromatosis but no celiac disease. This is because the phytates in most grains markedly reduce the absorption of iron*. The problem may be doubly compounded when a celiac (having discovered the great benefits that appropriate nutritional supplements can confer to someone recovering from malabsorption) takes iron supplements - often routinely included in multivitamins. In my case, even though I was taking no iron containing supplements, problems from iron overload began to surface about seven years after going gluten free. Untreated iron overload can be disabling (my arthropathy was such that I could not remain standing for more than 30 minutes) and ultimately fatal (cardiac arrest, hepatoma, etc. etc.) if untreated BUT treatment is safe, inexpensive and 100% effective IF instituted early enough. Symptoms can even be reversed it treated soon enough (I can now do step aerobics with the best of them). FOR CELIACS IN GENERAL: Iron deficiency should not be inferred on the basis of anemia (there are other causes). Any suspicion of iron deficiency should be checked by direct testing. Iron supplementation should not be taken without having your iron functions tested and discussed with a physician. If you serum iron concentration is elevated (> 60%) and your serum ferritin is high (> 700) you should be checked by a qualified specialist for iron overload FOR CELIACS WITH KNOWN IRON OVERLOAD: I would be very interested in sharing information about this unusual combination with anyone else affected. Please e-mail me at <[log in to unmask] TO PHYSICIANS: Admittedly this topic might best be handled by physicians. Unfortunately it seems to be too specialized to receive any professional attention at this time, as far as I can determine. (I have not been able to find any discussion in the medical literature (although my search ability is currently very limited as I cannot afford commercial rates for Medline and the medical libraries no longer carry the Index Medicus in hard copy.) __________________________________________________ *In fact, Hemochromatosis may be a classic case of "overdominance" - similar to sickle cell disease, where the homozygous condition (two copies of the allele) is detrimental, but the heterozygous condition (one copy of the allele) confers a substantial benefit. Genetic problems caused by overdominant alleles generally affect a much higher percentage of the population than other genetic problems because the beneficial effect of those having one copy counterbalances the detrimental effect of having two copies (as one copy of the sickle cell allele protects against malaria, for example). Thus one copy of the hemochromatosis allele may protect against a tendency to iron deficiency caused by grains (a relatively recent** addition to the human diet). **in terms of evolution