<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> I am gluten intolerant. I have never had a biopsy, but had a very high secretory IgA titer. However, my family history is repleat with immune disease, full of gluten intolerance-associated diseases passing down through the generations in my maternal-maternal line (a horse pedigree afficianado would call it the 'tail female line'). I was overweight when consuming gluten. Also, paradoxically, usually constipated (except for the few times when, having bought a wheat grinder and bread kneading machine, I went on bread eating benders, got very ill, and had the classic celiac diarrhea). Since I was chronically overweight and rarely suffered from diarrhea, no doc ever thought to check for celiac. However, I was desparately plagued was a terrible eczema that sounds suspiciously like DH from birth to my middle 30's. Starting Sep-95 I went on gluten free diet. I was making no other attempts to regulate intake or lose weight. I happened to get on the scales just after Christmas--expecting bad news and ready to face the New Year with a diet. To my great surprise I was down 6 pounds instead of up the customary 4. The unexpected weight loss continued. At one time this summer I was down to 122 lbs, which hasn't been my usual weight in 25 years. Since most of my clothes were no longer fitting, I deliberately started eating more. I had been on very low fat diets for weight control decades before they became the current diet fad. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see that was where most calories are hiding, and also I couldn't digest or handle fats well before I went gluten free. However, I now eat a high fat diet--though I am very, very scrupulous about the quality of fat. Liberal use of highest quality virgin olive oil, second choice is canola oil; I eat freely of foods high in unrefined fats in their native state, like nuts(which I tolerate well) and avocado. But no hydrogenated fats whatsoever(no margarines, shortenings or foods rich in them), and little refined oils otherwise. In spite of my new 'high fat diet', I maintain a normal weight. I never need to diet or count calories at all. This is just a marvel to me. All my family and friends are impressed by my new, attractive, lower weight. Since I have been on and off one diet or another since the age 12 until going gluten free, this is just amazing. Whenever I see another Jenny Craig commercial on TV (or some other weight loss clinic), I always think to myself that people who go to these clinics should have a check for gluten intolerance as part of their clinical work-up. If my experience is valid for others, putting obese gluten-intolerant people on continuous weight management regimes is inappropriate unless and until their gluten-intolerance has been identified and addressed. lynn worden Lord, Let me seek the truth, but preserve me from the company of those who have found it. --West Texas prayer