<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Don Kasarda posted "...cigarette smoking, or a factor closely linked to it, seems to exert a major protective effect against the development of symptomatic adult onset coeliac disease. The implication is that gliadin exposure is not the only important environmental factor involved in the pathogenesis of this condition." Irregardless of this finding, I would think long term studies would be impossible to do as test patients died from other health complications of cigarette smoking. One would be hard pressed to find any qualified medical professional to extol the virtues of smoking cigarettes. The detrimental and oftentimes fatal health risks of cigarette smoking is one of the major causes of death in America. Enough said. Fran Gillespie, Oregon