<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Hi, >My youngest brother expected to be celiac, but the biopsy was >negative. How reliable is a negative biopsy? And if we don't >believe the result of the biopsy, why have one? Well, a biopsy confirms that your autoimmune system is attacking your intestinal wall, blunting and flattening the villi. Sometimes, they can take a biopsy, when the villous damage is patchy, from a healthier part, and it looks normal. Or, the pathologist will not diagnose celiac because he/she requires totally flat villi, and subsequent recovery on the diet, to make the diagnosis. But what about gluten sensitivity. Now, you can call me dumb, but I think that when a person's immune system is mounting a response to a food they are eating, then that is not a good thing. Most such cases of gluten sensitivity cannot, by current standards, be diagnosed as celiac disease. So, you can have some very sick people, who cannot be given a medical label because their illness isn't bad enough yet. Heck, maybe it never will be. The literature indicates that about 5% of a relatively small group (2,000 I think) of healthy U.S. blood donors showed antibodies against gliadins. A random study in Iceland showed 15% of the population had anti-gliadin antibodies. If I took my car to a mechanic, and the engine was still running, with a quart and a half of oil in the crankcase, and he told me that he couldn't do anything until it seized up, or blew up, and then he could rebuild the engine for me, I would report him to the police. But somehow, we have significant numbers of folks who are getting ill from what they are eating, but until they get really sick, no diagnosis is rendered. Sadly, I'm at risk of offending the members of the medical profession who are working very hard to remedy that situation, because they are the doctors who are on this list. I appologize in advance, because that is not my intent. I think the biopsy is a good, quite reliable indicator of celiac disease. But it leaves about 14.5% of the population sick, and unable to help themselves because sometimes, definitions are more important than peoples' health. I would also like to suggest that you go to a library, and order this article through interlibrary loan, or document delivery, if you can't find it in the library: Troncone R, Greco L, Mayer M, Mazzarella G, Maiuri L, Congia M, Frau F, deVirgilis S, Auricchio S, "In Siblings of Celiac Children, Rectal Gluten Challenge Reveals Gluten Sensitization Not Restricted to Celiac HLA" _Gastroenterology_ 1996; 111: 318-324 Best Wishes, Ron Hoggan Calgary, Alberta, Canada