Weak bones linked to celiac disease

Some people develop osteoporosis, the mineral loss disease that leads to brittle bones, because their bodies cannot tolerate wheat and similar grains, a study has found.

Gluten intolerance, called celiac disease, can be treated, so the damage done by osteoporosis can be reversed in such patients, added the report published in the Feb. 28 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

“Our results suggest that as many as 3% to 4% of patients who have osteoporosis have the bone disease as a consequence of having celiac disease, which makes them unable to absorb normal amounts of calcium and vitamin D,” said William Stenson, a Washington University School of Medicine physician at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

The report was based on a look at 840 patients, some of whom had osteoporosis.