Study cash targets gluten allergy

By REBECCA WALSH health reporter

New Zealanders who are allergic to gluten could soon benefit from research being carried out by an Australian dietitian.

Melbourne-based Sue Shepherd is studying 100 people recently diagnosed with coeliac disease, an allergy to gluten, the protein found in wheat, rye and barley.

Mrs Shepherd, the first recipient of the Australia and New Zealand Coeliac Research Fund, said her doctorate study would investigate whether people on a gluten-free diet were getting all the nutrients they needed.

She would also look at ways of diagnosing the condition early, to better manage it and help to prevent more serious complications such as bowel cancer, osteoporosis and infertility.

Gluten damages the lining of the small intestine of people who have coeliac disease, reducing their ability to absorb nutrients.

Symptoms include diarrhoea, constipation, fatigue, weight loss, iron deficiency, abdominal cramps and retarded growth.

The only treatment is a gluten-free diet but Mrs Shepherd said researchers at the Royal Melbourne Hospital were working on a vaccine.

A gluten-free diet means no regular bread, pasta and cereals.

Other food items, such as deli meats, confectionary and soya sauce are also off limits.

"If you don't stick to the diet you are at greater risk of bowel cancer, osteoporosis, infertility and chronic ill health," said Mrs Shepherd, who was diagnosed with coeliac disease when she was 20.

She has published a cookbook for people with coeliac disease and irritable bowel syndrome titled Irrestistibles for the Irritable.

She said adjusting to a gluten-free diet was a massive lifestyle change and nobody knew if it created any major gaps in people's nutritional intake.

For example, some cereals had added folate, which pregnant women need, but gluten-free cereals did not.

Mrs Shepherd will follow the 100 people recruited for the study for 12 months.

They will go through a series of questions and tests, including a body scan to check for malnutrition and osteoporosis.

Mrs Shepherd expects to finish the study, which is being funded by a grant from the research fund and Boxhill Hospital in Melbourne, within two years.

She will include research into irritable bowel syndrome.

Gluten allergies

* About one in 83 New Zealanders are thought to suffer from coeliac disease - an allergy to gluten.

* The New Zealand Medical Journal this year found only one in seven had been diagnosed.