Body Mass Index and Associated Clinical Variables in Patients with Non-Celiac Wheat Sensitivity.

Pasquale Mansueto,Alberto D’Alcamo,Antonio Carroccio,Francesca Fayer,Maurizio Soresi,Francesco La Blasca

doi:10.3390/nu11061220

Pasquale Mansueto, Alberto D’Alcamo + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11061220

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Journal: Nutrients	Publication Date: May 29, 2019
Citations: 10	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Palermo

Abstract

Background: Non-Celiac Wheat Sensitivity (NCWS) is still a largely undefined condition, due to the lack of a diagnostic marker. Few data are available about the nutritional characteristics of NCWS patients at diagnosis. Aims: To evaluate the proportion of NCWS patients who were underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese at diagnosis, and to search for possible correlations between their Body Mass Index (BMI) and other NCWS-related disease characteristics. Patients and Methods: The clinical charts of 145 NCWS patients (125 F, 20 M, mean age 37.1 ± 11.4 years), diagnosed between January 2012 and March 2018, were reviewed. As a comparison, 84 celiac disease (CD) patients (73 F, 11 M, mean age 39.8 ± 13.9 years) were evaluated. All NCWS diagnoses were based on a double-blind placebo-controlled wheat challenge (DBPCWC) method. Results: BMI distribution was similar in the NCWS (6.2% underweight and 15.2% obese subjects) and CD patients (6% underweight and 7.1% obese subjects). Underweight NCWS subjects were significantly younger and had a shorter clinical history than the overweight or obese ones. Unlike the other NCWS patients, none of them had a DQ2 and/or DQ8 haplotype. Overweight and obese NCWS patients were more frequently suffering from associated autoimmune diseases than the other BMI categories (P = 0.05). Compared to the CD controls, NCWS patients showed a higher frequency of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)-like (P = 0.01) and extraintestinal symptoms (P = 0.03) and a longer clinical history (P = 0.04), whereas weight loss was more frequent in CD (P = 0.02). Conclusions: NCWS patients showed a BMI distribution similar to CD patients. However, NCWS was found to be a heterogenous condition that regards BMI, and clinical characteristics differed between the underweight and overweight/obese patients.

Highlights

In recent years, a new gluten- or wheat-related disease has emerged, a condition labelled “non-celiac gluten sensitivity” (NCGS) or “non-celiac wheat sensitivity” (NCWS) [1,2]
We reviewed our database of adult patients with a definitive diagnosis of Non-Celiac Wheat Sensitivity (NCWS) based on a double-blind placebo-controlled wheat challenge (DBPCWC) method, to evaluate the proportion of patients who were underweight, overweight, or obese at diagnosis, and to search for possible correlations between their Body Mass Index (BMI) and other NCWS-related disease characteristics
There were no statistically significant differences between NCWS and celiac disease (CD) patients for BMI distribution, even when overweight and obese patients were considered as a single subgroup

Summary

Introduction

A new gluten- or wheat-related disease has emerged, a condition labelled “non-celiac gluten sensitivity” (NCGS) or “non-celiac wheat sensitivity” (NCWS) [1,2]. It is very often a self-reported condition, since patients refer to intestinal and extra-intestinal symptoms caused by gluten and/or wheat ingestion, even though they do not have celiac disease (CD) or wheat allergy [1,3]. NCWS is a still largely undefined condition, much less widely known than CD, which has been historically considered the main gluten-related disease.

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