Effect of Gluten-free diet on recurrent aphthous ulceration

Abstract

Ferguson et al. (1976) found that eight out of thirty-three patients presenting with recurrent aphthous ulceration (R.A.U.) had jejunal mucosal features of coeliac disease; their oral ulceration remitted on a gluten-free diet. We have studied eighteen consecutive R.A.U. patients using standard haematological and biochemical parameters of malabsorption, including a xylose tolerance test. Twelve of the patients consented to a jejunal biopsy, following which they were placed on a gluten-free diet for 3 months. They maintained a daily record of the number of oral ulcers and a daily entry for the pain experienced on a visual analogue chart.